Travel Itinerary:
Destination: The Beaches Resort on Turks and Caicos
Scheduled Days in the Caribbean: Nov. 6th-12th....
Actual Days in the Caribbean: Nov. 7th-13th...
Cause of Delay: Hurricane Tomas (that SOB!) um I thought hurricane season was supposed to be over with?!?!
I was finally packed! My beloved pink coach purse (more like a tote in some people's eyes), my accompanying zebra print carry-on (which probably weight close to the 40lb limit), and a close to capacity pink check in luggage which I had to pack and repack about a dozen times until I had the perfect outfits for whatever may come our way and most importantly until I was under the 50lb limit. I VOTE THE AIRLINES RAISE THE WEIGHT LIMIT TO 55LBS IF NOT 60LBS!!!! If I can pick up my luggage no problem I think the luggage people can too...otherwise they should probably hit the gym!!! Anyways....we were ready, packed, and rearing to go, hoping that Hurricane Tomas would allow us to make it to our destination.
The clock hit 5pm Friday afternoon and I ran out of the college doors as if someone had pulled the fire alarm. Got home 5:20pm...out the door and in the car by 5:30pm headed to Detroit...got a call from US Airways right around 7:30pm.... "we're sorry sir but the Turks and Caicos airport is taking precautionary measures and will be closing their airport Saturday due to Hurricane Tomas which is scheduled to hit the island later tonight..." um yeah...and you couldn't have called us 2 hours ago to tell us this!!! UGH! Spent the rest of the drive to Detroit on the phone with the Beaches Rep, US Airways, and the Westin trying to change our schedule around. We had already booked a room at the Westin for Friday night since we had an early morning flight on Saturday...figured we were already half way to Detroit lets just keep going...fought with the Westin and Hotels.com about changing our bookings around...HUGE PAIN IN THE ASS!!!! but my Jason finally worked things out with them. Probably won't ever stay there again even though it is conveniently connected to the airport...I'd rather stay at the Crown Plaza or Holiday Inn a block away for a lot less and get up 15 mins earlier to catch the shuttle over...at least that way we wouldn't have to pay for Detroit's outrageous parking fees!! FUTURE NOTE TO SELF!! Also even though hotels.com gives you decent hotel rates their Customer Service SUCKS!
Any who! So everything worked out...we were able to push our days back so we could still enjoy the full time in the Caribbean that we had wanted...and an added bonus we got to spend Saturday with my cousin Anthony and his adorable boys.
The flights were easy-peasy! a short flight from Detroit to Charlotte where we had a quick layover then we were off again headed for T&C. As the plane descended down towards the runway (more like an air-strip) at the Providenciales airport (the capital of T&C) we set our eyes on the tiny collection of islands surrounded by the clearest blue waters I've ever seen!
and this was considered a cloudy choppy day on the waters due to the storms that had gone through....must be nice!!!This place is a little piece of heaven on earth!
this time of the year the temps are near 80degrees when the sun rises around 6am...but it never felt too hot and humid because there was a constant breeze all day and night that kept us very comfortable. We were even able to keep our balcony door open at night while we slept. It was relaxing listening to the crickets and tree frogs chirping and the faint sound of rolling waves at night.
Sadly during our 6 1/2 day stay in the Caribbean we didn't have many of these sunny days. It was mostly cloudy with a couple days of rain, but we made the best of it and were able to get a little color the few times the sun did show it's face.
