Coming to Jamaica
There’s something about cheap travel that you really have to think about before you indulge in it and that would be the timing of your flights. Because, let’s face it, if you have enough money, you can travel where you want on your own terms and with the best available connections, departures and arrivals.
When you’re a cheap skate (or simply have too many kids) you do things like take the plane that leaves Calgary at 12:30am and arrives in Toronto at 4:30am. And then have the 3 hour wait until the plane departs for Jamaica with tired kids strung out in an airport.
And as with so many of these things, I started this in one place and now find myself finishing it off in a completely different one, both mentally and physically. Often that will mean that the starting portion gets cropped out somewhere in the extraordinarily brief editing process that I use, but today I decided to let it stand, because there is a distinct reversal of emotion from when I started to when I now sit here completing this little piece.
At the time that I started, I was on a plane somewhere between Toronto and Jamaica (Montego Bay to be precise) and so still carried closely and personally the scars that one accumulates with small children gathered in a very public place without access to anything that they actually want to do (ie they have plenty that can be done, but chose for those moment that there is sweet nothing that they want to do.
Whereas at this precise moment in time (2112 hrs on the25th of February for those that care about these things – and probably less now) I am sat upon a reclining wooden chair on the balcony of our accommodation at the FDR resort in Jamaica. I am also at this point on the good side of a reasonable number of Appleton Rums with half a cold red stripe lager beside me to help see me through to the end of the evening and if it is an auspicious evening, possibly even the end of this post, though the fact that I’ve just had to deleted approximately 20 o’s for the second time in as many minutes doesn’t bode well for a coherent culmination to my literary efforts.
We arrived in Jamaica to the pleasant discomfort of being somewhat warm, having dressed at least in part to cope with the departure temperatures of Fort McMurray …-30C.’
Bring on the temperatures that we landed to, +28C
---------
Especially as I am not continuing this 3 days later. I have to say that the rum and noddies got the better of me and I simply wasn’t in a position to continue typing. Fortunately I left myself some notes as to what it was that I was going to write about. One of those is ‘remixed version of the chicken dance’ and for a rew moments there I was a little mystified as to what on earth that meant. I have however just remembered. They have a section here at the resort where they put a kids buffet on every night so that you can feed your kids before caring about yourself and worrying if there’s anything on the menu that they might like.
We sat in there on the first night and they have some music going. So during dinner, we were subjected to/entertained by a remixed version of the chicken dance, complete with some kids that decided that they would like to do the dance as well. Combine that with the ‘books of the bible song’ and you’re in for an interesting evening’s entertainment to say the least.
Quite late on our first day here, we discovered that there was going to be a ‘mini miss’ fashion parade and of course, because she heard about it, our mini miss decided that she really wanted to be a part of it. It consisted of three sections, the swimwear, sportswear and formal wear sections combined with a brief talent showing as well. Emily decided to sing.
She did incredibly well in front of a crowd of strangers in a foreign country, though her choice of song was somewhat amusing. When one considers that we’re in the tropics for the sun, “I love Christmas Morning” does seem just a little bit out of place! She had fun though and that’s what it’s all about
As you may have noticed from the first post that I put up from Jamaica (strangely under the influence of rum once again) we went horse riding along the beach. It was fantastic, especially as we didn’t just go along the beach, but took the horses into the water as well. We managed to get as deep as my crotch at one point which Thomas duly pointed out meant that the particular wave in question was up to his chest! But unlike one of the guides that was riding bareback, Thomas’ horse didn’t stumble and drop him in the drink.
And of course, the little pink thing spent the entire ride with a grin from ear to ear.
Until today, the rest of the holiday has been all about what it should be … not doing much at all. Drinking dacquiri’s by the pool, soaking in the sun and the kids entertaining themselves however they so choose. Its been an absolute delight.
Today we opted to get out of the resort for a while and went on a shopping expedition in town. It was fun, though it was predominantly an exercise in haggling and getting harassed. We managed to walk away with a few things that we felt we hadn’t paid too much for, probably because we managed to escape from the resort with only Thomas in tow … the joys of a nanny at your service for most of the day every day!
Then, this afternoon, we joined in on a snorkeling trip out in the glass bottom boat. That was fabulous, swimming in a nice warm ocean, watching beautiful fish in their natural environment. It really helped us to appreciate just how lucky we are to be here.
Anyway, its time for bed. So I’ll get this posted and wish you all the best from Jamaica!
No comments:
Post a Comment