Villa In Jamaica

A few years ago, in the dead of a brutally cold winter, I was literally withering away in the cold. Missouri was in a deep freeze and I was really exhausted from it. Since I continually shop for travel bargains, I’m so glad I noticed when a new hotel listing came up on Expedia. A Montego Bay Villa had thrown itself into the mix of accommodations that I had become accustomed to seeing and they were running a New Year’s Eve Holiday special. I still had some days off from work to use, so I booked the trip. I would fly to Montego Bay on December 30 and stay until January 2. It sounded just like a few days of warmth that I hoped would recharge me.

The Villa was in the lower foothills of the Blue Mountains, and close enough that I could still see the sea.

This was quite a change of scenery from the all-inclusive resorts I was used to. The Villa had about 8 bedrooms most with their own bathroom and shower, a parlor, a kitchen, and various other sitting areas. There was also a pool, which none of the other guests seemed to use and a breadfruit tree laden with fruit was right next to the pool! I knew I had found the perfect chill-spot and I was sitting out at the pool within minutes of my arrival.

Peggy, the cook at the Villa, came out poolside and asked if I’d like to have my dinner there which I thought was an incredibly great idea. I settled on jerk chicken and dined poolside, while chatting on the phone with friends back home.

With the next day being New Year’s Eve, I made plans to go over to the Grand Palladium Resort for their celebration. Grand Palladium is one of my favorite all-inclusive resort brands and I still knew some of the staff there from my previous trips. Did you know you can buy a day pass to most all-inclusive resorts? For New Year’s Eve, GP offered a pass that was good from 6pm until 1am allowing me access to all their amenities for the festivities. I arrived in time to go to their Jamaican restaurant for dinner and then I headed over to the theater for their big NYE show. They had a champagne toast and fireworks display at midnight and it was one of the best shows I’ve ever seen at any of the resorts. When my pass expired, I had a cab waiting for me outside of the lobby.

For New Year’s Day, Peggy, the cook, had the holiday off so there was no meal service available. The security guard, Duran, suggested some options. I decided on carry out pizza from town because we knew Pizza Hut was open. Duran drove me into Montego Bay where I picked up a pizza and then we headed back to the villa. On our way back, we stopped off at a small, non-descript bar at the bottom of the hills and shot a few games of pool. It was a good thing we kept winning because Duran had been placing bets on our games.

The next day was my departure day, but my flight out wasn’t until evening. Duran offered to drive me into town for a while to do some shopping at some of his favorite stores. I picked up souvenirs to take home before we stopped off at the most incredible jerk center I’ve ever been to, Scotchie’s.

When you walk in the place, it is a mostly open-air tiki-type bar that serves all kinds of jerk meats and accompaniments. We ran into Sheba and Sheena, (two other guests from the villa) and turned it into a wonderful dinner together.

If you ever pass a Scotchie’s in Jamaica, stop in and eat there. I highly recommend the jerk pork and breadfruit. The stuff melts in your mouth.

I was sad to leave that evening, but I had such a rejuvenating break from the cold winter that would make it easier to get through the rest of the cold. It was also nice to be able to explore some of the local activities off the beaten path and not stick to the usual excursions. I’m always a firm believer of scratching beneath the surface when you travel outside of your country. It will open your mind and expose you to really unique experiences!

