There’s a point in a person’s life, where it becomes easier to romanticize the past than it is to think about an uncertain future. The effects of nostalgia – or more accurately, a yearning for a mythical past that never really existed – have been discussed to death over the past decade or so. But that’s not what I’m talking about. What I’m talking about is FRUSTRATION. This isn’t the future that any of us envisioned. I don’t mean in…
After a really rough start to our trip, I was finally able to get myself close enough to normal to start exploring the island with Ariel and the kids. Amazingly, despite blowing the first 4.5 days of a 7 day trip, we managed to reach basically every corner of the country. Which really isn’t saying a whole lot as the entire island is only 69 square miles. For reference, Middlesex county in New Jersey (where we live) is over 300…
So… the first half this trip has been C-H-A-L-L-E-N-G-I-N-G. My situation did not improve after 48 hours and I went from just feeling generally ill to a full-blown flu-like nightmare. It was just your classic nasty upper respiratory bug: feverish feeling, post-nasal drip, runny nose, chills, and finally a truly nasty cough that kept Ariel and I up all night. So by Sunday I was frantically seeking some medical assistance. Turns out in Aruba, that’s not very difficult at all….
It’s been over a year since my last post. A less-than-stellar experience getting to, and being in, Antigua (not due to anything related to the country itself!) spooked us on doing anymore serious travel since last year. Our next attempt was a trip to Cape May that also involved a lot screaming at bedtime… and was cut short due to a bout of food poisoning. So… not great! But a couple of road trips to Pennsylvania went pretty smoothly, and…
After our successful Jamaica trip, we decided we wanted one last hurrah before Ariel went back to work, so we booked a flight to Antigua to stay at the lovely Carlisle Bay. It… did not go as planned. Now to be clear – the place we stayed was beautiful and Antigua itself is very charming! But getting there… and back again… was truly a nightmare that we haven’t experienced in many an age. One of my earliest posts was about…
Unlike the first time we were in Jamaica, this time around we decided to do some exploring. I went off on my own on a long journey to the Bob Marley house. I recently read The Hobbit to Jacob (which he absolutely loved), and so when I found out there was a series of caves – with an underground lake no less) just a few minutes away from where we were staying, we just had to take him to the…
In my last post, I talked about the trip up to the Bob Marley House in Nine Mile, Jamaica. Read that if you’d like to learn about the journey, or read on for my experience at the house itself… After waiting for really just a few minutes, our tour guide arrived. My only regret of the entire experience was that I never got a picture of “Captain Crazy” as he introduced himself. What can I say about the Captain… he…
Most people that go to Jamaica, tend to park themselves in their hotel and spend their time lounging on the beach or poolside. Jamaica, whether fairly or unfairly has a reputation for being a little dangerous. I was shocked the first time we went there, to find out it consistently ranks in the top five for homicide rates in the world. In fact, the US State Department has a level 3 travel (Reconsider Travel) advisory for the entire country, and…
So here I am sitting on the far pier of the Franklyn D Resort, for the second time in five years. This time Ariel, Jacob, and I are joined by the newest addition to our little traveling party. Just like when we came here with Jacob when he was four months old, we always planned to come back here again with his future sibling. So… at the ripe old age of 4 months, we officially inducted Ethan into our little…
I sit beside the fire and think of all that I have seen of meadow-flowers and butterflies in summers that have been; Of yellow leaves and gossamer in autumns that there were, with morning mist and silver sun and wind upon my hair. I sit beside the fire and think of how the world will be when winter comes without a spring that I shall ever see. For still there are so many things that I have never seen: in…