B-Rod flew back home today. He heads to work Saturday, but there are only flights out for us on Wednesday’s and Saturday’s. All of our flights back look wide open (with little to no chance of them filling up last minute like our flights to London did). I think (though I could be biased!) that B & I make a good travel team. His strengths are making friends and sussing out the local information … though group tours have some benefits, we’ve discovered that for various reasons, we’re not really group tour kind of people. … and I’m good at logistics, making things happen and finding decent affordable places to stay and things to do last minute. Having said that, we both agree that we would make a horrible team if we entered The Amazing Race.
As we left the Toronto airport on Saturday, I found and booked a place for us to stay. We had no idea if the booking went through or where exactly it was until we got through customs. Found some WiFi which was spotty at best (seems to be common throughout the island) and found a cab. That in itself was an adventure as the cab driver didn’t know where it was (it’s a private residence through Airbnb on a mainly resort island), and signage here is not always clear! We’re staying in our own apartment a couple blocks away from the ocean/beach with pool “access” (you’ll have to ask one of us for details about that … don’t really want to get into it here). The owners are French Canadians and they are AWESOME. Super friendly, super generous, super helpful and just all around good peeps. It definitely helps to have a local perspective and suggestions of things to see and do.
We’ve rented a car and that has helped to get us out seeing things and away from the resort touristy area. It’s been fun travelling with newbie travellers as it reminds me of the newness, wonder and excitement of getting to and exploring a new place. I don’t think it’s something I take for granted as I’ve been fortunate to do this a few times, but it reminds me of how extra exciting/intimidating it was the first few times I did it on my own.
Some of our firsts:
All of us – visiting the Turks & Caicos, changing our minds last minute/mid-flight journey and ending up in a completely different place than we planned, swimming in phosphorescence in the ocean at night, eating conch
B-Rod – paddle boarding
SAS & Nate-dog – first stamp on a passport, experiencing white sand beaches, floating in saltwater, body surfing, tropical storm, getting to a destination that they can’t drive to, staying at a place through Airbnb
Nate-dog – leaving the airplane and ending up outside, driving a right hand drive vehicle on the left side of the road, wearing flip-flops (I’m confident this last one will be life changing!!!)
Thanks for the good times B-Rod!! It will still b fun, but it won’t be the same without you.
Our pad for the week (in the bottom suite). It’s been awesome so far.
We’ve started to develop a few routines. I’m the early riser of the group, so I start the day with a swim & hanging out for a bit at “our” beach.
We spend the day exploring and 7-7:30ish we try to catch the sunset.
After supper, we spend the evening swimming in the ocean & hanging out at “our” pool and hot tub.
This is the rental cr we’ve been using.
This is the rental car Nate-dog wanted to use.
We let the boys drive on these roads, and …
… we hang out in the back.
Some sights around the island
This was a conch farm. 100% of what is raised here gets sent off island.
This particular conch’s name was Salli. Of course I had to get a pic with the two Salli’s … I mean Salli & SAS.
We were here for international yoga day. Handies … nailed ’em!
Had to have some conch here, since we knew we could get the wild stuff.
My breakfast …
… Nate-dog’s ideal breakfast 😄. I’m trying to convert him to fruits & veggies and he’s trying to convert me to sweets.
Last pic with B-Rod before he boarded the plane.
We’ll miss you B!
