Ya Mon!

 (January 30-31st, 2023)

I gotta get these posts cranked out. It's one of the things slowing me down from February. Any big trip with a lot of pictures seems overwhelming. It is a lot of work, but all the pictures are basically in one place, so I don't have many excuses. This is our Jamaica Trip. Tyler's Real Estate group, the Hive, take a big trip together every other year or so. We haven't ever gone with them, but this year the stars aligned and it was time for us to go too. It was such a blast. I'm hoping we'll go again in the future. What a fantastic group and an amazing trip. Let's jump right in!

The flight schedule was a midnight flight with a layover in Charlotte. We picked up the Wiszt's and drove them to the airport. Shout out to Beau for taking us out there and driving the car back! Oddly, a lot of us arrived at basically the same time, so we all went through security together.

And then we had the long walk to the gates. I actually like going under the airport. On our way down the escalator, Tyler and I took a selfie that would start an epic event. Jason was behind us, photobombing out picture and I decided right there that we would take as many pictures with Jason in the background as we could. My goal was 40. Your challenge is to see how many pictures you notice with Jason in them.

Our flight was pretty long. It's about a 5 hour flight over to the east coast. Most of us tried to sleep because it was the middle of the night after all. I was smart enough to grab Beau's neck pillow before I left. So I slept a little better than Tyler did.

It was so cool to descend into Charlotte. The entire city was covered by clouds and the lights underneath shone through in clusters of lights. This isn't a good picture, but you get a bit of the idea.

We made it to Charlotte and now we just had a few hours to kill before our connecting flight. Some people grabbed something to eat. Some people grabbed a few winks. We did both, getting some Bojangles chicken before crashing for a bit. 

The second flight was shorter and brighter. It already felt more tropical. We left snow and below freezing temperatures to land in 80 degree weather in Montego Bay. Magical.

As usual, customs and the like is never fun. Lines and more lines and waiting, but we eventually made it to our bus after an hour or so.

The bus ride was only about 90 minutes long. And we were driving at the right time. (Or should I say, at the left time, since they drive on the wrong side there.) There are times of day when the traffic is bad, but we skipped that part. (Cari and Jordan came later and were stuck in traffic for an extra half hour.) We eventually arrived at Couples Swept Away. There are actually more than one 'Couples' Resorts, so you have to specify 'Swept Away.' Check in was pretty quick and our room was right next to the lobby. Check out our balcony. Lovely. 

Most of the day was already eaten up with travel. We went to find some food and this was my first view of the beach. The sand was so soft and incredible. And check out the aerial shot Jason got of the beach. Looks like paradise to me.

We hit up the Cabana Grill, but it wasn't that great. (I actually never went back there to eat again.) I also found Jamaican seagulls. There also have birds that come scavenging for scraps, but they look more elegant. 

We found a cute sign on the way back to our room. 

Even though the sun was setting, we got in swimsuits and some of us played Spikeball on the beach. Play quickly...once the sun goes down, you can't see the ball. (Unless it is a glowing ball, like in that second picture. I think that is a trick of the light, but it crazy looks like a glowing spikeball.)

If it's getting too dark to play, then it is time to take pictures. 

And maybe time for a quick dip. 

Oh, you thought I meant in the water. Well, Tyler did that too. You can see him out there.

Our group joined up in the evening for some dinner. They had the best fruity drinks there. Tyler and I always ordered virgin drinks of course. But there were some great flavors. To each his own poison!

More adventures to come...