Sunday, October 18, 2015

Washington DC 2015 Day 3

Again it was breakfast at the hotel. This time waffles, sausages, eggs, fruit, sweet potato fries and of course more coffee.  The other guests were more talkative this morning and we talked about a lot of different things with each other and with Keith the owner of the hotel.  It was interesting conversation that covered politics and economics and education and so on.  I could tell the other guests were on the conservative side and that Keith was in between on it.  I am sure I have not yet mentioned he is black but he definitely understands both side of the argument better than I ever would be able to.  

We headed out this morning to go straight to the Archives to see the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights as our primary focus. On the way we saw a bunch of children playing xylophones at a very tiny (smaller than the Billerica one) farmer's market.  We watched them play a couple of songs before continuing on to the Archives.  When we got there we had a long line of people trying to get in (you get screened for security purposes) and it probably took about half an hour or so before we were actually inside. We headed straight to the rotunda and had to wait maybe another 5 to 10 minutes to be let in to see the documents. It is tough to read the actual Declaration of Independence because it is so faded and the only signature you can really see at this point is the John Hancock.  The rest of it is just so faded it is tough to see much. They had a replica for easier reading as well as many panels of explanation.  The Constitution was more legible by far as is the Bill of Rights.  It was great to finally see them. We spent quite a while in the rotunda.  I was the guy that listened to the guards and just wandered around to see things rather than forming up in a line like a lot folks did. People didn't get bad about me pushing in around here and there though so it was cool. 

We also went to the exhibit on alcohol in the US including the Prohibition.  Downstairs we visited the exhibit which included the Magna Carta and also was a treatise on liberty and civil rights. It was very jam packed with information and took a while to go through.  We visited the Archives gift shop and then headed out for lunch.  The visit took a few hours all over again.

We had seen a restaurant called China Chilcano in our travels the previous day. It had a logo that included the Nazca lines.  Daniela wanted to go there so we headed to it. It was only a couple blocks from the Archives on 7th street.  We got in quick and were seated. I ordered a chilcano (it was a touch weak) and Daniela started with a chicha morada then on to a pisco sour. The waitress talked us into trying a tasting menu.  This would be $55. Entrees were about $15 or so so it sounded like a good deal. .She said it would be great for two people. I need to emphasize that for later.  I asked about the chef and it is Jose Andres.  He is a Spaniard and not Peruvian. I hit this as a warning sign but Daniela was still excited so we picked up the Chilcano tasting menu. I should point out the theme of the restaurant is the fusion of Peruvian, Chinese and Japanese cultures in Peru.  There is no doubt they have their own form of Chinese food called chifa.  The name suggested the restaurant would have chifa to Daniela and myself so that is partially why she wanted to try it. The idea of a bowl of chaufa which is what they call fried rice Peruvian style was very appealing to her.  The tasting menu started with a causa each.  This is a potato with meat over it dish down with yellow potatoes.  It was nice but they were very small. I bite or two at best. This was followed by a Chinese spoon of ceviche which was not really enough to get a good feeling about it. The ceviche had no spicy in it which is a must for the Peruvian. Also Daniela felt the fish was overdone in the acid though I am not sure there was enough for me to notice that. We received a pork shumai dish and a vegetable gyoza dish both off which had 4 pieces and I wasn't crazy about them too much but they weren't offense. There was a dish of aeropuerto (airport as you may have guessed) which is fried rice with noodles on top. Almost no rice in it. A cold rice noodles dish came but neither of us liked it and she said she had never seen it in Peru. Then a short fat rice noodle dish that had tomatoes and eggs. Very sweet sauce but not terrible.  There was sugar snap peas but prepared separately from either the rice or noodles. Those were decent.  The next dish was aji de gallina and it was reasonable but the texture was wrong. It did have the olive and some potato. I think it must be tough to get actual hen and prepare it correctly in the US so it was just chicken.  I liked it but I expected the aji sauce to be more creamy and accurate.  We were supposed to get lomo saltado and another saltado with shrimp but something happened and our ticket got lost we were told and over a half an hour later we still had nothing. It was getting late and we wanted to see the White House before it got dark so we had a brief conversation with the waitress and she agreed to cancel the rest of the meal and cut us down to the lower tasting menu as well as to remove a round of drinks for the extended delay that was not fixed after two attempts.  That was when the bill was handed to me and I found out the tasting menu was supposed to be per person. I can honestly say there is no way I would have ordered a tasting  menu for me at $55 in the first place but even more so when I saw the size of portions in the tasting menu. We complained to the waitress and the manager took the bill down to one order. I explained that they should word it better in the sales presentation as well as on the menu. The manager said they would work on that.  Longest paragraph in the trip and it is about a restaurant. I would say the idea was a good one. And I know Daniela was excited about having Peruvian food but we both left disappointed and upset in the long run.  Worse yet later in the day we both felt funny to the stomach. Basic statement is. Do not go to China Chilcano for 2 reasons.  One it is not really accurate to Peru. Two it was not really a good experience for us for more than just the inaccuracies (we saw the lomo saltado someone ordered had potato chips instead of French fries).

