We've finally arrived back at home after a whirlwind of a trip to Aruba!
We've traditionally always taken a trip for our birthdays, but this year for Brian's birthday, flights were still really expensive, so we didn't go anywhere at that point. The only other weekend that we'd be able to get away was right after the holidays. I went ahead with booking but Brian got called to Alaska that same week so it turned into a little solo getaway for me. Then, literally, 30 hours before I was supposed to leave, his trip got cancelled so we got him tickets to join me!
We were on separate flights going over but they left at exactly the same time and landed within 15 minutes of each other. I landed first, got my bag, and made my way to the car rental kiosk for my reservation. They had my reservation but informed me that they'd overbooked their inventory and didn't have a car for me and neither did any other company so I was out of luck. While waiting, several other groups checked in and got their rental cars and one man even arrived a day early for his reservation and was offered an SUV in the meantime. So, I went up to the counter and asked if they had an SUV that I could take and they said yes, but that I'd have to pay in full for it - a total of $368 more for 3 days. Having no other choice, I went ahead and forked it over. I'm still emailing the rental car company to see if I can get any money back from that situation.
By that point, Brian had arrived and we took off to find lunch. We ended up in a dirt parking lot with various garden sheds serving smoothies, food, and acai bowls. We opted for chicken and rice and it was maybe the best chicken and rice I've ever had. Then we checked into our motel, unpacked, and walked to a nearby beach for the afternoon.
After a couple of hours, we went back to the room for the night where we quickly discovered that there was no hot water...like at all. The shower faucet handle didn't even have a way to adjust the temperature...it was just on or off. Luckily, it was 90 degrees outside so it didn't take long to warm back up after getting out. Then we grabbed some dinner and then drove to Boca Catalina for the sunset.
Saturday morning, we had a delicious breakfast at the restaurant next to our motel and then went to Boca Catalina beach. This was our very favorite beach that we'd spent the day on back in February so we were excited. It's not crowded at all and there are perfect little beach cabanas and pelicans and iguanas and the water is just unbelievably beautiful. We explored, snorkeled hand-in-hand, and laid in the sun all day with a little break for an ice cream sundae and giant pretzel.
I'd made reservations at a cute little romantic restaurant over the water so we cleaned up and made our way to dinner. The atmosphere was really lovely but the food was terrible (Brian likened his snapper to a frozen fish stick dipped in ketchup). Then we walked along the beach for sunset and back to our room for the night.
Sunday we decided to check out a different beach that we hadn't been to before. It was rated the "Best beach in Aruba" and was in the hotel zone area of the island but we found easy parking and rented a couple of lounge chairs and an umbrella for the day. The sand was so soft and the water was absolutely beautiful and warm. Just to the north of our spot, a giant cloud rolled in and it POURED rain for about 15 minutes and then moved out to sea. The wind broke our umbrella, so we soaked in the crystal clear water while the guys we rented it from got us a new one set up. As the day went on, the waves got bigger and began to break coming into the beach and also going back out, which I've never experienced before. We played in the water and walked up and down the beach and napped in the shade and sunned ourselves all day long. It was lovely.
We drove to Savaneta beach (where we'd stayed back in February) and walked around for a bit. Then, it was another ice cream sundae and eventually chicken and rice from the shed in the dirt parking lot from our first day.
On our final day before our flight out, we had enough time for Brian to explore town a little bit and for me to enjoy the beach by our hotel for a couple of hours. Then we made our way back to the airport to drop our car off and check in for our flight.
Our flight was delayed by an hour, making our layover in Ft Lauderdale 5 minutes. We made the connection because that let was also delayed by about an hour. We got on the plane but then there was some commotion in the front. A couple was sitting in the exit row but didn't speak english, so the attendant was trying to get them other seats and it became a whole disturbance. Eventually, they got kicked off the flight, but the pilots had to redo all of the paperwork and that took time. We finally moved out to the runway, but there was a storm warning and the Fort Lauderdale airport closed down the corridor due to weather. We sat there on the runway waiting for a gate assignment and, since so many flights were cancelled, it took hours. Everybody on the plane was freaking out and complaining and calling customer service and it was crazy. We finally got a gate assignment but there was a little old lady in the bathroom and we couldn't go to the gate until she was in her seat so everybody was panicking that we'd lose our gate and it would take hours to get another one lined up. With seconds to spare, the lady came out and got to her seat and we went to the gate. Ultimately, our flight was cancelled, so I went and retrieved my bag and we got in line to see if we could like up another flight. We booked a flight for the following day and got an Uber to a nearby motel for the night. By this time, it was 1:00 am and we should have been home and in our own beds. The next day, our flight went fine and Brian's parents picked us up. We were going to drive home but we got notice that the interstate would be closed. The kids were at the house and we were desperate to get home (there was a major blizzard rolling in and I had to work the next day), so we chanced it and hit the road. Somehow, we totally lucked out and the interstate was not closed and we made it home within 2 hours of our flight landing!
We had such a wonderful trip. Of course, I wish that we'd had maybe another day to really relax, but a short vacation is better than no vacation. Plus, I was so happy to have Brian with me when the whole return flight fiasco went down - we made the best of it and actually had a great time and laughed through the whole thing.
Next on the itinerary is a trip to Nassau, Bahamas for my birthday in a couple of days...stay tuned!
