One of our favorite things about Couples Negril is that we never had to wait for a chair at the beach or at the pool – there was always an excess of chairs.  The hotel has been full all week and in addition to not waiting for chairs, we never once had to wait to get into our choice of restaurant.   We ate at the main dining room three times, Lychee twice, Heliconia once and tonight, our last night, was their “Jamaica” night, with a Jamaican Buffet (awesome), a typical Jamaican Quartet (very awesome) and the Silverbirds Steel Drum Band (unbelievably awesome!).  The energy of those kids is amazing!  Afterwards, there was also a bonfire on the beach and some more entertainment.  Definitely our favorite  night of the whole trip.

After my initial SCUBA training and dives, I have done two more dives.  Both were good, but the last one was the best.   It was a deeper dive to 60 feet.  There were lots of us, so they split us into two groups.  My group saw turtles, rays and tons of fish – huge schools of fish, including Lionfish.  The other group saw a huge ray and three sharks – eeek, I think I’m ok with being in my group.  A shark would be cool, but there is no guarantee I wouldn’t panic just a little bit!

We also wandered over on our one rainy morning to do an inspection of Breezes Grand Negril and Hedonism II.   I had toured both of these resorts about 10 years ago.  I was pleasantly surprised with Breezes Grand Negril.  It was a Grand Lido when I last saw it and not a lot had changed. The rooms were nice – nicer than the ones at Couples Negril with whirlpool tubs and a nice sunken sitting area.  The grounds were also nice and well kept and the restaurants looked nice, although we didn’t eat here.  The only downsides – it’s big, lots of walking and the pool area is very small.  They now only offer room service to their suites – they used to offer it to all rooms and they have done away with the free manicure and pedicure.  Otherwise, I think staying in one of their beachfront luxury suites would be quite heavenly – they have a private courtyard that opens to the beach and has a private hot tub on it.  Nice!

Hedonism was…well, Hedonism.  They are busier now that Hedo III closed.  The grounds were nice, the rooms were barely just ok – very basic and dark with pleather couches.  It wouldn’t be my choice to stay at, but for those who want more of a “naughty” vacation and want the option to be nude 24 hours a day, then this is the place for you.  We did have a lunch buffet here while we waited for the sales manager and the pasta lunch station was quite good.  The other guests seemed quite happy there.  A tip for those who have never been – it is definitely not all gorgeous 20 something’s at this hotel – all ages, shapes and sizes!

All in all, my final thoughts on Couples – not a 5 star luxury resort, but a comfy, relaxing 4 star resort with 5 star service, great food and a great beach.  There are many, many, many repeat guests here – many of whom met friends here and they all make plans to come back at the same time every year.  It is definitely the sort of resort that gives you a feeling of “family” and “welcoming”.  Would I return?  Definitely.  Jamaica and Negril definitely lived up to my memories of them and I can’t wait to return again!

After that, we (me and a nice Swiss couple), headed out for our open water dives.  We did three dives and tested all our skills (and passed, thankfully!).  I saw lots of little Rays, Lionfish, lobsters, crabs, coral, conch shells and a multitude of brightly colored fish.  My favorites had bright yellow tails, with bright blue bodies and had lots of silver spots that seemed to glow from within.  I have no idea what they were, but they were gorgeous.

Now, I have one more dive to do tomorrow afternoon and that will be it.  A success! 

After the diving, I had another great lunch at the beach grill of fried Calamari and caesar salad, then spent a couple of hours on the beach before going for a deep tissue couples massage.  The Spa was excellent and at one time was voted the best in the Caribbean.  Definitely worthwhile visiting while you are here.  THANK YOU again to all the people at work for the spa credit.  We loved it!!!

We checked out the menus at all three restaurants that we can go to (unfortunately, Mark forgot his fancy pants, so we can’t go to Otahaite, which is their formal a la carte).  The menu at the casual restaurant looked great tonight and it’s A La Carte again, so think we’ll just head over there.