After this failure we marched on to the White house which was just down Pennsylvania Avenue of course. It took maybe 20 minutes from there and we walked around back and then to the front side of it. We found out you can petition your congressman for a chance to visit the White House but we didn't do that before we left so we will do that in a follow visit where we have more time. There are definitely too many museums to visit for a two day trip.  By the time we were done taking pictures we both spoke about our stomach discomfort and decided to head back to the hotel to have some tea bu ton the way found our first and only gift shop in the streets of DC called White House Gifts. So we went in and bought a couple things and had our pictures taken on their presidential sets.  It was cute. Then we headed back to the hotel. We had some tea then I started to write blog entries and decided I was too tired before I finished so went to bed. Daniela had a little bit of stuff to type up as well. I do not feel we did near as much as the day before but we literally lost over 2 and a half hours at the restaurant when all was said and done there and it ate up most of the prime time to do anything.

Saturday, October 17, 2015

Washington DC 2015 Day 2

We started off the day with a breakfast in the Mount Vernon Square Bed and Breakfast. They served sausages, toasted croissants, grits with cheese, scrambled eggs, home fries and fresh fruits.  I had a couple of cups of coffee too.  The food was enjoyable. This morning the other guests all talked only with their own couples so it was a quiet breakfast that passed by.

We got out to the streets and immediately took Keith's directions towards the National Mall as heading to 7th street and working our way down from there. You pass by the Verizon Center but on the way we found the Smithsonian National Art Gallery and Portraits Museum. It was just about to open for the day so we decided to wait the few minutes then entered

Inside the portraits gallery we barely made it through half of the first floor. We went through the modern portraits of celebrities which was mostly photography but there was a painting of Katy Perry (odd choice I felt). After you pass through that it is historical figures working their way forward from the colonial times into the American Civil War and all areas in between. There were portraits of many individuals from Massachusetts and I made sure to read the information beside the pictures for all of those.  I did skip on some folks that made little impact to my memory from other places a bit.  Even then with a fair amount of skipping we took around 3 and a half hours to get the distance we made and decided to get out and have lunch. We went simple and both of us chose to eat from different food trucks right outside the museum.  I had a Philly cheese steak from Phamous Phillies. Daniela got a lamb gyro plate from a Greek food truck. My sandwich was really quite good. Daniela appeared to like her food a lot too. We got there just in time as the trucks were preparing to end their day.

From there we walked to the National Mall by starting out heading toward the Capitol building.  We took pictures from several angles and postulated what was on top of the dome.  It was a bit hard to see because of the work being done on the dome right now but apparently it is a bronze statue of "Freedom."  That I know from Google (how else).  I thought it looked like a skeksi from The Dark Crystal at the angle we could see it from.

We worked our way through the greens area and on to the Washington Monument. We found you can go up to the top but only a very limited number of tickets are issued in the morning and you have to get there very early to get any tickets later on in the day but at least it was nice to be up close to it. If I recall, on my last trip it was roped off because of damage from the recent earthquake.

On we headed to the World War II memorial which is newer in the grounds and in between the Washington and Lincoln monuments.  It is quite large and different from other war memorials in the sense that it is one we can list as a total victory for the USA.  WWI was too limited for us by the time we got into it.  The Civil War has defeat coupled with victory in many respects so it also has some limitations.  I think also there is some significance in the location.  We circled that around then continued our way to the Lincoln Memorial.  When we got there we found there was a tour starting at 6pm run by a US National Park Ranger so I ran up quick and took some pictures while Daniela waited at the sign.  When I got back the ranger was there and she started a tour with maybe 8 of us. This tour is provided free of charge.

