Destination: Runaway Bay

Lawd, Lawd.  I hated to come back. SF and I jetted to Jamaica for a few days and it was great!

Of course, drama happened. Starting with a hurried effort to replace the passport which I hid from myself.  It is somewhere here in the house but if you find yourself in need of an immediate replacement, rushmypassport.com, is highly recommended.  Took all of my spending money and then some, but what's a sistah to do?  Received the replacement in the nick of time. The inevitable plane delays resulted in our not getting to the hotel until 1 a.m., when we should have been there around 9 p.m.

But we came back with great tales to tell. Such as the woman in front of us, on the flight to Montego Bay, who took off her wig and gave it a few shakes before replacing it.  Dust motes everywhere.  And there was the quartet of young men waiting with us, one of whom clearly was not wanted on the trip. One of his companions threw, not tossed, his coat to the floor when he walked away.  Play nice, children.

The airport was virtually deserted when we landed and made our way through Customs and all of the other entrance points. Where is SF's bag? I've got mine but his is missing. Consulted baggage personnel; went through the remaining bags over and over.  "What color is it?" "Green."  Wrong, the bag is BLUE. Straggled off to find our transportation; fortunately, they were still there.  Another wait.  We thought the holdup was additional passengers still in the terminal. Not. We were waiting for some of the employees to get off and hitch a ride. 

Headed out of Montego Bay. The resort is over an hour away. The first thing we noticed was the improvement in the roads--signage, clearly marked lanes, the use of deflectors. And my, even in the dark, we could see how the metropolitan area had grown. But it was too dark to see the beautiful countryside. Passed through Trelawney where the young'uns were double-parked in droves outside of the nightspots.  Isn't this Wednesday night?  Work or school in the morning?  Oh, yeah, I'm thinking from an old person's viewpoint. I vaguely remember the days when you partied all night and showed up bright-eyed and bushy tailed the next morning.

Pulled into the driveway for Club Ambiance, located smack dab in the middle of the neighborhood. Oh, Lord...what can we expect?  Never heard of it and neither had any of the people we contacted. Well, looky here. We're greeted with a cold drink at 1 a.m.  Things might not be too bad.  Too late for food. The evening snacks ended at midnight. Lawd, Lawd.  Thankfully, I'd bought some snacks in Miami, just in case.

We were shown to our room and I was not happy. Immediately wished I'd booked a room on the upper level. Nothing wrong with the room but I wasn't comfortable with its location. Down a long corridor, around the corner, and isolated. Thoughts of the recent experience by the Supreme Court justice who was robbed while on vacation, by a man wielding a machete, sprang into my head. I was assured that we would move in the morning. In that case, no need to unpack.  Fell into bed, exhausted.

Part 2 coming up.  Be Safe. Be Blessed.