
Originally Posted by
hatteras
Costa Linda - 1/30/15 - 2/13/15 - Part 1
Hi everyone, It is with great sadness that I write this trip report. As I look out the window and stare at the snow during the coldest week on record for the past 40 years, I can’t believe that we were in Aruba, soaking up the sun and beautiful breeze just a week ago.
We had an absolutely wonderful time, made even more special because our daughter and her husband joined us for nine days, for the first time. Since this was their first trip, we did a lot more sightseeing and touristy things than we normally do. Needless to say, they fell in love with Aruba, and hope to return next year.
One of the highlights of this trip was getting to spend a lot of time with our good friend, Bully. We saw him ten times on this trip, including airports pick ups and returns, lots of restaurant transfers, and a spectacular island tour. Since my daughter had never been to Aruba before, we let Bully pick the places that he felt would be best for first timers. Even though we had done several tours before, we enjoyed it as much as they did. I strongly recommend an island tour with Bully. It was a spectacular event, and definitely one of the highlights of our trip.
We were there for Superbowl Sunday, which is always a grand event at Costa Linda. They set up two big screens by the outdoor restaurant, which becomes standing room only. My hubby always goes down very early to claim a table (while he enjoys happy hour) and the rest of us join him for the rest of happy hour and dinner. Since the Patriots were playing, the mood was electric. We were cheering on our hometown boy, Russell Wilson, and of course, we were extremely outnumbered. There were a few other Seahawks fans, and even though the game didn’t turn out like we hoped (who in the world called that last play?) we had a fantastic time. We were very happy for all of our New England friends, who could be heard cheering and celebrating all over the resort.
We took our daughter and son-in-law on a sail/snorkel tour with Black Pearl. It was outstanding. They really do an amazing job. The entry into the water is very easy. The trip is very calm, laid back and relaxing. The drinks were good, and we loved the cheese sandwiches. I was very impressed that they remembered each person’s name and addressed us all by our first names throughout the sail. We will probably make this an annual event.
One entire day was spent downtown, shopping and sightseeing. We rode the trolley, had lunch, and hit most of the stores in the downtown area. My daughter and her hubby had a blast shopping and hanging out downtown. Since we’ve done that so many times in the past, we rarely spend more than a few hours downtown, but they wanted to see everything, so we spent most of the day there.
The rest of our days were spent relaxing under the palapa on the beach, or cooling off in the pool. My hubby is one of those guys who gets up before daylight to claim his spot on the beach. He’s fortunate that he can sleep anywhere, so he just lays in one of the reclining chairs under the palapa, and sleeps for a few more hours. We had lovely days, just reading, relaxing, walking on the beach and soaking up the sun.
This is getting really long, so I’ll end here for now, and add my restaurant reviews in the next section. We ate out a lot, so I’ll have lots to say. Thanks for hanging in there with me. I know that this is long. I’ll end this portion by saying that I was so sad to come home, and knowing that we were coming back to the worst weather of the season certainly didn’t help. I keep looking at the webcams and wishing we were still there. Time to start planning that next trip....