The ranger was named Joann and she was originally from Texas where initially she became a ranger at Carlsbad Caverns.  She has been in DC as a guide for 4 years she said. She took us up and around the Lincoln monument and explained about its design and purpose and about the significance of the statue of Lincoln itself as well as the two quotes on the walls inside the monument.  I think Lincoln was a tougher subject for her because she struggled a little bit but she did a good job all the same.

From Lincoln we traveled to the Korean War Memorial. It was already dark by this time and the statues almost looked like ghosts in the darkness. There are 19 statues and 19 panels of etched images on stone in the monument to signify the 38th parallel that was being protected in the Korean "police action" which never officially had the US declare war.  She definitely picked up steam in explaining about the statues and the quotes in the monument.

Then it was on to t he Vietnam War Memorial which is of course the giant list of names of all the soldiers who died of wounds from the Vietnam War.  It is capped off on either end by statues of soldiers and of nurses and is meant to be set in a circle. The beginning and end of the war are both in the middle of the large wall that contains all the names.  It was a bit dark and there were few people around but it is still significant to see it right in front of your eyes.  There were gits left to names there that the guide said are being housed until a museum is complete to display the items. She said one person left a Harley Davidson motorcycle there in tribute to someone fallen in the Vietnam War.

We finished off her tour at the World War II memorial she explained the ordering of the state and territory names in the monument as the order the states and territories joined the US. Of course Massachusetts was one of the Original 13 states so very close to the center which is the seat of honor as it were.  The seat of honor being the stars that each represented 100 dead soldiers in WWII.  That means that there were over 4000 stars in the monument.  When she finished we had lost maybe one or two but still there were 6 of us. She radioed on to a guide at the Martin Luther King jr monument who was going to start an 8pm tour and he waited for us to get there.

This ranger's name was Lowell and he was an elderly man that was so very enthusiastic and entertaining that he captivated more than the official 4 of us that were on the tour at every stop we took. He told his stories in such an animated fashion that you couldn't help but listen to him.  He preached a little bit but in a good way about the responsibilities of the individual to keep moving forward those things that were started by people like Martin Luther King jr, FDR and Thomas Jefferson which were the three monuments on his tour.

He explained about the monument of MLK jr first. This is the newest monument in the Mall and was dedicated late due to earthquake and hurricane causing slight issues in its year of opening which was 2011 I am pretty sure. The moment consists of a mountain which had MLK as part of it but broken free.  Also there are two wings with many of his quotes running up and down each side. It is definitely more interested to enter through the mountain and come around to see the statue of the man than  if we had seen it from the other direction I think.

From MLK we moved on to FDR. He was quite funny through FDR which is a rather large monument that is spread out over a fair distance as it has "rooms" that express the different terms of Roosevelt as president.  From election through the Great Depression and the New Deal and on to WWII and to his death. Lowell most definitely liked FDR as a character in history and had many stories and quotes to share. He said something at each room and as I said he picked up large crowds that stayed until  he was done. He was like a born entertainer.

Between Roosevelt and Jefferson we found out he had  degree in history and said the was embarrassed they paid him to do his job he loved it so much. We chatted about a few different things as the walk between the two monuments takes a few minutes. He knew the proper greeting in Quechua which shocked Daniela (at the end of the our I recorded him saying it for her).  On to Thomas Jefferson which is a single round Roman Pantheon style building he brought us in and explained a bit about the man whom he said he didn't like because he had no sense of humor.  Again we picked up a large crowd of folks who listened to his speech.  He had a few people come over and thank him for what he did while there. It was very funny but I get the feeling the park rangers consider him like that strange uncle you have that needs a little but of caring but is really great to have around. They sent another ranger to help him get back to his car but  he said he was all set.  He helped us got on track to head back to the hotel as well. We really were fans of him as a guide and he is among one of the favorites I've ever had.

Daniela was freezing by this point because Lowell had loaned her his inner fleece jacket for the duration of his tour and she had to give it back. So we took a taxi back to the hotel and she got her own jacket then walked back down to Busboys and Poets (because it was already past 11pm to get something quick to eat.  Daniela had a chicken barley soup and hot chocolate and I had a bacon cheeseburger and a beer.  After we finished eating it was straight back to the hotel to crash for the night from exhaustion. It was a very long day with a very large amount of standing and walking.

