My favorite Get away Travel to Jamaica Island delights

by MJ
(U.S.)

I don't see Jamaica on your pages, but this was indeed one of the best vacations we ever had.

We were living in Washington, DC at the time, and in December, it was freezing weather.

We got onto our plane in DC with huge thick winter coats, and three hours later, arrived to Jamaica, which was easily in the high 80's. HOT! Our coats came off so fast after that. :-)

The airport was amazing, with singers welcoming us to Jamaica. We flew into Montego Bay. Merely the airport experience was cool, so you can imagine the rest of the trip.

After getting our US dollars $$ into Jamaican money, we then caught a taxi/shuttle to our first hotel in Montego Bay.

Our visit was for 3.5 weeks, which means that we had Christmas there with the locals in the mountains of St. Catherine's town. It was neat to see Christmas happen without snow! Christmas trees, decorations! Not only without snow, but in the HOT SUN!

The food was amazing, and they often have "Peas and Rice" on every single menu, even the menus way in the middle of 'nowhere'. However they are not really peas, like our green peas, they are a type of red beans. SOOOO delicious!!

We stayed in three places, Montego Bay hotel, then way in the mountains with a Jamaican family, and then onto Kingston to one of the most amazing hotels I've ever been in. Amazing buffets, service, friendliness!

When we stayed in the mountains for a week, we were amazed at the way people live up there. It's nothing like the city, kind of like going from the live streets of Washington DC, into the far hills of W. Virginia, if that makes any sense.

Going into 'town' takes a long time from the mountains, people everywhere, walking, smells of food, stares (my husband and I are an interracial couple :-), however everyone was so friendly, it was just incredible. We smiled all day and all night long at the sights, smells, and the dirt under our feet.

Even the dogs look different! :-)
You'd also think that money would be different - although it looks different from US money, the prices are still the same there, if not - more.

For instance, for a candy bar, it cost $50 Jamaican dollars, which translated to about $1.50 US money. A good beer (Red Stripe!), was about $150 - $250. It was fun, though trying to get the money right, felt like monopoly money in a way. :-)

A good meal at a fairly nice restaurant cost us about $2,000 Jamaican, which is about $50 US money.

After Kingston, we returned to Montego Bay where they had a huge Pajama New Years Eve party. What a blast!

Also across the street from our MB hotel was a Margarita place with water games in the back, all kind of fun activities for children. I noticed there was no menu at the Margi place. I said, "what kind do you have?"

He said, "What kind do you want?" They had every flavor you could possibly imagine.

I loved the visit to Jamaica and hope that we can go again!

It's absolutely beautiful and you feel at home almost immediately.