Welcome to Jamaica and Negril!  We arrived on Friday, December 9th with Sunwing Airlines, direct from Saskatoon.  We had paid extra to have the exit row seats and were very glad we had done so.  For $80, we received the exit row seat, priority check in, an extra $10 kg of luggage allowance and first choice for meals.  The regular seats looked mighty squishy and a lot of men were standing in the aisles for a lot of the flight, so they were able to stretch their legs a bit.

Our flight arrived on time and we were through customs and sitting in the Couples Resorts arrivals lounge shortly after.  We had about 20 minutes to wait for our shuttle to the resort – just long enough to enjoy most of a Red Stripe Light!  Boo to Mark for wanting a Corona!  When in Jamaica, it must be Red Stripe!

Our transfer ended up being a private one as we were the only two that were going to Couples Resorts in Negril on our flight.  By the time we left the airport at 6:30pm, there were no more people trying to help with your luggage or sell you anything and it was very quiet  – I think we may have been the last flight in that night. 

Our transfer took just over an hour and a half.  It was quite a crazy ride – lots of traffic and quick turns, but our driver, Omar from Juta tours was great and informative and we made it safely.

Our check in was awesome.  We were greeted with cold towels and a cold glass of champagne.  A quick form was filled out and we were on our way to our room in block 4.  There are several – 8 or 9 room blocks – separate 3 story buildings.  We were on the right side, if you were facing the ocean, right near the tennis courts and about 100 yards from the beach and the watersports center.  We are on the second floor, which is perfect.  I like to be off the ground floor, but the third would have been a lot of stairs (it’s holidays, I’m lazy!)

The rooms, as I had read before coming, need some updating.  They are clean and cozy and comfortable, but there is a bit of rust in the bathrooms and the grout could be redone.  Really, if they updated the bathrooms and the furnishings, it would be a great room.  However, it’s still fine, just nothing to write home about.  The air conditioning works great and we have a nice view of the gardens and just beyond to a bit of beach and water.  It is very quiet in the rooms – I don’t hear anything at night.

The staff of the resort are fantastic.  Everyone greets us with a smile and is very helpful.  In particular, the young man who brought us to our room, although I can’t remember his name.  He stopped along the way and pointed out where everything was and how late each restaurant was open, etc.  There is a no tipping policy at this resort and it feels a bit weird at times as normally he would have definitely earned himself a tip!

We arrived at the hotel after 8pm and we were hungry!  We went to the main casual restaurant, which is a buffet 3 nights a week and a la carte 4 nights a week.  It was A La Carte as Friday night is Lobster night at Couples Negril.  The food was awesome – from the Chicken and Pineapple skewers we had for appetizers to the Caribbean Rock lobster and Caesar Salad.  That is why I love Jamaica – the FOOD!

The following morning, I did site inspections of both Couples Negril and Couples Swept Away.  They have a similar feel to them – their design and buildings, main restaurants, etc.  The main differences are that Swept Away is quite a bit bigger – lots of walking.  More restaurant choices, but also more you need to make reservations at and that have a dress code.  At Couples Negril it is very small – you can get anywhere in 5 minutes and only one restaurant requires a reservation and dress code.  The other a la carte’s, you just walk in anytime.   Both Couples offer a variety of watersports like Scuba, snorkeling, Catamaran, etc.  They also have land sports like tennis, golfing and volleyball.  Couples Swept Away caters to the health nut and sports enthusiast.  They have flood lit basketball and tennis courts, so you can play in the dark.  They have racquetball and squash courts.  They have a healthy snack bar in the sports section (across the street) that serves all kinds of smoothies and fruit juice and healthy snacks.  They also have a vegetarian lunch restaurant with sushi and other vegetarian items.  They have an Olympic sized lap pool and a jogging track.  SO, if you want a large resort with tons of fitness options and a gorgeous, drop dead beach, then I think Swept Away is for you.  (Note two room categories, the beachfront suites and the atrium suites do NOT have television sets).  If you want a small, intimate resort with tons of personal touches (the staff quickly remember you and you get to know the other guests), then Couples Negril is for you.  I am happy with our choice of Couples Negril.  I really enjoy smaller resorts.