Friday, October 16, 2015

Washington DC 2015 Day 1

This trip started with a business trip to Newark, Delaware which finished on Thursday at about noontime. We had already landed on Monday and rented the car and spent the past couple nights in Newark with me involved in a service focused conference which was a great experience and a lot of fun besides.

After getting dropped off at the hotel by my boss we basically got our stuff and packed into the car for a drive down to DC. Since we were leaving at about 1pm the traffic would not be so bad I hoped but there was going to be road construction I was sure.  I didn't bring an actual GPS so we used my phone as a GPS. It gave me a couple of detour around traffic suggestions (I don't have Waze and was just using Google Maps which I think worked fine).  It took us probably about 2 hours and 15 minutes to get there. The ride was basically uneventful. The last 4 miles through downtown DC were basically the lengthy feeling part as we hit a lot of traffic lights and the roads were narrow.

We got to the hotel and drove around the block twice before I settled on a place to park.  We had to walk a short distance from there and ring the doorbell but we didn't bring our bags because the sign for the Mount Vernon Square Bed and Breakfast was not very large and we wanted to be sure it was the correct place.  We were met at the door by Keith who owns the place. He had me pull the car up to an illegal parking space on the corner to get the bags out then checked us into the room. He gave us a tour of the facility. We are in the Terrace room which does actually have a terrace. He said he does not advertise it because it is not much. Really it is just a nice large place where you can hang out with a small plastic table and chairs. It is starting fall and there are a few leaves and things there.  Still it is nice to have access to outside. Technically terrace has access to the roof by a spiral staircase too but he told us not to go up there so we won't.  After he got us settled he helped me park the car in a private parking area attached to the building (no charge that I know of).  I had to back into a very tight spot but he said we would not need to move the car for the rest of our DC trip because the National Mall is only a 20 minute walk away which was what I was aiming for from the place.

The room is very large. The building is from a bygone era but it adds to the charm feeling like an old brownstone from a wealthier family. He helped me with a map of the area with markings to a few things. We found out he is a hypnotist and gives 2 free hypnosis sessions to guests too. Daniela said he bought the house on auction while it was in really bad shape and he and his wife fixed it up. When they divorced he decided to make it into the bed and breakfast. I think he has done a great job with the decor and feel of the place.  The one oddity is that our private bathroom is on the second floor even though the Terrace Room is on the third floor. It is lockable from the inside and I suspect all the other rooms have their bathrooms internally, it is a quirk that there is no room for the bathroom upstairs or something. The bathroom is very large and much nicer than the bathroom we just had at the Embassy Suites in Newark, DE. It has a shower with a lot of options for regular shower head or water pick and more. There is a lot of room in it too. I am willing to bet a lot of people would be bothered by the situation but as of this point it has not been an issue for us.

Daniela had to do some work for a few minutes then we headed to a local restaurant named Busboys and Poets where we had lunch/dinner. I had Ropa Vieja (shredded beef Cuban style) and Daniela had wild rice and beans with grilled chicken. I tried two local beers and Daniela had 2 fresh squeezed orange juices. The food was really good. The Belgian style beer was bland but the amber lager was quite nice.

After dinner we walked back to the hotel where Daniela unfortunately had a bit of work to do so really just called it a night by that point.

Wednesday, October 07, 2015

Jamaica 2015 Day 5

We woke up at 3:45 and I took a shower and got the luggage finished packed and outside for them to pickup for the transfer to the airport. We found the breakfast station and had a couple things and some coffee (there was not much there at 4 in the morning). We found some of the partiers still going and talked to them for a couple minutes before we had to get to the transfer bus. At the bus we had the hour and a half or so ride to the airport which was uneventful.

We got checked in to the flight bought a couple of souvenirs then checked through security and shopped a bit more but we really didn't buy anything. We found the gate and ate breakfast at the Margaritaville restaurant near our gate. I had pancakes and bacon and coffee. Daniela had an egg and cheese sandwich and juice.  We boarded and had a reasonably uneventful flight to Miami on American which was only about 1:15 in the air.

