I had read so much about the warm air that hits you as you exit the plane. I was a tad disappointed when we exited into a very typical jetway. It was not at all what I was expecting. It would have been forgettable if it wasn't for my overestimation of this moment.
We just sort of followed the others, keeping a good pace because I knew the whole process was FIFO (first in first out). Immigration...get luggage...customs. As I'm writing this and thinking back it really seemed to go that fast. Now we just needed to find Alfred. We were quickly directed where to go and I recognized Alfred from the photos on his website. The sign he held that read “Alfred’s” made it pretty hard not to miss him. As I stepped out into the sun to wait curbside for our van, I finally got that rush of warmth so often described by others. Unfortunately the only thing I could smell was my badly needed cigarette and car exhaust.
The Ride in.....
I'm not going to go into too much detail about the ride in. It's something you just need to experience for yourself if you haven’t done so and if you've done it you know how difficult it would be putting it into the proper words. It would require an entire trip report of its own.
I do want to say that Alfred was great. We had asked him to make a quick stop at Biggas on our way in. Biggas jerk was not nearly as hot as I thought it was going to be. We both enjoyed the level of heat as is. I was really surprised by the bread that came with our jerk. It was no airy piece of fluff like the bread at home. This was hardy and doughy. I know it’s only bread but with all of the talk about food on the board I don't believe this was ever mentioned.
As we approached Negril the search was on for hotels we were familiar with from our research. The only reason I knew we had to be close was because we had recently passed a big green sign with an arrow pointing in the direction we were traveling that said “NEGRIL”. The big AI's were easy to spot but soon we were passing hotels and other establishments left and right. Beth seemed to be blurting out names one right after the other. My eyes were so torn between focusing in on the unknown and scanning for something I could recognize that it all became a blur. The next thing we know our van comes to a sudden stop on the side of the road. Alfred turned around and asked “You’re going to Blue Cave?”. We reply “yes were going to Blue Cave”. With that Alfred said “We're here mon!” and pointed across the road to an opened gate. With a couple beeps of the horn he zipped across the road and into the driveway of our hotel.
First impressions
As I wrapped up the business end of things with Alfred, Beth ensured all of our bags were unloaded and nothing was left behind. We confirmed who we were and our room number then followed Santa around the corner and up some steps to an opened door. Beth asked if we should check in as we dropped our bags in the room. “no mon you’re good” Santa replied. We thanked and tipped him for helping with our bags, as he exited the room closing the door behind him. I looked at Beth and said “That was easy!” as we both just sort of stood there in disbelief trying to grasp the reality that we had arrived.
It seemed like a whirlwind of a trip in and then there we were, just the two of us, alone in a big quiet room. We did a quick “once over” of our new home for the next week and were immediately drawn to the wide opened doors leading to our balcony. There was a refreshing breeze blowing that caused the curtains partially covering one side of the sliding glass doors to dance. It was almost as if they were beckoning us to the balcony. As I stepped out onto the balcony I must have looked a little bit like Dorthy in The Wizard Oz when she steps out into Munchkin Land for the first time.
Lush foliage and brightly colored flowers dotted our view. The warm sun still hung high in the sky as it reflected of the seemingly endless blue waters of Caribbean Ocean. I can’t say how long we stood there just glaring out from our second story perch but eventually we moved onto getting settled in.
That’s when it hit me….We forgot to get a phone from Alfred!!!!! I quickly peered out into the driveway and luckily Alfred was still there chilling and talking to some of the hotel staff. I ran out and asked for a phone. After testing the phone and handing over a deposit I went back to the room. I let everyone back home know we had arrive via text message and provided our JA phone number. This lead to a few calls and then I went back to gazing.