After touring the two hotels, we had lunch at the beach grill of Jerk Chicken – delicious, then settled ourselves on the beach for the afternoon.  The beach chairs come covered with a floatie that you can take in the pool or ocean.   They also have red flag service on the beach where they will bring you drinks when you need one.

We tried Lychee, their Asian restaurant for dinner.  It was quite good.  The appetizer platter for two was excellent -  fried shrimp, cold rolls and a spring roll, some kind of tofu wonton and chicken skewers, etc.  Yum!  The grilled chicken with green curry was also good.  I think next time I would try the Pad Thai as it is also supposed to be good.  What I enjoyed the most – the LYCHEE Martini (I just had to have one!) and the deep fried ice cream!

After dinner, we listed to their entertainment – a local singer who was excellent, then an early night as I hope to start SCUBA bright and early in the morning.  We have requested a continental room service breakfast to save time in the morning.  That is the only meal that you can get through room service, unless you are in a suite.

Arrived on time with West Jet.  Customs took a long time to get through, about one hour.  Once we checked in we attended a group welcome dinner.  The room was decorated beautifully with an “Around the World Theme”.  The food was amazing as always.

Thursday morning I attended meetings from 8:30 am to 3:30 pm.  There is about 200 travel agents attending plus guests.  We attended a beach barbecue at the El Dorado Maroma Resort where they had a spectacular display of food on the Marina Beach.  Again ate way to much!

Friday was a beach party at the Casita’s where they served food, drinks and played Reggae music.  The Gala Awards dinner is tonight which I will be attending.  Must go now to get ready!

The weather is beautiful, hot and sunny 30 degrees.

We are currently at a  cardamom/coffee plantain in Munnar Kerala.

On Saturday November 5th we rented a vehicle at the Marriott and went to the airport to pick up Savita who was arriving at 11:30.  We were a bit concerned as after an hour she was still not out, apparently the custom guy has a bit of an issue with her passport–she has an indian name Savita but doesn’t speak Hindi, she was coming from England but has a Canadian passport etc.  Actually, she said that he was young so I am sure he just wanted to spend some time talking with him!

We asked her if she was okay with touring Bombay right awayS(from the airport) as this was her only opportunity to do so, she agreed so we went on a tour of Mumbai with her.  It was great to have Larry give her a commentary on Mumbai–Dhobhi Ghat, Victoria station, Gateway to India, Taj hotel, etc etc.  We went for a nice lunch and after a while she said that she was falling asleep so we brought her back to the hotel, where she fell asleep and Larry and I went for a bit of shopping.

We checked out really early on Sunday for flight to Kochi where our tour with Splendour holidays started.  We were picked up by a nice air conditioned car and driver and went straight to Allepy and a fantastic houseboat, where we stayed overnight and relaxed and ate and relaxed and ate!

This morning our driver picked us up and drove us to Munnar where we are this evening.  Kerala is experiencing monsoons so we have had rain each day a first time for me in India.  We just had Ayurvedic massage (Shai/Mum/Dad– thought of you again today) so we are a bit zoned out.

We are fine and doing okay.  Tomorrow we tour Munnar and then the next day, we are off to Kochi.

It is great to hear that everyone from the India tour is back in Canada, I am glad that everyone is safe and sound.  After I received the emails from everyone, I think I had the best sleep.  I am happy to report that except for one day that Blaine didn’t feel well, we didn’t have any other major illnesses (my biggest fear).

