The main reason for travelling to Jamaica was to celebrate the wedding of Nikki Pearson to Matthew (Matt) Bloom. Nikki is the daughter of a great friend of ours, Kathy Pearson, who we have known since the early days of our marriage when we lived in London.
Jamaica, what can I say??? Wow is probably the only word. Well the travel to the hotel from Dallas via American Airlines went well and we arrived to a Jamaican welcome. Everyone from the immigration guy to the customs lady, the expedia rep, and the coach driver were determined to make us welcome. Have to say the bus trip to Rui Negril not the best but the hotel is really good.
Arrived about 7.30pm after a days travelling and immediately went to the buffet to get something to eat. Hotel is huge but facilities are great and everything is ALL inclusive. Met up with Anne and Kathy while we were eating as they were at the Hen party but needed an excuse to take a rest!!
Went to bed early as it had been quite a long day and we were fairly tired, and woke up to the sunshine pouring through the windows. By the time we were making our way to breakfast at 9.30am it was already in the 80s F/ 27C. First day was spent relaxing by the pool and later by the sea.
It was Kathy’s birthday so we celebrated it with her and her family at the Italian themed restaurant.
I think “themed” needs explaining. In the hotel there was a main restaurant open for breakfast and evening meals, and 4 “themed” restaurants, offering various cuisines including Italian and Asian. There are so many bars it gets difficult to choose one, including one in the pool. Ah, the hard life!!
Friday dawned, and this was the day of the wedding. It started bright and sunny as usual, so we went to breakfast, and then returned to our room to get changed as all the guests had to be on the beach by 1.30pm. Well we sat down at 1.30pm but the weather had changed.
We carried on and all the assembled guests sat down and the Bridegroom, the groomsmen, bridesmaids were on the beach, but luckily the bride was slightly delayed as this happened. Look closely behind the bridesmaid and you can see the rain coming across the bay.
We all quickly ran off the beach and watched rain pour down for an hour!!
After that hour it gradually stopped and wedding finally took place.
Congratulations Nikki and Matt, it was worth the wait.
We then adjourned to our rooms, slightly damp, until the reception started at 5.30pm. From there it was like any normal wedding (if a wedding in Jamaica can be called normal), with speeches, delicious food and drink, followed by dancing into the night.
I think everyone was a little bit frayed on the Saturday, so we spent most of the day by the pool and went to the Asian restaurant in the evening.
On our last day we walked along the beach past the vendors and back in the glorious sunshine and made the most of an amazing place.
Monday dawned and it was time to take the plane home and say goodbye to Jamaica – Yeah Mon!! In our case to make the trip more affordable instead of the single flight from Dallas to Montego Bay, we travelled from Montego Bay to Charlotte in North Carolina, and from there to Dallas, which meant leaving the hotel at 8.30am and arriving in Dallas at 7.45pm!!
We got to the parking lot in Dallas a little bit late due to a delayed flight out of Charlotte and I was praying that I really had found the problem with the Spark’s battery drain and it would start after a six days in the lot. Success, it started first time and we got back to the RV at about 10.30pm, very tired and ready for bed.
Thank you Nikki and Matt for inviting us, we had a great time in Jamaica.
Then back to reality and we spent the rest of our stay in Shady Creek preparing for our trip around Texas and doing some Christmas shopping in Fort Worth.
On Thursday 17th we left Shady Creek RV Park (almost seems like home) and set of for Longhorn RV Resort which is about 18 miles south of the State Capital of Texas, Austin. Arrived about 4pm and watched the sun go down over our lakeside pitch as while we were in Jamaica the clocks had gone back in the USA, so it is now getting dark about 5.30pm.
We spent the first two days exploring two towns founded by German immigrants, New Braunfels and Gruene. Very opportune as they both had Christmas markets running so you can guess what the days were spent doing!!
Today (Monday 20th) we went to Austin and toured the very impressive State Capitol and later visited the Bullock Texas State History Museum where they had a whole floor dedicated to the “Story of Texas”, including the Alamo in San Antonio where we are going next.
Now looking forward to San Antonio and the Alamo, somewhere I have always wanted to visit. But that is for the next post!!