At Miami immigration and customs were some small lines but not too bad really. We got the bags rechecked for Boston then figured out that our flight was departing at 6:40pm (it was 12:30 or so) and not arriving in Boston then. So I got in touch with David and let him know. We tried to change to an earlier flight but it was not possible. We got a quick lunch at the bar and then Daniela took a nap then we wandered for a bit and Daniela had dinner because she really didn't eat the lunch at the Island Chicken restaurant. I got a frosty for dessert from the Wendy's then basically we boarded the plane.

This flight was also a little bumpy but basically uneventful and we slept through a lot of it.  By the time we deplaned and got our luggage it was maybe 10:15 and David was waiting for us and he drove us home forthwith and we really honestly just crashed as soon as we got in, not even bothering to unpack.

Jamaica 2015 Day 4

We had to wake up early yet again because it was the second day of the golf tournament. I went downstairs and had breakfast after showering and Daniela tried to catch up in time and at least got some fruit. We took the bus to the course where they started us off with a group picture at the back stairs of the clubhouse.  The camera would be too close so they tried to prop up a ladder for the photographer to climb to take pictures. There were small trees in the way so they tried to have a bunch of guys hold it up and of course they dropped the ladder and the photographer fell. Fortunately no one got hurt but all of us were wide eyed as they tried this stunt. Fortunately the found a step ladder for a second try and were able to get the picture.  We had a few moments for a bit more coffee of fruit and then off to meet up with Alfred and Shirley again.

They took us out to hole 7 and we started the same 18 holes for the second day of the tournament.  I started out poorly again. I was hoping I had learned enough to become somewhat better by  the start of day 2 but it seemed it was not to be. The drink cart girl showed up and I picked up a couple Red Stripes and started to drink them and surprisingly I started to play better once I took the first sip.  I am not saying I was a pro but I certain was back where I had finished up the day before and gaining a little bit more ability. Juan continued to play but his wife didn't. Juan unfortunately still hadn't learned much and no matter what anyone told him he kept on trying to do things his own way, the same way so really he made teeny improvement but not much. Daniela was getting consistent at hitting the ball and by far was our best putter. She made several of the longest putts we had to make during the day.  We played to probably about hole 2 (around from  7 through 18 and back to 1 again to finish) but Juan and Yanina didn't want to continue because they were afraid we were going to miss a bus back and  not be able to take the excursion they booked. When we got back and found out it was no big deal, Alfred took Daniela and I back out and we finished the last 5 holes really quickly. I was still having some issues and I have a massive left hand slice but still I was making bogies in general.  Alfred rocked and we greatly appreciated all his help. During the course of day two he teased Daniela about the way she laughed and it was very funny.  When we finished up we said goodbye and found that the bus which had the other couple was still waiting so we boarded and got back at the same time as they did.

When we returned one of the Sandals agents, told us they had free spaces on the Dolphin Cove excursion because of cancellations and we were able to sign on and get ready quickly and go to that. The ride was maybe 20 minutes, just a bit beyond Ochi.  We got there and were immediately taken to the prep area and were immediately asked to get our life vests on and get into the water. We had one dolphin in the area. The guide spoke Spanish so I didn't get the name of the dolphin. We weren't allowed cameras or videos during the time. They had their own team to do that. We got pet and kiss and ride the dolphin as at swam among the various things we did. It was maybe 25 minutes to half an hour in the water with the creature but what do you expect for free I guess. Then we had to wait for the bus. They sent us to the picture shack where we found they wanted to charge us $100US for pictures and videos of only 2 people from the tour. We tried to talk them into selling us all for same price so we could split it up but they wouldn't budge so we didn't buy anything. No digital pictures and video is worth $100 that I can think of in this circumstance. I would gladly have paid up to $25 but that was just far too expensive.  When we got to the bus we had to wait for another tour seeing the Jamaican Bobsled area which is Mystic Mountain.  They however started late and we were getting pressed for time and were able to convince the driver to get someone else to get them and drive us back.  So we got back at maybe 5:30 and had to get ready for a party at Ochi where the buses were supposed to depart at 6:15.

