Aruba! One Happy Island!
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It wasn't until late January when I revisited vacation ideas and I first thought of going to the Bahamas and staying at Atlantis Paradise Island. I had visited that resort back in 2011 when the Carnival cruise ship I was on docked for the day. It was a nice visit, but a day long excursion was definitely not enough. Allan and I thought about going there, because there was a rate special going on. In the end, we didn't book there. I can't remember why but somehow Aruba came up. I looked up the rates for a 5 day/4 night stay at a couple of resorts along with average price of plane fare and we agreed Aruba was where we wanted to go. The trip was officially booked in early February and plane tickets were bought a month later. It was going to be our first family vacation, where it was only the three of us.
Day 1
Fast-forward to May 20th and the three of us jetted off to Aruba on Delta airlines. We left for the airport around 5:30AM as we had an 8:30AM flight and getting to JFK meant having to travel through the construction on the Van Wyck Expressway. It worked out well with us getting to the airport super early since Charlotte's infant ticket took a while to get set up with the Delta agent.
A good way to start off your trip is being given TSA Pre-Check. Having this saved us so much hassle and stress. We didn't have to remove our shoes or sweaters. I didn't have to take out my laptop and Allan's bag wasn't searched by TSA despite the liquids we were carrying. I'm not sure if I should feel relieved about them not checking Allan's bag or if shouldn't because I'm so used to one of us getting searched. The only bad thing was our gate being so far down the terminal. I don't know what it is about when I travel, but every time I do, my gate is always towards the end of the terminal. And the further you go down the terminal, the worse the food options get, for example the ham, egg, and cheese stromboli we had for breakfast. Then again, seeing the Shake Shack open at 6:45AM with a line wasn't that appetizing either. Why would someone want to have a burger and fries for breakfast?
One of the joys of traveling with a little one is being able to get on the plane first. We paid for the extra room and sat in Economy Comfort. It was worth it considering Charlotte was sitting on my lap for the flight. She didn't need a ticket since she wasn't two yet, so we wanted to take advantage her flying for free one more time. Charlotte was well behaved for most of the flight, in fact she slept for the first hour and a half to two hours, afterwards she got a bit restless. I can't blame her as the flight is around four and a half hours. We did have one couple get engaged during our flight. Yes, during the flight a guy proposed to his girlfriend. The flight attendants called the woman up to the front, claiming they had a portion of one of her travel documents they found. Then, her boyfriend came up a minute later and he got down on one knee. Good news, she said yes.
And back to the flight... We landed in Aruba around 1:30PM (the heat hitting you the minute you step off the plane) and finally arrived at the Occidental Grand Aruba Resort and Casino around 2:20PM. Charlotte was very amazed at the long hallway we had to walk down to get to immigration and baggage claim. "Wow! she said in awe.Our room wasn't going to be ready until 4:00PM, so it gave us time to eat and relax in the lobby. Charlotte on the other hand was a big ball of energy after we ate, despite her not having napped since the mid-morning. All she wanted to do in the lobby was run around. Our room wasn't completely ready until around 4:30PM and we walked in just as the cleaning lady finished and the floors were still slippery. Since this was a vacation, we had no plans to do anything except relax. I immediately unpacked our clothes and put them into the drawers, making it easier to grab outfits instead of digging around in our suitcase. Charlotte finally crashed for a nap at 5:00PM and we took the time to lay around and relax until she woke up for dinner. I spent the time catching up on e-mail and taking pictures from our balcony. We had quite the view from there.
I checked the weather report the week prior to get an idea of what temperatures would be like during our stay. All signs pointed to high 80's with very low humidity. After reading a couple of recent TripAdvisor reviews, one comment I kept seeing was regarding the wind. And boy, is it windy here. But you know what, I don't mind at all. With the dry heat and the shining sun, having the wind is quite refreshing. Now it may make for a somewhat uncomfortable beach experience, but every now and then, the wind does calm for a little bit. Interesting observation -- everyone tends to clear out of the pool around 6:00PM. Dinner reservations, maybe? We'd find out the answer the next day (in my Day 2 blog.)
We ended up having dinner at the same spot we had lunch since our options were limited and you needed a reservation to eat at the other restaurants on the property. The theme was Italian night at The Palm, which meant pasta (although they serve it every night there.) Afterwards, we took another trip to the lobby because we needed to buy milk for Charlotte. The minute the elevator doors open and she realized where we were she smiled and said, "YAY!" Obviously, Charlotte knew where we were. after taking another stroll around the lobby and letting her burn some energy, I grabbed her and we went back into the elevator up to our room. We let Charlotte walk down the hall back to our room and the minute we opened the door, she stepped in and then turned around and got upset because clearly, she didn't want to stay inside.
Since it was already a long day for us (Allan and I only had an hour of sleep because of late night packing) we all crashed onto the bed and tried to stay up and watch TV. In fact, Allan and I wanted to watch Letterman's last episode but neither of us made it past the news. I guess we'll have to find some YouTube clips.
And so ends Day 1.
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