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Well, as of about 1930 last night, we made it back from our trip.
Lemme give you a rundown as to the highlights:
Friday 9 April - The unofficial start to our little vacation. Colleen and I each had the day off. We had lunch with my parents at O'Connor's (after a small debacle with the staff at West Boylston Seafood Company), then went right back into finishing up with the packing. We went to the Palladium to see The Machine. Good show. We were out of there just before midnight, so we managed to get some sleep.
Saturday 10 April - Packed up the car. After needing to move the bed, we managed to get Julius (or 20lb Maine Coon) into the car (with the usual fussing and noise), and we were off by 745. Even with all the stops we made for bathroom and food (Molly Pritchard stop on the Jersey Turnpike for hush puppies from Arthur Treacher's), we made it to Manassas VA in just around 8 hours. Woohoo! Went to dinner at a nice little Mexican place (La Tolteca) where they make some of the best enchiladas around. Eschanged Easter gifts with her family. Colleen got the new Cure CD box set, and I got the Stargate SG-1 RPG from her parents.
Sunday 11 April - Easter Sunday. First stop was at Colleen's aunt's house for an early afternoon Easter feast. Both of her paternal aunts and her paternal uncle (along with various SOs) were there. After that, it was to her maternal grandparents' house for a later meal with her mother's side of the family. (Those of you who were at the wedding in VA -- all one of you, I think -- would remember all of these people, especially her grans, who are such a hoot.) We stayed overnight at a hotel near the airport, since we had to get up damned early in the morning... Didn't get a lot of sleep though...
Monday 12 April - I think we were on the 530 shuttle to the airport to get checked in around 600 for our flight. After that, it was a lot of hanging around until about 800 or 815 or so before we were herded onto the plane. The actual flight, while a bit bumpy, wasn't too bad. We got there in just over three hours. Then came the bus ride from the airport in Montego Bay to the resort in Ocho Rios. I expected a long trip, but this was uncomfortable. The driver was taking everything rather slowly. I think the busride took nearly 2.5-3 hours, or at least it felt like it. However, we made it there in one piece. Our room was on the Concierge Level, so there was a personal assistant for everyone on that level to arrange things for us. I quite liked the room, though I wish that it faced the oceanside. We also had a couple of other perks over the other people in our party (eight of us in total -- me, Colleen, her parents, and two other couples who are good friends of C's parents), like a minibar and turn-down service. The whole place took a little getting used to at first, but we managed. :)
Tuesday 13 April - First full day there. Soaked up a bit of sun, but didn't tan. The water at the beach was rather cold to start, but you slowly get used to it.
Truthfully, some of the activities on the following days were a bit of a blur, they just kind of blended in with each other.
During the last few days, though, the wind did kick up a bit, and the surf started to get choppy. They actually closed the beach (what there is of it, it's not a really big strip of land) for a couple of days since the water was coming right up to the building. Colleen did get to try two pool bars, and we did the jacuzzi thing. Breakfast and lunch each day was buffet style with different choices each day, and dinners were at the set restaurants. All in all, the food wasn't too bad. We made a couple of off-resort excursions, but only to other Sandals/Beaches points that were nearby. The weather was pretty good, apart from the aforementioned wind and a spat or three of rain.
Colleen and I had $250 in room credit to spend on various things on the resort. We managed to knock it down to $0.16 after a rather fruitful trip to the gift shop, spending it on the obligatory t-shirts and gifts for people. The prices were rather reasonable.
Sunday 18 April - Departure day. Board the bus to MoBay to get ot the airport around noon. Fast drive there. Baggage and boarding passes were taken care of at the resort, so all we had to do was go through security and wait. Hit the duty-free shop (big bottles of Midori and Drambuie at excellent prices), and met the captain of the Jamaican Bobsled Team. Flight back was very smooth, though only two of the bathrooms in coach were operable. Got back to Manassas without any troubles whatsoever around 2330 or so.
Monday 19 April - Car packed, and we're off for home by 1030. Julius was being a whiney-heinie, but still lovable. Made it home around 1930, everything back up in the flat by 2000.
