Jamaica

The results of the election in November were very hard on a lot of people, and I coped by nearly planning an impromptu solo trip to the Caribbean a few weeks later. I held off, and instead waited til January and booked a trip to Jamaica with my mom for a few days over MLK weekend. We’d never taken a trip just the two of us before, but we had a nice time. We used cheapcaribbean.com, a site we used to go to Barbados with my dad in 2009. We didn’t really have a target location, we just wanted a nice beach to relax on and we went for an all-inclusive deal. We flew into Montego Bay and were transported to our resort about 45 minutes east – basically the center of the north short of the island. We had a great room on the first floor with a door that opened up to the beach. All the food and drinks were included, and they had attendants who brought you drinks on the beach. There was a guy cutting open coconuts to drink, a jerk chicken stand, and one night there was a block party. There were cute performances at night like synchronized swimming and steel drums, but it was generally a quiet chill resort. It was dreamy and relaxing and beautiful. We did a day trip one day to Dunns River Falls, a waterfall you hike up with a guide. It was exhilarating and hard work and really fun — and looked like we were in the rainforest. After that we went and swam with dolphins! I did a “belly to belly” ride and kissed one. Such fun! It was a truly great relaxing vacation.