There was surely no absence of eating and drinking on our trip. Being that we stayed at an all inclusive resort the food and drinks had already been taken care of with our package, and many of the restaurants were buffet style. I have never eaten so much fruit and seafood in a week as I did on our honeymoon. Everything was delicious! Fresh Pineapple, melon, mango, kiwi, berries, shrimp, tuna, squid, scallops, clams, mussels, CONCH! for the first time I got to try conch (a snail like shellfish that is the national food of the island....very tasty!) I was also very brave and tried curried goat, which was very tender and a lot like beef steak. Jason's favorite part was the all you can eat Caribbean jerk pork and chicken and soft serve ice cream! That man sure knows what he likes and sticks with it! But I am VERY VERY proud of my OH-SO PICKY HUSBAND! The man who doesn't eat fish, seafood, most vegetables, anything with a cream base or sauce, no dressings, nothing cheesy, nothing buttery or garlicky, and if he can't pronounce it he won't eat it... actually tried some coconut shrimp at the Sushi Bar!!! I had been looking forward to the Sushi Bar since we booked our honeymoon and was totally prepared to go by myself and stuff myself silly with sushi and sashimi, but Jason didn't want me to go alone so he tagged along...thank goodness they had one of his beers there otherwise the poor guy would have been seriously bummed! So yes, we ate....A LOT...but I did my best to eat healthy and filled my belly with fish seafood fruits and veggies! The only time I really went into a food coma was after our candlelight dinner on the boardwalk with a personal white gloved waiter. Our dinner was originally supposed to be on the beach, but due to the high tide and wind we were moved up to the boardwalk which was still lovely! We started with a Peking duck roll appetizer (kind of like an egg roll), followed by a mango avocado salad, and then onto entrees~ I had the red snapper with asparagus and duchess potatoes, Jason had the beef tenderloin with crispy potatoes and asparagus, and for the fourth course...chocolate mousse torte with stewed berries and chocolate sauce (talk about a rich but delicious treat!)...throw in a few glasses of champagne, and a plate of chocolate covered strawberries they brought us as a "Congratulations on your Honeymoon" surprise and we were two miserably stuff and tired honeymooners! Good thing we did a lot of walking around the resort during our week long vacation! Yes, a lot of walking and swimming in the ocean sure kept us somewhat active... Sadly due to the weather we weren't able to all the water activities as we had hoped. The red flag (which meant no water sports or activities would be available other than swimming at your own risk...it was very wavy!) was up on the beach the first 4 days of our vacation and then up again on the last day, and during the remaining day and a half there was a yellow flag (limited water sports and activities available) hung. The only water sport we got around to doing was taking out an ocean kayak one morning and paddled up and down the shoreline. Jason wasn't up for para sailing and I didn't really want to go alone, and the snorkeling was open 2 of the days (one of which Jason wasn't feeling so well), and after the hurricane scared most of the wildlife of the reef away for the week there wasn't much to look at other than some coral (which we could see from the surface on the kayak we took out...the water was so clear you can see everything on the bottom of the reef). Mother nature sure put a damper on things for us, but there was nothing us or the resort could do, still we were happy and completely content to be somewhere warm and tropical, and most importantly away from the cold state of Michigan! The week flew by and before we knew it the vacation was over. The trip back to the states was unfortunately not as easy-peasy as the trip down. We had to wait in the incredibly small and packed to capacity airport, that for some reason didn't have any air conditioning for 2 1/2 hours, with about 300 other people (and several crying children) in an area meant for maybe half the number of people that were actually crammed in with us. A few hours later we had the joy of checking through customs in Charlotte (at 7pm) and for some reason my poor hubby was the only person chosen out of about 100 to have our bags searched, and of course I had to follow him to the searching area since I was traveling with him! REALLY?? I had no idea that my tall very white bald husband would look like suspicious person!! PUH-LEASE!!! We had just over a 3 hour layover in Charlotte...followed by our final flight at 10:15pm (which was slightly delayed) to Detroit....IT WAS THE MOST MISERABLE FLIGHT I'VE EVER BEEN ON!! I was overly tired, cold, had a pounding headache, a back and neck ache from carrying around my carry on and sitting in incredibly uncomfortable seating arrangements that day, a stomach ache, and my ears for the first time since I was a child decided to pop horribly the entire flight (I had forgotten the pain of popping over pressured ears!). I tried to fall asleep...but failed horribly...there were a few unhappy babies around us that were crying heartbreaking cries...I was to the breaking point of tears as we descended into Detroit...and have never been so relieved to be off a plane as I did at midnight when we landed at DTW! I cannot wait for the day when tellaportation is invented :)
All in all the honeymoon was great...met new people...went new places...ate new foods...RELAXED!!! I would definitely recommend going to T&C to others, especially if they want to go somewhere low key, and less touristy than many other Caribbean locations. The staff on the resort and the natives of the islands are some of the nicest people. The water is amazing, the weather is enjoyable even when it rains, the Beaches Resort was SUPERB! They really have something for everyone there...go as a couple and stay in the French Village where we were and enjoy a very quiet relaxing atmosphere...or go with your family and children and hangout at the water park or partake in activities with the Sesame Street Characters that the resort has used as it's younger generation theme. I honestly couldn't believe how many families with young children were there, and how many activities there were for them to participate in! And at the same time if we didn't want to be around kids we could venture off to another area of the resort where there was more of an adult vibe. A VERY VERY COOL PLACE!!! Can't wait for our 2nd honeymoon :)
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