Hi everyone,
How are you this lovely Tuesday ?
Hope the day has started well…
I’m so happy that I finally have some time on my hands to write an article all about my trip in Jamaica ! It’s been awhile since I got home so I thought it’s time to do this 🙂
Ok, so first of all I went there during the monsoon season – that meaning a lot of rain each day, but the good news is that it rained mainly in the afternoon for a few hours and it was actually nice to have some rain there as there were a couple of days when it didn’t rain and I can honestly say that it was hard to stay in the sun. Also, remember, always wear SPF and if you can, avoid the sun as it really damages your skin !
I was sleeping in the afternoon (or working a bit on my laptop) and the trips that I took were in the morning so it was quite perfect.
Also, if you are planning to come to Jamaica, don’t forget to have your vaccinations done as they check at the border before handing you your visa ( they probably vary from country to country, but I had polio and varicella done so be sure to check what yours might be ).
I stood at Sandy Haven a bit far away from Montego Bay ( where the airport is ). I think the trip was like 1h and a half or so as the road’s infrastructure isn’t the best, so it takes awhile to get from one place to another. This was the main reason that we passed on going to Kingston as well – 4h30 per way – no, thank you !
I booked the whole trip via TUI Belgium, which is mainly a nice travel company to book your trip by, but this time I was rather disappointed in our responsable guide there as he wasn’t very perceptive and professional… I had a horseback ride one morning and we were supposed to be picked up at a certain hour ( 9am or 10am can’t remember), well, we found out that our trip was delayed to noon at the hour we were supposed to be picked up. When calling him and explaining that I would rather not do the horseback ride at noon ( due to rain forecast), he was still trying to “sell” it to me that “even if it rains, it’s local rain” – as if I wanted to do my activity in the rain lol. Anyway, the whole thing was very poorly handled and I got quite angry.
Anyhow, the 2 excursions I did with TUI was a rafting ride on the river (with lunch included) and the horseback riding into the woods and in the water.
Although, I must say here that if you’re into horseback riding on the beach ( like I was), it’s better to keep an eye out on the beach for guys who have horses that are more affordable and more pleasant as it’s just you. I don’t know for the other parts of Jamaica, but if you’re staying on the Negril beach that’s the way to do it !
The hotel was nice.. the room was quite spacious, clean and you had everything you need. The food at the hotel wasn’t the best, so we searched somewhere else ( like Best in the West has good food and great prices). I keep talking about prices because that was one of the things I really disliked about Jamaica – everything was super expensive and like everywhere people were trying to rip you off – 3US dollars for a little bottle of water. I didn’t take the all inclusive at the hotel as it was 1000€ more and quite frankly, I don’t regret doing that as the hotel food wasn’t very good as I have mentioned before. Breakfast was the worse ( I had breakfast included); each day the same thing, and it’s not a buffet breakfast, no, you had to choose in between American breakfast or Continental breakfast ( P.S. the last one looked like the dessert from the first one) – quite poor and each day the same thing. I would have liked to have a buffet breakfast to choose myself or at least to change it once every two days…
The service was nice though, the people working at the hotel very kind and helpful. The other people outside the hotel, well, let’s just say we got harassed by a guy who tried to sell us bracelets and we didn’t want to go at his shop cuz we don’t wear bracelets and then the next day, he came at us with his scooter and he was arguing with us that he saw us go to another shop ( for food and souvenirs – it was actually like a small mall where the vendors weren’t this aggressive ), nagging us that he saw we had bags of stuff and that we didn’t want to buy from him cuz he’s Jamaican and the shop we went to isn’t. I was disappointed in this aspect and even when laying on the beach, you had people coming and trying to sell you anything and everything. The worse part – at HUGE prices.
We also went to a little island and did some snorkeling too ! That was pretty nice, but I was once again disappointed to see the tour guide throwing his garbage in the water… it’s quite the opposite of what we learned about this country as I understood it banned plastic use and that by 2020 it will only run on recycled plastic or something of a sort…
The island is small and we had the chance to eat something fresh, some fish and rice done on the spot. I really like these islands where you can take advantage of staying in pure nature and just preparing something to eat using wood and fire and fish freshly caught ! Really cool !
As I said before, besides the horseback ride that I did via TUI, I also booked a horse for a half an hour on the beach and it was so lovely to see the sunset while riding… I liked it more than the whole trip I did to do horseback riding earlier that day !
Rafting was also so relaxing and lovely and I really enjoyed it. Definitely a must-do if you want to experience a ride on a bamboo raft !
Also, we had the chance to learn more about Jamaica, a bit of its history and not to mention agriculture facts about fruits and trees, how to make Pina Colada at home, etc. The guide there was super nice and you could have seen that he’s someone simple, but very intelligent.
I couldn’t say that Jamaica went as one of my favorite countries, but it does have amazing sceneries and places worth going once in your life.
Thank you so much for visiting the blog! Don’t forget to hit subscribe xo
Kisses,
R.