Where has the time gone, this Friday will be the one month anniversary of our first day in Negril, time has just flown by since we have been home….and I am way behind in my trip report duties.
We made our 19th trip to Jamaica on February 1, 2013 and unfortunately had to leave on February 8, 2013, only one week in paradise, but as usual we made the most of our time there. We had a couple of newbies with us (D&R) and it only took them about 3 hours of being on the island to “get it!!” I am always nervous about taking new people to Jamaica, but I am not sure why because in nearly every case the 15 newbies that we have introduced to Jamaica over the years have “gotten it.”
Unfortunately this trip didn’t start out all-that great. We arrived at the airport in Louisville at 520am for our 645am flight to Charlotte, it was snowing out, but not a lot and travel to the airport was uneventful. As we walked up to the USAirways counter we noticed a few folks milling around and not checking in. We soon figured out why, the system they used for passports was down and they could not check in any international passengers. OK….no biggie, we have plenty of time, the security line was very short and I figured they would get it together in a few minutes and we would be on our way. Five minutes became fifteen became thirty became forty-five and all of a sudden it was after 6am and I am getting nervous. Melo had that “I think I am gonna cry now” look on her face and as the person that means more to me than anything of course I couldn’t stand for that. There were about six of us waiting and finally someone working the counter decided they would get us to Charlotte and let them “deal with us.” Great….that gives us about two and ½ hours for them to figure it out, surely it will be good to go by then.
They started this long manual process of making copies of our passports, etc, it is now 625am, they keep promising us they will hold the plane, but the clock is a ticking. Finally the system came up, they ripped up all the manual stuff they were working on and checked us in and we were finally on our way. Through security and to the gate, it is now 640am but just like they said, they were holding the plane for us and we climbed aboard and were finally on our way. A very stressful way to start our vacation.
Like the most interesting man in the world says “I don’t normally drink beer at 7am, but when I do I prefer airplane beer.” Yep the first drink of the vacation was a half-cold canned Shock Top on the plane, at 7am…..not the worst thing I have ever done I am sure and I’m only confessing my actions to everyone on the internet (or at least the ones who read this board, but isn’t that mostly everybody??).
We arrive at Montego Bay almost right on time and then make the run to immigration wondering what the line was going to look like…..
I don’t know what has happened and maybe they have stuff figured out, but the last three trips to Jamaica the line at immigration has been miniscule. I’m certainly not complaining!!! Through immigration and off to baggage claim. Our friends stop at the restroom and I grab all three of our bags and await their arrival. Into the “Nothing to Declare” line and next thing I know the warm, moist, exhaust-fume-filled air hits me in the face, we are out of the airport!!! A round of beers from the Groovy Grouper stand just outside the airport, our driver walks up and in the van we go.
He has a large “igloo” full of Red Stripe and we stop for a replenish beers/Pee break in Hopewell and pretty soon we are winding our way through Lucea, then Green Island, Orange Bay and then the “Welcome to Negril” sign. We pull up to Rondel Village and are greeted as usual by Johno and proceed inside to check in.
We decided on rooms across the road, they were brand new (in fact I am 99% sure we were the first guests to ever stay in our room, for reasons that I will explain later), and we could buy dinner each night with the $30 difference in price between the garden-side superior rooms and the superior rooms on the beach side. I spend about 30 minutes a day in the room when I am not asleep, so the room doesn’t matter that much to me. These rooms however were fine, with flat-screen TVs (which we only turned on once!!!), a small fridge, a nice balcony, a decent sized bathroom, plenty of storage space, very cold AC and a ceiling fan to move the cold air around. Perfect and because we were across the road, it was very quiet and there was a nice pool (never got in…..I’m an ocean person when on vacation) and a hot-tub (got in twice, but only because our friends are hot tub people and they liked getting in).
We dumped our stuff off in our room and ran across the street to the beachside and to the bar. I think we got Red Stripe number 7 or 8 in us and it was only 4pm, we had been on the island exactly 3 hours!!
We heard music and sure enough next door at the Boat Bar they were having their standard Friday afternoon band. We walked down to the water (much more beach at Rondel now compared to when we were there in October) and splashed around while drinking our beers. Life had all of a sudden become just about perfect….Red Stripe, check, Reggae Band, check, Good Friends, check and most importantly Melo had a huge smile on her face and looked like she was home, super-double-check!!!
We continued listening to the music from the Boat Bar (I guess I finally understand that place, I have seen people on Negril.com rave about it, but never really figured it out, there never seemed to be much going on there, and quite frankly the place just didn’t look that friendly to me). A great way to spend a couple of hours drinking beer, listening to music and enjoying the water.
Soon it was sunset time and we snapped a few pictures as it was a good one and we are normally on the cliffs for sunset so it was good to get some pics of the sunset from the beach for a change. Here are a couple of samples
Off to Chicken Lavish for our traditional first night dinner….by this time trouble was brewing….I had gone beyond the point of no return…way too many beers and not nearly enough to eat (as in not a damned thing, unless you count some pistachio nuts on the plane). As I am sitting there looking at my conch soup (world famous and damned good, if I am ever on my death bed and need something to rescue me, I am requesting Doc’s conch soup as an antidote) I think, “damn, I’m too drunk to eat.” Don’t you hate that, you are drunk, you need to eat, but you can’t. I shove a couple of spoonfuls down my throat and then offer the rest to Melo. Now I have no doubts about her love for me, but she has no trouble eating my soup, as she is a bigger fan of the soup than I am (and I’m really into it!!!). I had also ordered fried chicken (I knew my body couldn’t handle curried goat that night, but that is my usual dish at Chicken Lavish), but when it showed up I ate half of one piece and asked for a doggie bag. The rest of the group was in almost as bad of shape as I was, but they persevered and made it through the meal. Back to the hotel and off to sleep to get my body back in shape for the first full day in Negril. To be continued…..
Originally Posted by booger