Time for a kingfisher…enjoy the day everyone,

Jo and family

I can’t believe that I haven’t written for so long…needless to say, the whirlwind tour has had me very busy.  After Jaipur/Diwali, we drove to Jodhpur.   We arrived to a lovely Gateway Hotel in Jodhpur and fell  asleep early.  The next day, we toured the fort in Jodhpur which was really nice.  Unfortunately, the King of Bhutan was also visiting the fort so the place had been closed in places till he went through causing a bottleneck of tourists.  I guess there were many wars between gujrat and Jodhpur kings and there is a lot of “booty” and other gifts from war wins in the fort.  The place was full of gujratis on their diwali vacations.

Jodhpur is a “blue” town unlike Jaipur which is pink.  The residents of Jodhpur paint their houses blue to keep the insects away.  So when you look at the town from the top of the fort, it looks blue.

One of the couples travelling with us (Rod and Linda) got a text message just as we were leaving that they were the proud grandparents of a girl so there was  a lot of celebrating that evening.

After Jodhpur, another bus ride to Udaipur.  The hotels where we are staying are very nice and beautiful but by the time we reach them at eight or nine, we have a quick supper and then bed and we leave the next day, so not much use of the nice facility.

Udaipur palace was also full of gujratis…we went on a boat ride after looking at the palace and had lunch on the island hotel,  It was quiet and lovely.  We didn’t check out much as in Udaipur as we had to drive to Ahmedabad…another long ride.  The people were pretty tired by then.  We reached Ahmedabad really late, bed and left at 6 a.m, the next morning for our flight to Mumbai.  Sorry, didn’t make any call to anyone.

In Mumbai, we stayed at the best hotel to date.  We rested till the afternoon and then a city tour with a fabulous tour guide.  It was very hot(38) and humid.  That evening we had a farewell dinner at khyber restaurant.  The next morning we took the boat to elephanta caves.  The caves are fabulous and the tour guide made each panel come alive.  In the afternoon, we did some shopping and had an early dinner so the group could leave for the airport.  Larry and I said our
goodbyes at the hotel as they do not let you in the airport without a ticket.

This morning it was lovely without 12 other people around us.  We had a quiet breakfast and then went to the newest movie in town–Ra One in 3 D.  Larry liked all the action scenes.

Now we are at the Marriott and await Savita’s arrival on the 5th. The tour was very successful and everyone had a great time.

How are things in Canada?  Is everyone doing fine?

Jo and Larry

Palm Springs is a lush, green oasis in the desert.  There are gorgeous resorts, palm trees, and green grass everywhere.  The mountains look quite majestic and provide a great back drop to the resorts.  Other than the lack of beach and ocean, you could totally feel like you were in some tropical beach resort as you lay around the swimming pool.

Our host resort, the Rancho Las Palmas, is about a $35 cab ride – or 20 minute drive from the Palm Springs Airport.  They have recently had a $35 million renovation to the rooms and will soon be renovating their ball room areas as well.  They have nice, big rooms – everything is built and decorated in the Spanish Hacienda style.  They have three swimming pools and two hot tubs.  One pool is adults only, the other is a family pool.  The third pool area is Splashtopia – a kid friendly area with waterslides, splash park and a lazy river.  It would be a nice resort for families with small children.  We have had three meals at this resort so far and all were excellent.  Our balcony overlooks one of the golf green, as well as a pond which is always full of ducks.  It’s very pretty.

We also visited the La Quinta resort – part of the Waldorf Astoria collection.  Although it was getting dark when we arrived for dinner, we were treated to a gorgous sunset that show cased the pretty mountains right behind this 45 acre resort.  This historic resort was built in the 1920′s and has had more than it’s share of famous hollywood guests.  The hotel has kept a lot of it’s original architecture – it’s full of antiques and huge wood burning fire places.  It is gorgeous and comfortable.  It would be great for groups as they have over 40 swimming pools and each pool has several villas overlooking it – so your group could potentially have their own swimming pool to gather around.  It would also be a wonderful place for weddings and for golfers – they have 5 courses on site that are available to their guests – plus some other private courses.  One of their golf courses is rated 1 in California, 4 in the US and 9th in the world.  Very pretty – I would definitely return.