And now, it's back to the grind...
Lemme give you a rundown as to the highlights:
Friday 9 April - The unofficial start to our little vacation. Colleen and I each had the day off. We had lunch with my parents at O'Connor's (after a small debacle with the staff at West Boylston Seafood Company), then went right back into finishing up with the packing. We went to the Palladium to see The Machine. Good show. We were out of there just before midnight, so we managed to get some sleep.
Saturday 10 April - Packed up the car. After needing to move the bed, we managed to get Julius (or 20lb Maine Coon) into the car (with the usual fussing and noise), and we were off by 745. Even with all the stops we made for bathroom and food (Molly Pritchard stop on the Jersey Turnpike for hush puppies from Arthur Treacher's), we made it to Manassas VA in just around 8 hours. Woohoo! Went to dinner at a nice little Mexican place (La Tolteca) where they make some of the best enchiladas around. Eschanged Easter gifts with her family. Colleen got the new Cure CD box set, and I got the Stargate SG-1 RPG from her parents.
Sunday 11 April - Easter Sunday. First stop was at Colleen's aunt's house for an early afternoon Easter feast. Both of her paternal aunts and her paternal uncle (along with various SOs) were there. After that, it was to her maternal grandparents' house for a later meal with her mother's side of the family. (Those of you who were at the wedding in VA -- all one of you, I think -- would remember all of these people, especially her grans, who are such a hoot.) We stayed overnight at a hotel near the airport, since we had to get up damned early in the morning... Didn't get a lot of sleep though...
Monday 12 April - I think we were on the 530 shuttle to the airport to get checked in around 600 for our flight. After that, it was a lot of hanging around until about 800 or 815 or so before we were herded onto the plane. The actual flight, while a bit bumpy, wasn't too bad. We got there in just over three hours. Then came the bus ride from the airport in Montego Bay to the resort in Ocho Rios. I expected a long trip, but this was uncomfortable. The driver was taking everything rather slowly. I think the busride took nearly 2.5-3 hours, or at least it felt like it. However, we made it there in one piece. Our room was on the Concierge Level, so there was a personal assistant for everyone on that level to arrange things for us. I quite liked the room, though I wish that it faced the oceanside. We also had a couple of other perks over the other people in our party (eight of us in total -- me, Colleen, her parents, and two other couples who are good friends of C's parents), like a minibar and turn-down service. The whole place took a little getting used to at first, but we managed. :)
Tuesday 13 April - First full day there. Soaked up a bit of sun, but didn't tan. The water at the beach was rather cold to start, but you slowly get used to it.
Truthfully, some of the activities on the following days were a bit of a blur, they just kind of blended in with each other.
During the last few days, though, the wind did kick up a bit, and the surf started to get choppy. They actually closed the beach (what there is of it, it's not a really big strip of land) for a couple of days since the water was coming right up to the building. Colleen did get to try two pool bars, and we did the jacuzzi thing. Breakfast and lunch each day was buffet style with different choices each day, and dinners were at the set restaurants. All in all, the food wasn't too bad. We made a couple of off-resort excursions, but only to other Sandals/Beaches points that were nearby. The weather was pretty good, apart from the aforementioned wind and a spat or three of rain.
Colleen and I had $250 in room credit to spend on various things on the resort. We managed to knock it down to $0.16 after a rather fruitful trip to the gift shop, spending it on the obligatory t-shirts and gifts for people. The prices were rather reasonable.
Sunday 18 April - Departure day. Board the bus to MoBay to get ot the airport around noon. Fast drive there. Baggage and boarding passes were taken care of at the resort, so all we had to do was go through security and wait. Hit the duty-free shop (big bottles of Midori and Drambuie at excellent prices), and met the captain of the Jamaican Bobsled Team. Flight back was very smooth, though only two of the bathrooms in coach were operable. Got back to Manassas without any troubles whatsoever around 2330 or so.
Monday 19 April - Car packed, and we're off for home by 1030. Julius was being a whiney-heinie, but still lovable. Made it home around 1930, everything back up in the flat by 2000.
And now, it's back to the grind...