Blue Harbour Hotel Montego Bay

... way the water is perfectly safe to drink in Jamaica. In fact I highly recommend that you drink plenty of it. Most people that get sick on vacation, do so from a number of other reasons, most having a lot to do with over consumption and lack of water. Take your time, let your body get accustomed to a new environment and different foods. Go easy on the rum, and drink plenty of water.


Speaking of rum and ...

... also throws you around so you need some heavy duty safety equipment which I don't always carry in my pack. Also there's usually the problem of gaining access to a runway, especially difficult in these days of flight terrorism. But if the flight comes in over water... and I'm content to stay in the water instead of actually flying around... what's to stop me from a little bit of experimentation in turbulence? Of course there is the possibility of ...

... traveling, to actually put down roots in a place for a while. For me traveling is not merely an end in itself; it's the background against which my life happens. It would've been nice to tour the island, but taxis in Jamaica are not cheap, with prices that would make a New York cabbie blush. How about $10 for the five-minute ride from the airport into town? Or $100 for the one hour ride to Negril? Prices might be negotiable as long as ...

"Full soft" means "ripe" in Caribbean English and I find myself using it frequently since I first heard it, as if softness w**e the natural state to mark the passage of time, c**tainly as opposed to hardness. And so should travel be as well as your chosen destination(s), soft and fluffy to break your inevitable fall(s). It's become my metaphor of choice. And so as I sit at home in Montego Bay waiting to catch a flight in a few days (always ...

... re back in Africa, people selling along the roadside and out of their trunks. It looks like a Dead show, or maybe Dimanche en Bamako. Chinese scour the world looking for places that need some basic mom-and-pop groceries, and seem to be doing quite well, thank you. This is not 'yellow peril' conspiracy mind you, just Xiao Jie Blou and her husband Zhou trying to take care of her family and put food on the table, everybody's table. They even ...

... arranged a private van with driver and guide for a negotiated per person amount. Just before returning to the ship, the guide told us that we had misunderstood the agreement and the actual charge was three times the negotiated amount. Rather than fight, we agreed to pay twice the original cost. Jamaica is a dirty, squalid place, obviously with ripoff artists. Don't waste your time visiting. We did not see a single area here we would feel comfortable wandering around on our own.

... luxury in a private setting. In the early 1950s, Jamaican businessman John Pringle bought 98 acres on a peninsula eight miles west of Montego Bay, then sold shares of the former pineapple plantation to his celebrity friends. The result was a luxurious resort ~ Round Hill that quickly became a favorite hideaway for movie stars of that era. Pictures of the guest from the last 50 years hang in the resort lounge area. John and Jackie Kennedy ...

... havent slept for 2 days....and I was just dying to lay me back flat on the hotel bed. I wasnt impressed with the handling of our transportation as we had to wait for a few people to fill up the shuttle...waited for 20 min till I could no longer take it....I had to whine and ask the driver if he was waiting on any more passengers, I was close to flagging a taxi and ditching the whole airport shuttle ride. He finally got the clue and decided to take off. 15 minutes after ...

... all over the place. He had a little shack that was made out of bamboo and leaves and tree trunk stumps to sit on. There was a little chalk board with food of the day.."May I have some key line pie?" "Sorry mon no key lime", mum said "I'll have a rum and coke" "Sorry mon no rum and coke, jus Pepsi" " can I have steamed lobster?" "no mom we only grill!" HA! We lay out on the sand and I force mum to take pictures of me like a vogue ...

... It is worth pointing out that it is in the realm of the excursions where I felt Jamaica came into its own, and there is a blisteringly great range of tourist activities which I felt fully exploited all of what the island had to offer. These excursions include the obvious climb up Dunn's River falls, to rafting on the Martha Brae, and a day trip to the glorious beaches of Negril, and a stop at Rick's cafe, where cocktails, cliff ...