Monday, May 18, 2009

Jamaica Travel Notes: May 11-15


We are back....It is hard to believe that just a week ago we were jetting off from a rained soaked Dallas to the beautiful island of Jamaica. Cocktails and sunscreen in hand instead of diaper bags and kiddos. We had a wonderful time. The flight from DFW is so easy (about 3 hours) and it is just a tad longer on the way back. The shuttle bus ride to and from the airport and resort was the only non-relaxing part of the vacation. They are crazy drivers, MON. It is by miracle alone we made it to the resort. The resort was fantastic. We stayed at the Sandals Whitehouse resort on the south coast of the island. The location is beautiful, the food was great, the people were so nice. We couldn't have asked for anything better. The weather was perfect, for us. It did rain some while we were there. It ended up being our ideal situation. We are both very fair skinned so we needed the afternoon rain breaks to go back to the room and watch a movie, or head indoors for a coffee or something. It was so nice and made for some beautiful pictures.

The resort is divided into different villages. We stayed in the Italian village. They must have known my fascination with that country. When we go back (which we will) we are opting for the Dutch village. It is a little further away from the main area of the resort, so a little more private and quite, but it is not as far away as the French village. The French village is a trek, I must say. It is more lively over there with live music and a restaurant, but it is a bit too far from the main area. The beach is so gorgeous. The pictures hardly capture the amazing color. The reef kept the shore calm and we enjoyed studying the hundreds of starfish that lined the shore. We kept thinking of our 5 year old that would have had a ball on the beach everyday! Too bad it is a couples resort. We took part in some ocean activities our last day there. We did a snorkeling trip and saw a nurse shark. I am so proud of us for actually getting in the water after it was announced to us he was down there. Very adventurous for us. We also did some kayaking.


We loved that the resort was all-inclusive. We did not have to pay for food or drinks the entire time. Of course this led to endless drinking of all sorts of fruity concoctions that usually contained rum. Also, the endless eating. We had a great buffet the first night. Complete with jerk chicken and some wonderful curry wraps. We then had Asian food the next night, more fine dining the 3rd with a little surf and turf, and ended with another buffet the last night. The lunches were also great and the patisserie was our favorite snack/dessert hangout. The people were so friendly and so helpful the whole time. They really were catering to our every need. We enjoyed doing sunset pictures one night. We were expecting to go the beach and have them snap a quick shot of us. We had no idea that we would be assigned a photographer and we had a full on photo shoot. He took about 30 different shots of us. It was so much fun. Of course, the photos are not all-inclusive so that was a place they caught us!


We are already planning on when we want to go back. I think the next time we want to take the girls and go to one of the Beaches properties so they can come along. It is no more expensive or further to travel than CA and the beach is so much better. We think the girls will love it!! We know we did!

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