While the winter has been pretty easy, it was pretty easily annoying me. I quickly grew tired of any amount of cold and gray skies for days so I decided it was time for a trip. My choice this time was Ocho Rios, Jamaica. My flight out was early, 5am departure, so I woke up at about 1:30am. On the flight I was able to get another couple extra hours of sleep. The pilot had told us that we’d have to fly around some weather so that would slow us down a little but I had a couple of hours for a layover so I didn’t worry much. Then as it got to be time close to landing the pilot came on again. We would not be able to land due to a VIP. I would later learn than this was Trump and that if Air Force One is on the tarmac nobody lands or does any work out on the tarmac or in any of the planes until the VIP has left. Suddenly though, I was worried about my connecting flight which I ended up missing by about 10-15 minutes. Now I had to figure out a new way to get to Jamaica and it wouldn’t likely be a flight to Ocho Rios as it’s just a small airport with infrequent flights. I worked with the woman and the counter and I felt so bad for her. She was not familiar with having to reroute someone like this and it took about an hour. Finally she had me booked on a 945pm flight to Charlotte (opposite direction than I’m trying to go) where I’d stay overnight and catch a 7am flight to Montego Bay. A few hours later my flight details changed and the flight to Charlotte would not leave until 5am which meant I was now staying the night in Miami airport. It also meant though that I couldn’t catch the same flight to Montego Bay. Luckily the guy that helped me this time got me on a later Montego Bay flight. Sleeping in the airport went about as well as one would expect but my flights all happened and I finally got to Montego Bay. Going through customs there was not too bad though there were hundreds of people trying to go through. The last thing was to make it to Ocho Rios. I got a shuttle van and embarked on a 1:45 drive down the coast.
While there, I decided to go on a few excursions. The first one I went to was Bob Marley’s mausoleum in Nine Mile. This is the house where his grandmother lived and several family members are buried there on the property. From what they say, Bob went there on occasion to meditate. Another excursion was the Dunn’s River Falls. This is a beautiful spot. You start at the beach and then do quite a bit of climbing up the falls. It was challenging at times to say the least. The last excursion I did was a bamboo raft float. I was a little disappointed in this one. It was shorter than I expected but was relaxing. When driving back the driver showed me where the raft used to be which seemed to go inline with pics I saw.
The food was all really good. I can’t complain about any of it. They do have patties (like empanadas) and I guess those were not all that but for just something to grab and go they work. I ate jerk chicken a couple of times and loved it so much. I went to a pretty famous place, Miss T’s, and had some garlic shrimp dish which was delish. I also had this pork chop plate and it was really good. The mixed veggies on that plate were worth getting seconds of.
I didn’t go too crazy on the drinking. I had some rum drinks but they’d kind of mess with my stomach so I mostly just stuck with the Red Stripe after that. I did try one of their flavored beers Red Strip Sorrel. I’m not sure how many i’d be able to drink but it was ok, definitely refreshing
The area I stayed in was in town, I didn’t stay in a resort. All of the resorts were away from town so it would be necessary to taxi to town if you wanted. I did like this but it did make me wish I’d scheduled another excursion or 2 on my last day. Walking around everyone is trying to get your attention to sell you souvenirs, or offer a taxi, or offer weed/drugs. I was pretty good at ignoring people and just walking on past them but kind of messed with my vibe at times.
On my last day my taxi showed up pretty early and took me to the airport. This must have just been my airport fun trip. This time, in Ocho Rios, TSA selected me for a secondary search. They pulled me in a room and emptied my backpack and went through it all and patted me down. I watch a lot of border patrol shows so I think it’s because i flew into Montego Bay and then flew out of Ocho Rios and it was just a few days between. Who knows though. Everyone on the plane was like “what did you dooooo”. Before making it back to Austin I couldn’t go without waiting at the gate in Miami and being told we’ll board shortly only for the other plane to never move out of the spot. Eventually they changed our gate to one at the other end of the Miami airport which will definitely up your step count.
Where should I go next? I think I want Asia again next.