Riviera Maya—A Day at the Spa

Any travel day can be strenuous on you. Even for a “short trip”, you will likely have some changes from your daily routine that can throw you out of whack. Take our last trip to Riviera Maya Mexico, for instance. It was a 3 hour non-stop flight to get there. Should be a piece of cake, right? Not really. 
Our flight was scheduled to leave at 6am. Factor in a 2-hour drive to our departure city the night before, and dinner, and it was already late when we arrived at the hotel. We got to bed, only to have to wake up at 3am so we could arrive at the airport 2 hours before our international flight. After an uneventful flight, in cramped seats (they were pre-reclined and had a 17 inch pitch though) we arrived in the Cancun, Mexico airport only to make our way through customs and immigration and find our shuttle. I had forgotten the part about the hour drive to the resort. Luckily, on our commute we only had to stop off at one other resort to drop people off on our way.
By the time we arrived at The Grand Palladium, we were starving and exhausted. We found one restaurant that was still open for lunch and then made our way to one of the adult “quiet” pools to wait for check-in. Yeah, even though we arrived early enough to enjoy the afternoon, we were too early for our room to be ready. Enter the pool area, Miguel! He was one of the Zentropia Spa staff and was taking reservations for spa appointments. Boy, if that wasn’t right on time for our tired bones! He was all booked for the day, but said he could schedule us in for the next morning for massages and use of the spa facilities for 3 days. We set it up for the next morning.
Once we did get into our room, we mustered up enough energy to go to dinner, but couldn’t stay awake long enough to even sit through the entertainment that evening. Bedtime came very early. The next morning we were more refreshed. We walked to breakfast and then headed up the beach to one of the other resorts in our complex, White Sands. They have rooms on a small lagoon and have to take gondolas to get around.After checking out their pool and restaurants, we headed back to our resort taking a different way. We found the spa on our way, and even though we were still 2 hours early, we went in. We figured we would just hang at the spa pool until our appointment.
After putting our stuff in one of the lockers, we discovered the spa had a hydrotherapy circuit. Jackpot for us! We love hydrotherapy! In that 2 hours, I think we used everything but the cold immersion tub. (It was really just too cold!) The relaxing pediluvium was one of our favorites. You walked through on rocks and pebbles with cool water jets massaging your legs.
It really helped our sore and tired feet feel better. The rest of the circuit was very relaxing. By the time we finished and headed to the infinity pool we were so relaxed, we were both ready for naps.
Salma and Nicole came to get us, they said they would be our massage therapists for the next 80 minutes. They went through aromatherapy, acupressure, lomi lomi, and shiatsu. They started with us face down and then halfway through, we flipped to face up. It was so relaxing, I think I may have dozed off a couple of times. If you ever go to a resort with a spa and massage services, make that appointment. Your body will thank you!
When our massages were finished Salma and Nicole handed us each a glass of champagne and we returned to the infinity pool.
 What a way to end a massage session! The best part is, our spa pass is still good for two more entries to the hydrotherapy circuit. You can bet we’ll be using those before we leave here!

What's My Function and What are My Goals?

I’ve been given a new assignment in my blogging class, which is to publish my 3 goals for my blog.  I’ve interspersed them into this previously published earlier post because I felt they went together and would be more interesting than just a bullet point list.  I hope you don’t mind some regurgitation of previous material and have patience while I ramp things up.

I’m so excited!  I just got my first follower, my first REAL follower who is NOT myself nor my husband!  It means so much to me, THANKS MELANIE!  It means that maybe I am getting somewhere here.  Goal #1–I’d really like to increase my followers by 20% in the next 3 months.  I really appreciate your readership.  Just go to the menu button, enter your email address, and click follow.

Which, by the way, I have been asked, “just what exactly are you trying to accomplish?”  I guess, in retrospect, I’m not really trying to “accomplish” anything substantial.  Since researching, planning, traveling, exploring, and networking are such hobbies of mine, I guess I’m really just trying to share the knowledge.  Knowledge of what I’ve researched, what plans I’ve put in place, what places I’ve enjoyed going, maybe where I haven’t enjoyed going, the activities I’ve had the opportunities to experience, and most of all, the people I’ve met.  Goal number 2–sharing my knowledge.  I’ll share where I’ve been, but if you want to see something specific, drop me a line.  I’ll post something if I’ve been there, or maybe even add it to my to-go-to list.

You know how sometimes a certain song will bring a specific moment back up in your memory?  I have the same thing happen with certain places and people.  My first Jamaica trip to the Grand Palladium with Tracey was where I met Jeff and Terri and Sylvia and Paul.  And Sean. Jeff and Terri were there on their honeymoon, Sylvia and Paul were from Canada, and Sean was a Canadian as well but much more “party animal” than we were (congrats on your recent marriage).  I won’t bore you with all the details I can remember about and lessons I learned from these folks, but they will always be associated in memories of that first Jamaica trip.  And it would be uncouth for me to mention their last names.  I believe they know who they are and I hope share some of the same “FLAVA-FLAVE” memories.  Goal #3–keep it somewhat professional–but somewhat personal as well.  If I’ve dropped a name and you think it might be yours, ask!  I’ll let you know.

GP Jamaica

So, I suppose if you like gleaning any of the knowledge I have to share give me a like on Facebook.  Follow my blog for updates as they are published.  Share it if you think others might need an interesting read.  Let me know if you even think it’s an interesting read, or ask questions or suggest topics you’d like to hear from me about.  I love sorting through the comments!

Finally, many thanks again to my first follower–you made my day–and the new followers who have come along recently!  Also thank you to those of you who have shared your encouraging words.  I sure appreciate it and I hope you enjoy the ride!

Sincerely,

Tracey Lynn Clark (TLC)