Day 1: Saturday April 22, 2012

The day started for us around 7am, after what was probably only about 3 hours sleep, we awoke, showered, got last minute things packed, and headed to Orlando for our direct flight to MoBay…..oh but first things first…..we had to be sure that we had packed ALL of the necessities for our trip. Let’s see, sunscreen-check, bathing suits-check, flip flops-check, clothes, passports, money-check, check, check….WAIT!!!!!!!!! We CAN’T forget the most important thing…..that’s right, the CAKE VODKA….never leave home without it!

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Ok, NOW we are all set! So off to Orlando, about an hour drive and we park our car and get on the bus to take us to the airport. As I take my seat on the bus, I look up and see a sign that says “Your driver’s name is……………


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That’s right…LUCIANO…..our bus driver just happens to have the same name as the Reggae Artist we will be seeing that very night in Negril at Seastar Inn….how cool is that? So Luciano drops us at the airport and we breeze through check in and security and soon we are off….one hour and 27 minutes later we are in paradise….but as soon as we get off the plane we are greeted by the longest line at customs and immigration that I have ever seen, it took us a little over an hour to get through it (almost the same amount of time it took us to fly there). Well we finally make it outside and I scan the crowd for Chicken, he is usually hard to miss, tall guy, usually front and center with a BIG smile….I don’t see him, I scan the crowd some more and a guy says “Who are you looking for” and I say “Chicken” and then this young boy gets all excited and starts waving the familiar sign at me that says “Chicken’s Magic Bus” “Hi I’m Ricky” he says, “Chicken’s son, and your friends are this way……” He points to Groovy Grouper and I immediately recognize Guirigay who is seated facing me with his familiar straw hat. Sweetie Pie and Tizzy cannot see me as their backs are to me. At first I felt Guirigay was looking straight at me so I waved, but when he didn’t respond I realized he has not seen me yet, so I walked over to the side, right up next to them, by the railing where they were sitting and I didn’t say a word and then just like that all 3 of them look over at me and in unison SCREAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was so loud and shocking that I jumped back a bit and everyone in a large radius was looking our way. I bet they were all thinking “What is going on over there….why are they screaming at her” And then in a blink they all jumped up and came running for a hug. I think the first was Tizzy…or maybe Guirigay that part I am not sure of but what I am sure of is that with all 3 hugs, I remember thinking that these were not hugs that you give strangers who you have never met…..these were real quality hugs, the kind you give your family that you haven’t seen in years but have been dying to see and HUG!

And with that enormous and unforgettable greeting, Chicken brought the Magic Bus around, loaded our stuff and we were off….Chicken driving, Ricky playing bartender, Tizzy, Guirigay and Sweetie Pie, and Marley and Ninja, on our way to Negril…..the trip we had all been counting down to, messaging about, posting about, dreaming about…..it was finally here! And we were off……oh, well that is with one short stop. We needed to hit up Digicel so Guirigay and Tizzy could get some Jamaican cell phones….and I needed some minutes for mine, so we made a quick stop at the Digicel store on the Hip Strip……well, it was SUPPOSED to be a QUICK stop……..and so this begins what I now refer to as the “LONGEST but MOST fun trip to Negril ever” Just for reference, our flight landed at 2:42pm, we arrived in Negril at Seastar a little after 7:30pm!
LMAO