The third resort we saw was the Westin Mission Hills.  Another gorgeous, large property with two golf courses. The staff were wonderful and welcoming and they treated us to some time in their spa, which was heavenly.  It’s a full service, high end spa with private steam rooms, hot tubs and every amenity you could want.  The rooms were large and typical of Westin. 

We had a few hours to experience the Cabazon and Desert Hills outlet malls yesterday.  Unfortunately, they were open air and the weather didn’t cooperate, so we were running through a bit of rain and wind from time to time.  Otherwise, the shopping was great.  Some good deals to be had and we all came back with serveral bags and a few dollars poorer   I wish we would have had more time as there was one whole buiding we didn’t get a chance to check out.  Next time!  The outlet malls are about a 30 minute drive from our resort – a taxi is about $75-$100 dollars or there is a shuttle that goes twice a day and comes back twice a day for $25 per person per direction.  Luckily we hopped in and caught a ride with another member of our group who had a car.

Last night was Marks birthday, so we went to a nice restaurant within walking distance of the Rancho Las Palmas called Roy’s.  It was a great restaurant.  The service was good – very attentive.  The food and wine were also exceptional – especially the chocolate Souffle for desert.  I had let them know ahead of time that it was Mark’s birthday and every person we saw from the hostess to the bus boy to the waiter wished Mark a happy birthday.  His menu had a happy birthday note tucked into it and they brought him a special happy birthday desert of a macadamia nut tart.  I would definitely recommend it – most entree’s were between $25 and $35 dollars.

I’m looking forward to this afternoon – the weather forecast is for 20 degrees and sunshine.  We are heading out on a jeep tour through the desert along the San Andreas fault, ending with a BBQ dinner.

We have had a whirlwind tour of Rajasthan India.  We are staying at such beautiful hotels but have had very limited time in them as we spend the day touring and end up back at the hotel to eat and go to bed!  As I mentioned Jaipur in my last post, Jaipur was amazing.  Someone read that there were 170 people hospitalized from burns due to firecrackers in the Jaipur area.

In Jaipur we saw the fort, the city palace and Jantar Mantar (the observatory).  It was great.  Then we drove to Jodhpur (yes the pants Jodhpurs come from this city).  We stayed in a Taj hotel that was lovely.  We were late getting there so touring the town started the next morning after breakfast.  We went to the Mehrangarh Fort.  It was very crowded as a lot of Indians are on holidays for Diwali.  Also, the King of Bhutan was visiting the fort at the same time.

We all loved the fort…then we went to a gift shop and bazaar…after dinner we had a Rajasthani dance recital.  It was funny because they thought I understood the language but I could only pick out some of the Hindi words, anyways
it was nice evening.

Today we spent the day driving to Udaipur.  Our day included lunch in a lovely mango tree resort and hotel, a visit to a fabulous Jain temple in Ranakpur and then a drive through the mountains.  Tonight we have a free evening and then we off to Ahmedabad after touring Udaipur tomorrow morning.  Then it is an early morning flight to Mumbai.  I will try to call the Bhatts in Ahmedabad if we get there early.  The tour is keeping both Larry and I very busy so we are looking
forward to our respite on November 3.

Very exciting news – Savita is going to join us on November 5th in Mumbai (Bombay).  She will spend the rest of the vacation with us and fly back to England on November 17^th, (the same day as us but on British airways)  We are really looking forward to this.

Okay must sign off.

Take care,

Jo and Larry

We had an amazing Diwali in Jaipur…lots of lights and fireworks.  The bus ride from Agra to Jaipur was hot and long.  Apparently we have three more of these rides and people are already complaining about their backs….ouch.   We are doing  fine otherwise.   We went for dinner at someone’s home for Diwali, will have to fill you in on the details upon my return.  This morning we went to the fort and had an elephant ride, it was bumpy but fun.  Tomorrow we are off to Jodhpur.  We also went to McDonalds for lunch today – needed some American cuisine.  I haven’t written about Agra – which was beautiful and nice to see the Taj Mahal again.