The theme of the party was the 20s. We had costumes that were reasonable for the concept as did most of the guests we found out.  We were probably 6:45 by the time we were ready but they still had the one bus to wait for us because a few people had the late excursion issues.  So we piled in and were driven to Ochi where they had a bar set up with the 20s theme. It was well done but it started to rain and they moved us indoors to another bar where the actual guests were a bit surprised to see us all in our costumes. After a few minutes we were brought in for the awards dinner. The hosts spoke about the tournament and Latin American travel agents and a lot of other things though they weren't too long. They gave out awards for the golf tournament. No we didn't win anything.  The dinner started with a trio of appetizers including some fish ceviche (though not Peruvian style).  The main course was a fish wrapped in banana leaves coupled with what they called beef anticuchos or basically skewered meat.  The dessert was a mousse with checkerboard cake. It was all very good and I ate all of it to the clean plate status (except for the banana leaves).  They had a jazz band playing during the dinner and awards time and I got them to play a Sinatra tune which  turned out to be My Way and Daniela and I danced. We said it was our anniversary.  One of the other travel agents got to the microphone and sang my way in Spanish when he realized what song it was. He had an excellent voice. Daniela almost cried through it.

After the meal was over we headed to the Rabbit Hole which is a "speakeasy" bar at Ochi with a big round looking door. We got in and found a place to sit along with a couple of Mexican couples and talked with them about various subjects and had a couple of drinks until they told us the last bus was leaving at about 11:50. When we got back to the room we got ourselves organized and packed and Daniela got her shower before we got maybe an hour and a half or so of sleep to wake up and get ready for the trip back home.

Saturday, October 03, 2015

Jamaica 2015 Day 3

We had to get up and be prepared for breakfast at 7am because today was the first day of the golf tournament.  We made it in time to get something to eat then we had to load onto buses and were driven the 15 minutes or so until we were at the Sandals course in Ocho Rios.  There we were given a chance to get more coffee of quick food (mostly fruit) while the sorted everything out. We were supposed to wear team colors (meaning country colors) for the first day of the tournament. Daniela and I had some Peru shirts that we basically made (not easy to get Peru shirts of the correct color i Boston), but I started out with a Captain America T-Shirt which most folks laughed at quite well. I did indeed switch to Peru colors before we took the group picture and started and all of that though.

We were split up into teams by nationality so we had a couple from Peru where he was a travel agent but she worked for Avianca Airlines.  They were Juan and Yanina. Our caddies were Alfred and Shirley. They were there to give us advise and help us through the game.  We started at hole 7 and had to play through all 18 holes in the course. There were 17 teams and it would have taken to long everyone from 1.  I started as poorly as you would expect with balls rolling on the ground. Eventually though I was doing a fair bit better by the end. I would not say I was good but I was definitely much improved. Alfred did a lot to help me through it all. I still have a fair slice to the left, but it is not as bad as when I started.  We also met a golf pro from the course who played a couple holes with us and  gave us tips and helped us score better for those holes towards the end.  He could easily hit the ball 250 yards plus. He was left handed also which was neat though the last shot he did was right handed using someone else's club and he still hit that as far as the left handed shots he was making. Quite impressive.

The tournament for the day took a few hours and we were among the last teams to finish (not the last but later).  We got the bus back to the hotel and I crashed for the rest of the afternoon while Daniela went down to the beach and the pool. At 8pm we went to the dinner which was buffet Mexican downstairs in the hotel.The chili and the fajitas were good. After that was a couple hours of Fiesta Latina with a DJ who didn't know enough about Latin music but they survived. The party was supposed to move on to Liquid night club in the hotel but it is such a small night club one of the Sandals people called it the closet. We decided to go to the piano bar and have a drink. The pianist played a couple of songs for us and then left. We stayed outside for a few more minutes then headed to the room to get some well deserved sleep after a long day.

Friday, October 02, 2015

Jamaica 2015 Day 2

We had to wake up and be in the hotel restaurant by 7:30 and we were mostly on time. They had a Sesame Street themed breakfast for all of the participants on this trip with all of the decorations set up and a small presentation with a bunch of the characters. They also had clowns making balloon animals and you could pose for pictures with the Sesame Street characters.  The breakfast was buffet but with a couple of egg stations.  It was reasonably good and definitely more American style than anything else with eggs, pancakes, bacon, sausage and the like.

After breakfast we began our tour of the Beaches Ochos Rios location with an employee of the resort who took us around and showed us the various features of the property. Beaches is definitely geared towards families with kids but it is possible for a couple or a group to have a good time without kids there.  I believe this is a down season for them and the place is mostly empty so they are doing some renovations. I assume Beaches is less expensive than other Sandals resorts.  The place has the theme stuff like the Sesame Street characters but also has all sorts of places for children of different ages as well as nannies and the like to let parents have some time without the children.

