Filed under: Beach, Family, Jamaica, Kids, Life, Montego Bay, Photos, Summer, Travel, Vacation
I have been procrastinating writing this, as it’s like ending the vacation all over again.
Thursday morning started off with the breakfast buffet and coffee. My son had left his flip flops somewhere on the resort the day before, so we decided to walk across the road to the strip mall. Some souveniers and flip flops were the goal. The strip mall must have had at least 20 stores, all with someone outside encouraging you to come and look. “Free to look” they will say. If you are polite but say you are not interested, your wishes are respected and you are on your way.
We found some flip flops for the boy and a few other touristy things. Next to get a cold drink from the convenience store. As luck would have it, we found Jamaican Patties there, something we really wanted to try. Beef for the hubby and oldest, curry chicken for myself and the other two kids. Turned out to be such a treat, as they are really good. Not to mention, Patties are very inexpensive, so it makes them even better. (more…)
Filed under: Family, Jamaica, Life, Montego Bay, Negril, Photos, Summer, Travel, Vacation
(Again, if you press play on the right of the screen, your mood will be set!)
Monday June 16, 2007 started off with the hubby, my youngest and I heading to the buffet for breakfast and coffee. The older two kids slept in a bit later and joined us after a bit. The five of us had scheduled a glass bottom boat tour for mid-morning and we were excited about what we might be seeing. This tour was offered by our hotel for a cost, but since we are Holiday Inn Priority Club Members we were given a 50% discount. That turned out to be a great deal, only $32 for a family of five! (more…)
Filed under: Books, Hauntings, Jamaica, Legends, Love, Montego Bay, Photos, Travel
On Tuesday, July 17, 2007, we had another tour planned with our driver Winston. This day we planned to head towards Ocho Rios and see the sights along the way. Included in this day trip were Rose Hall Plantation, Columbus Park and Dunns River Falls. I enjoyed our visit to Rose Hall so much that I felt it deserved it’s own post. (See Dunns River Falls post and video here: http://nightowlmom.wordpress.com/2007/07/23/dunns-river-falls-climb-jamaica/ )
The history of the Great House: The house was begun by George Ash, an English planter, in 1750 and completed in 1780 by John Palmer, a wealthy British planter. This was a 6,600-acre plantation, and had more than 2,000 slaves. At the time, it was considerably larger than today. Two additional wings, originally connected to the main house by open breezeways, were never rebuilt. The Great House collapsed into ruins after abandonment that lasted more than 130 years. The house was later restored by members of the Delaware-based Rollins family, owners of the near by Ritz-Carlton, in 1966 and 1971 Listen carefully to the guide. She will probably be in a plaid-patterned dress that emulates costumes standard for that generation. The tale of sexual intrigue, insanity, and murder is one of the hottest celebrity exposés in Jamaica. The dark and brooding Annie’s Pub is on the building’s ground floor in the old dungeon. Enjoy a rum-laced “witches brew” and Johnny Cash songs, including the Ballad of Annie Palmer.
Filed under: Beauty, Family, Jamaica, Life, Montego Bay, Negril, Photos, Summer, Travel, Vacation
I ended up having to do this post in sections. Here is part 1, the first 3 days of our Jamaican vacation. I hope you enjoy. Hint: Press play on the songspot on the right to set the mood! 
Friday, July 13th started off early (alarm went off at 5:00 AM) and the five of us leaving for Dulles International Airport at 5:30 AM. Thank God that my mom doesn’t hit the snooze button, because I would have and we would have overslept. We got to the airport, into line at the ticket counter and by 7:00 AM, our bags were checked, boarding passes were issued and we were through security on our way to the gate. Subway was the only open choice near our gate, so we had subs for breakfast while waiting for the plane to board. Once we boarded the plane, we were put on hold on the runway. The Charlotte, NC airport was apparently very busy, so we were held before take-off for about 25 minutes. Not too bad as far as airports can go nowadays. This just cut the 45 minutes we had to change planes in NC to 20, but we could still pull it off, hopefully.
We got to Charlotte airport, with exactly 20 minutes to catch our next flight. We hustled through the airport and got to our gate as it was finishing boarding. Just in time and hoping all the luggage got transferred, too. Guess who didn’t get to stop and grab lunch? Guess who had 3 hungry children on the next flight? At this point, I realize that this is going to be a long day and reminded myself that we were not flying direct because I hate BWI airport. It will be OK as soon as we get there.