Okay must go…running out of time on hotel internet.

Jo

It’s our day to bid farewell to Africa but first we need to get to the airport.  Shouldn’t be a problem…drive to the Botswana border, go through their “customs”, board a small boat to cross the Chobe River, meet up with our driver on the Zambian side, clear their “customs”, drive the hour to the Livingstone airport and board our flight – simple!

Or is would be if our driver from the Chobe River Lodge wasn’t late.  Our guides and drivers are never late, they are always early. So as we watch several other people get picked up and we wait and wait, our anxiety builds and builds.  We ask at the front desk and they phone to see where our driver is.  We’re told not to worry; our driver is on his way.  Fifteen minutes later, we still have no driver and no one can tell us when he is coming.  Our concern is that we have been missed in the planning and whether our driver on the Zambia side will now actually be there.

However, our concerns were for not as our very apologetic driver shows up claiming that the customs office was very busy and the people he had to pick up first were delayed.  He radios his dispatch to ensure our Zambia driver is waiting on the other side and off we go.  Long story short, there are no problems at either border, our driver is waiting for us and after purchasing a few trinkets and things from the street vendors on the Zambia border, we are off to the Livingstone airport.

The very small airport is clearly not well equipped for the departure of the 737 British Airways flight and we barely get through security and our flight is being called.  However, it is a smooth flight to Johannesburg where we will have to wait some 6 hours before our next flight.  The Jo’burg airport is a wonderful facility, very modern, clean and passenger friendly with lots of shops.  This is appealing because we have had severe weight and luggage restrictions on our intra Africa flights meaning we could not buy much along the way.  We purchased a few souvenirs and headed for the British Airways lounge.

We are flying First Class on British Airways (BA) from Jo’burg to Toronto via London.  This was accomplished by converting some of our Avion points to BA points several months ago when they had a promotion on giving us 1.5 BA points for every 1 Avion point.  So, this allowed us to book in First Class for the roughly the same amount of points it would normally have cost for economy…it was a great deal.  This allows us access to their lounges, fast track through security avoiding all the line ups and we board first…very spoiled.

The wait in Jo’burg goes quickly and we board our BA 747.  Wow, the first class cabin  is very nice with wonderful, comfortable lay flat beds.  The service is fantastic as they offer great onboard services like an upscale wine list, fabulous menu and get this, duvet service.  When we are ready to sleep, they come with pajamas for us and “make or bed” with a pad on the seat and these very soft and comfortable duvet’s.  Talk about spoiled…really the best flights we have ever been on.

The 10 hour flight goes quickly and I actually slept 5 – 6 hours.  I had forgotten how much I like the 747.  It has been quite a while since we flew on one.  Arrival in London is very smooth and because we are in First Class, we are invited to go the BA Concorde Room, exclusively for their First Class passengers.  The best airline lounge we have ever experienced.  A full and complimentary bar service, a restaurant, shower facilities, massage and spa and even cabana’s (unfortunately you have to book these well in advance and we were not able to use one.)

We have nine hours in London but that goes by quickly as we enjoy the restaurant for both breakfast and lunch, have our complimentary 15 minute massage, have a shower and lose ourselves in our books.  Next stop…Toronto.

We enjoy another great flight to Canada.  We thought we would be bagged after the long trip from Botswana to Canada, so we decided to overnight in Toronto and for convenience, stayed at the Sheraton right at the airport.  Great to be back in Canada but a bit shocking with our bill for breakfast…30 bucks and we split the Eggs Benedict…yikes. Anyway, a relatively short flight and we are finally home and even though we had an amazing Africa Adventure, as Dorothy
said…”there’s no place like home, there’s no place like home…”.

For those that have been following our blog, thanks for sharing in our adventure!