After our tour of the Beaches location we were taken on bus to Sandals Ochi property about 15 minutes away and did a tour of those grounds. Meant for people who don't have kids this is the standard all inclusive resort. It has a bunch of restaurants and a beach club as well as a ton of pools. This tour took us around for about 45 minutes or so. We got to see sample rooms as well as other parts of the resort.

From there we were brought to Sandals Plantation location where we first had a buffet lunch that included jerk chicken and jerk pork among other things.  I liked it quite a bit though I think the statement it was spicy did not make sense to most of the Latinos there. They have a different idea of spicy and I agree it was not really that spicy. Not sure how it would be away from a resort.  After the lunch we had a presentation on selling Sandals resorts to people getting married with destination weddings or for honeymooners.

After the presentation we were given a tour of the Plantation resort which was the high end place. They have the really expensive rooms including multiparty suites.  I believe everything there is butler level service and definitely they have access to places in the other resorts as well by shuttle buses.  When we were done the tour we were brought back to the room and we had our afternoon free.

We spent the afternoon at the pool. I sat at the pool bar and talked football for a while as Daniela just swam around and stayed in the water also.  We also bought a couple knickknack things from some sellers there near the pool.

We got cleaned up and ready for our nice night out dinner. We didn't get a chance to pick Kimonos, the teppanyaki restaurant when we selected our location but were able to switch into it when we got downstairs because of some cancellations. The food was really good but our chef was not really so much on the show just yet so I would have to say the two canceled each other out for how I would rate it.  It appeared other tables has much more active and fun chefs. I think the fact a bunch of folks that weren't supposed to go to Kimonos also jumped on and they served them put them short enough of the properly trained chefs that we sort of got stiffed.  But they served chicken, steak and mahi-mahi as the grilled stuff along with rice and vegetables. I had a couple beers.

After we ate we moved on to finding a place to hang out. The group went to a disco which was loud and Daniela and I found a piano bar. We did make it back to the bus in time and were taken back to the hotel where we again tried a disco and found he did not have enough alcohol for some reason and changed over to another piano bar where a lot of folks stayed until fairly early in the morning.  It was a fun time but we had to get up for the next day's events soon.

Thursday, October 01, 2015

Jamaica 2015 Day 1

We had a very early wake up time (3am) to get to the airport for our flight. The way out was Delta and the return would be American Airlines because that was the way to make it cheapest with reasonable arrival and departure times. Beth drove us to the airport and headed into the office early.  We had a moderately long check-in line because we needed to see the desk due to returning on a different airline but still we were through security reasonably easy. I got TSA Pre but they let me through as though I had it even though I couldn't go through that line with Daniela.  I did not have to remove my shoes and did the metal detector rather than backscatter xray.

The flight boarded on time and we ended up getting delayed 15 minutes due to a faulty temperature sensor on a brake. However we slept through the flight to JFK and it was easy.  At JFK we had a brief layover where we are able to got some food then we moved on to boarding where again we could be on time except that while everyone was boarded they weren't ready with the luggage and we had to wait 10 minutes which killed us another half an hour as we got pushed back in line to take off.  I watched Ted 2 and San Andreas during the flight which was supposed to be 3.5 hours but with the take off delays we were in the plane for about 4 or so from when they turned on the entertainment. There were a few bumps on this 737 flight but otherwise it was rather plane.  Ted 2 was good but I still liked the first better and San Andreas was exactly what I expected it to be.

When we arrived we took a bit to get through immigration then got our bag then customs was quick and then we met up with the Sandals people and had to wait maybe half an hour before we got on our bus to Ocho Rios. The ride was about an hour and a half or so? The driver or guide told us about the island some.  We arrived to Beaches Ocho Rios at about 5 I think. We had a short span to get checked in for the events and the hotel then we had an hour and half to rest.

At 6:30 we saw the Sesame Street parade then headed to the water park for buffet dinner and then a dance/pool party for the rest of the night. There was a lot of food including seafood and meats. The food was really good. The chicken, lamb and beef were being cooked at grills.  All the rest was already laid out. We had a red stripe beer as there was a cocktail moment at the end of the parade that was pretty much all the alcohol.

It was then dancing and hanging out for the rest of the night until we crashed hard from exhaustion when we got back to the room.