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Day 1- June 14th
Ok, so I know we have not been around, specifically for 3 years due to this covid mess, we missed the last two years and are thrilled to be back!
When November 2021 came around and it was time to make decisions for 2022, Deb and I were fully vaccinated and boosted so we felt much more comfortable and decided to book. Since our previous two trips in 2018 and 2019 had family, we decided that this trip would just be for us. We needed that. We needed to come to our happy place and enjoy for ourselves without having worry about entertaining family and/or friends. No disrespect to any of them, we just needed to come back for us.
The day started perfectly, my son picked us up and took us to the airport. We had a 9:25am flight out of Raleigh and even though we had precheck, we still got there at 6:30am. Wow, the lines were crazy! They were as bad as I have ever seen even pre-covid. We had something interesting happen as well. They were pushing all the American Airlines international into one huge, long line. After about 30 min of not moving so much, I looked over and saw the Priority Line which only had maybe 15 people in it. On the monitor to the left of the two Priority Check-in’s, there was one that said VERIFLY. I though, hmm…could that be too good to be true? Deb stayed in line, and I went to explore. I took my bag with me. I could still see her so that if it worked, I would wave her to come over. I started asking some of the airport personnel. None were very helpful, finally one lady said the verifly line was close, but we could use priority. I am not sure she was supposed to do that, so I got in line and stayed. I got up to the counter and had my passport out and had my phone open to the Verify app with my pic and he said “oh good, you have verifly I threw up my hand so Deb would come on over and sure enough, we got checked in fast! That was a lucky break considering that after we got to the gate, many others came running to the other gates and ours as they must have been stuck in the same line.
Flight to Charlotte was delayed by about 45 minutes but we got off the plane, were able to take a bathroom break but had to board immediately. I had us upgraded to Business as a surprise for Deb. Now she says, we must do this every time! I quickly burst that bubble by letting her know it was this leg only. The return trip would be in coach..lol
Flight from Charlotte to Aruba was great, obviously business class turns things up a notch. Space in the seats was very nice, in-flight entertainment was adequate through their AA In flight onboard streaming. Food was decent. Pasta dish option and a chicken with cauliflower mash. It was enjoyable.
Landed about 45 minutes late, got off the plane, no other planes were there so when we got to customs and there was no one there! Not a sole, we were the 10th people in line, brushed through it, went and purchased our booze (Rum & Titos) and waited on the bags. Got them and headed over to Hertz. Very nice people, old car but it’s fine. They said, “you know you can’t take this off road or in the national parks”. I laughed and said, we have been coming for 21 years, we wore that out with our kids over 10 years ago..lol All we do is beach, restaurants, grocery store and a few rides around the the island. He laughed and said he was an “old soul” like us and liked the same.
We used the maps.me app (Thanks Forum!) This enabled us to take back roads and avoid the through town ride with the Carnival ship in port. It’s amazing how the roads have changed with all the roundabouts literally everywhere, even on many of the back roads that I used to take years ago.
Arrived at the Hilton around 5:30, room was ready. As usual it wasn’t exactly as I had hoped. It was further back from the beach but still a good view of ocean and pool area. We are only here for 3 nights before moving the the Marriott Ocean club so we will be fine.
Headed down to Bugaloe to grab dinner. It has always been our breakfast and lunch favorite. Menu is the same for dinner as it is for lunch. The bonus is this place is hopping at Happy Hour. They have the music pumping, and the vibe is very cool as the sun sets. Had several Balashi Chill’s, then I had the Fried Grouper Basket which comes with 2 pieces of Fried Grouper, 2 Fried Shrimp, Fries and Salad. Deb had the Grilled Grouper Wrap, it doesn’t come with a side, but I was happy for her to eat my salad and share the fries, I am not a “salad” guy at all …lol
They had the Joy Ride band playing after sunset, it was really hopping. Deb and I each had 2 Golden Cadillac Margaritas ($12 Each). There were tasty. All said and done, $90 out the door.
We are here for 3 nights at the Hilton, really love this place. Then we move to the Ocean Club down the beach on Friday for a week. So happy to be back after missing two years.
I see there are several folks also here at this time, we would love to share a casual drink with anyone if it works out, so please reach out!
Brace yourself, I know I am a wordy writer, but we have nothing overly exciting planned. We really needed this time. These will be lazy repetitive daily reports focusing on relaxation activities, many hours in the “sea of valium”, planning our next meal while drinking our way there!
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Originally Posted by ArubaAce
