You know, the days leading up to all of our vacations seem to work out the same way. We make a list of things to do and plan to do them early so we don’t have a mad rush the night before the trip. We always do it, and it is not pretty. NOTHING beats our 2007 early morning Ride of the Valkryies to JFK. We stayed up all night packing, left late, and I drove so fast, we made it to Jamaica Queens in an hour. From our house.
Unfortunately this trip was no different. We were swamped with finishing work before leaving (I was still doing work at 1 AM), but at least we finished the laundry the day before. Nums and I ended up staying awake until 2:30 AM to pack, then we woke the kids, and did a final check. We even had to check to ensure all of the cats were accounted for. Finally, at 2:45 AM, we were out the door.
The roads were somewhat empty. We were worried when we saw signs that the upper level of the Verrazano Bridge would be closed, due to the NYC Marathon starting in a few hours, but the lower level was clear. We made it to off-airport parking lot on time, and same for check-in. The security line was kinda long for 5 AM, but no big deal. Eventually, we were all killing time drinking coffee and eating breakfast at McDonald’s.
Our United flight was uneventful, and we arrived at the Montego Bay airport right on time. After Immigration, Customs, Baggage Claim, and a 90 minute bus ride to Ocho Rios, we arrived at the Moon Palace Jamaica Grande around mid afternoon. Finally!
We checked in, then made some mental plans on what else to do during the week.
The rest of the day was all about decompressing, especially pulling an all-nighter. We took a breather in the room, then changed and made our way to the pool area. The kids had a good time on the water slide before it got too cold. We checked out the arcade, then freshened up for dinner. We decided to try out Pier 8, their outdoor seafood restaurant.
20161106 162602 from Joel Ipe on Vimeo.
20161106 162429 from Joel Ipe on Vimeo.
20161106 162325 from Joel Ipe on Vimeo.
That was it for the evening, because frankly we were exhausted.
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