We made it!

Tuesday – Travel Day

What a long day. We both were going off about an hour of sleep. Between my last few pre-vacation appointments, tying up some things at work and finishing packing, there wasn’t much sleep to be had on Juneteenth.

Nonetheless we were out the door by 5:00am. My dad, who’s always my ride to the airport, scooped us up to head to New York. I really have to shoutout my dad. It doesn’t matter what time of day or if I’m flying from New York, New Jersey or Boston. This man always gets me there on time!

Terminal 5 at JFK was not too crowded for a Tuesday morning. We thankfully breezed through security and had a solid couple hours before boarding our flight. I told Ray, mentally I don’t get excited for my trips until I clear TSA, if you know you know.

The flight wasn’t long. A little under 4.5 hours. Naturally Ray just being his humble relatable self, made friends with our flight attendant José and he gave us a bunch of free stuff. Being that Ray works on trains he often connects with other transportation people.

Customs in Aruba was quick and easy. Ray got his first passport stamp. We grabbed our luggage and went outside where the humid Aruba air hit us like a warm hug.

We were easily able to grab a taxi. And it was a very brief 10 minute drive to our hotel, Renaissance Wind Creek Resort. I knew beforehand to bring cash and USD is accepted everywhere here. $25 for that 10 minute drive up the road!

We checked in, dropped our bags off in the room, changed clothes and went to search for something to eat.

We explored the hotel a bit. This resort has two sides, adults only and a family friendly side. We’re on the adults only side which has a pool, gym, restaurants, casino and high end retailers. Gucci, Prada, Cartier, Dolce Gabanna, etc. Ray insisted on scoping out the gym. Even on vacation this guy is keeping up on his workout schedule.

Right across the street from the casino is a lively waterside restaurant called Lucy’s Retired Surfers Bar and Restaurant. We could smell the food as soon as we walked outside. So we decided to eat there.

We were famished at this point so we ordered quite a bit. Queso and chips, various tacos (from their taco Tuesday menu), and a burger and fries. It was all delicious.

By then it was about 7:00pm and we were exhausted. We decided to take a nap. Four hours later we woke up refreshed and ready for a little snack. Thankfully our hotel has a late night eatery, The Lounge, open until 5:00am. We changed and headed downstairs. We ordered some fried shrimp and calamari, which was a bit pricey but the two cheapest items on the small menu. We sat, ate and talked for hours. Just excited to be on vacation, together and celebrating our first year of marriage.

Wednesday – Our First Full Day

Wednesday we slept in. We started our a day a little later than I would’ve wanted. But we were up and out by about 11:30am. I had two things planned, lay out on the beach and a sunset cruise.

When I first began researching places to stay in Aruba, it was important to find somewhere that had beach access. But not just any beach, the flamingo beach. So that’s how we ended up booking this first hotel. It’s the only one that has access to the private flamingo island. You may think it was a stretch to book a hotel just to have access to a certain beach. But this beach is special because it’s the only one that has flamingos walking around.

The boat to the island comes every 15 minutes downstairs is our hotels lobby. So we grabbed some Starbucks and were on the boat by 11:45 AM. It only takes about 10 minutes to get to the island. We spent the next 3 1/2 hours laying in the sun swimming in the ocean and eating. Believe it or not, we bumped in to our friend José the flight attendant and the rest of the crew from our flight. They were very nice and explained everyone has been trying to grab these layovers in paradise. They were scheduled to head back to New York at 2:00pm.

So was it worth it to book a stay in this pricier hotel just to have access to the beach? Absolutely. They have the beach set up very nicely. And because the beach is exclusive to guests of the hotel, it wasn’t crowded at all. My only two complaints were the seaweed in the water which feels funny to walk on, and the food at the restaurant was not impressive. In fact, I sent my food back which I never do. I noticed most people were ordering pizzas so maybe I’ll give that a try when we go back on Friday. But Ray’s burger and my wrap and the wings were not the best.

We left the island about 3:30 PM in order to prepare for our sunset cruise at 5:30 PM. Which was leaving from a pier about 15 minutes from our hotel. We showered and got ready and were in a taxi by 4:55 PM. Even though this taxi was taking us farther, it only cost $13.

A sunset cruise is an absolute staple for all my travels. It was such a great way to kick off our vacation. The staff was kind and funny. We met a nice family who was there to celebrate a graduation. They were originally from Bloomfield, Connecticut of all places. And the young man had just graduated from University of Massachusetts.

Ray and I danced and took pictures and had a blast. Before we knew it, it was 7:30pm and we were docking at the pier again. The cruise only offered a few small bites, so we decided to head back to Lucy’s for dinner. We made it there about an hour before they closed. As one can imagine, it wasn’t nearly as lively as before. Our server Dash was really great. She said she hopes we have twins when the time comes for us. I’m only mentioning this because she is the second person in this year of our marriage to say that to us. I would love that!

At the end of the night we hung out in the hotel’s lobby for a little bit. We met a nice couples from New Orleans and shared some pleasantries. And that was it, we called it an early night because we have a very early morning and a full day Thursday.

Until then, cheers from Aruba.