We arrived in Montego Bay, Jamaica a little before 2:00 PM and were ushered straight to immigration. With the exception that this portion of Mo-Bay Airport does not currently have AC, Immigration was smooth sailing there and we were off to claim our luggage. We finally locate the correct conveyor belt and a nice gentleman retrieves our bags for us. This portion of the airport the AC is working and feels quite nice. The hubby tips the gentleman who helped retrieve our bags and he ushers us over to a short line at the customs desks. Customs asks a few basic questions and once again we were off on our way. There were absolutely no issues or delays. We were then directed to a desk for Liberty Travel where we could validate our resort transportation vouchers and retrieve the paperwork for our resort. They direct us outside to a waiting bus and load our bags and we take off to the Holiday Inn Sunspree Resort. (more…)
Well here it is, a video clip of our climb up over 600 feet of water falls on Dunns River in Runaway Bay (Ocho Rios) Jamaica. We went on July 17, 2007, and had 2 of the best guides, D. Shaw and M. Boyce. Boyce carried my bag (silly me for bringing it) and kept it dry. Both Shaw and Boyce made sure my baby girl was in the front of the chain gang, constantly stating “Get me baby” and making sure she was safe the entire trip. (more…)
Filed under: Donations, Friends, Jamaica, Kids, Life, Love, Photos, Positive, Travel, Volunteer
While on our trip to Jamaica, we contacted Chef of http://www.chefsjamaicatours.5u.com/ for a day trip to Blossom Garden Orphanage. First, let me say that Chef is an extremely personable man running a tour business in Jamaica. He was kind enough to not charge us for this trip as we were there to donate much needed school supplies. This was a very generous offer as gas prices in Jamaica are equivilant to ours here. We did pay for the gas and tipped Chef as well for his generosity.
As for the orphanage, I was pleasently surprised to see that the center was located in a middle class neighborhood in Montego Bay. The house was rather small for the sheer number of children residing at the center, which at this time is 60 children and currently at capacity. (more…)
Hi everyone! We had a wonderful trip to Jamaica and have returned safely, albeit too soon, I think. :) Jamaica was unlike any place I have ever been and describing it may prove to be difficult without use of ”gorgeous” and “beautiful” too much. I have about 700 photos and many stories to share, so hopefully I will have a great post about our trip real soon.
Just some quick notes: Negril was gorgeous, cliff jumping at Rick’s Cafe was a blast! Ocho Rios was great too, climbing Dunns River Falls was awesome. I will have a video of that for you to see. We visited Blossom Gardens Orphanage which was a definate high-light of my trip. The kids there are the sweetest ever and it was hard to leave.
Ok, off for now to make some Blue Mountain Coffee and upload some photos. I will post soon. Thank you to all of you who wished us well on our trip. I will have the stories for you soon. I promise.
Filed under: Donations, Exciting, Family, Friends, Jamaica, Life, Thoughts, Travel, Vacation
I so feel like a kid in a candy shop right now. Our house sitter is here, we packed the car and are headed off. We arrived at my mom’s house tonight, the night before our flight. It puts us close to the airport and we can sleep in a bit later in the morning. God knows that I will need it, as I am way too excited to sleep! (more…)
Filed under: Donations, Exciting, Family, Jamaica, Positive, Travel, Vacation
Those of you that have been following my blog lately know that we are about to leave for Jamaica. We only have 2 more sleeps to go!! Then we will be basking in Montego Bay, Jamaica for 8 nights and 9 days and we are so excited about it. We have the plans to visit Ocho Rios, Dunns River Falls, Rose Hall, Negril, and Montego Bay’s Margaritaville. I will have lots of photos to share when we return and will post about our trip.
We have purchased a collection of school supplies and scholastic books for donations to the children at the Sandy Bay Basic School or Blossom Garden Orphanage. We are still up in the air as to which place our hired driver has made arrangements, but I know either place will be happy to receive the supplies we have purchased.
These are some of the supplies we purchased. There is construction paper, crayons, chalk, spiral notebooks, scissors, rulers, scholastic books and more!
Well, I must get back to packing as we still have lots of that to do today. I hope everyone has an enjoyable and safe summer.
I have not been able to get this school out of my mind. I have read on some of the Jamaica forums at http://www.tripadvisor.com about this school. Since finding the photos, all I want to do is help. Things we often take for granted here in the US, like crayons, chalk and flash cards, are expensive in Jamaica and not always readily available to these kids. I hope those sites, don’t mind me reposting the photos here, as I hope to get the word out about this school. (more…)
Thought I would chat up some books here that I think are great reads.
I am currently reading Lonely Planet Jamaica by Michael Read. This book is a great tool if you are planning on visiting Jamaica, which we are. Since I am still reading this one and haven’t yet been to Jamaica, I will let you know what I think of it when I am through and have checked Jamaica out for myself. (more…)
We are getting so close to leaving on our trip to Jamaica. Less than a month to go and the excitement is enough to make you burst! We are staying at the Holiday Inn Sun Spree all-inclusive resort, not top of the line, but not bottom either. They have great programs for the kids and anything that we could possibly want all day long. There are four restaurants, three pools, numerous bars, a fitness room, private beach, local shopping, and much more. I am sure the post upon our return will be full of stories and relaxation. (more…)
