The week started out fairly normal but has wound up as one of the most memorable of my life. I'm writing this from my upgraded suite at Beaches Turks & Caicos, glass of complimentary merlot on hand and aloe vera on my nose from just a touch too much sun. I feel as if I have had my first experience with 'more to be grateful for' on this trip. My flight from Tampa on Saturday morning was scheduled to leave at 9:00 AM with a one hour layover in MIami, but when I got to the gate, it was delayed by almost an hour, meaning I was most likely going to miss my connection to Providenciales. In the past, I would have gotten angry, maybe not showing it, but certainly seething inside. This time I took a deep breath and decided to go with the flow.
The gate agent seated me in the bulkhead row, as far forward as possible to try and make the connection, and as fate would have it I was seated next to another travel agent, Andrea, who was trying to make the same connection. We had no luck once we landed in Miami, the connecting flight left 3 minutes before we got there, but Andrea had access to the Admirals Club so our unexpected 6 hour layover was actually pleasant, with complimentary drinks and vouchers for lunch and dinner. Andrea has been an agent for almost 3 years, and I was able to get good advice and encouragement from her about continuing my business, so it was a worthwhile delay. Once we finally got to the resort at about 9:00 PM, I found out I had been upgraded to a one bedroom suite with a fully stocked mini bar and concierge services. I took full advantage of the bottle of merlot that was there and was able to get to sleep fairly easily.
The next morning was an early start with a 4 hour seminar on the Sandals/Beaches resorts all over the Caribbean, but then lunch was at our leisure and I was finally able to start exploring the resort. The grounds are amazing, if a little spread out, and the food so far has been tremendous. I indulged in the lunch buffet at Giuseppis in the French Village section of the resort and it was definitely a step above your regular buffet, with choices including lamb in couscous with cumin and cilantro, farfalle pasta with garlic cream sauce and a wide array of French pastries for dessert.
After lunch I changed into my swimsuit for the chosen excursion, a boat trip out to snorkel on the coral reef in the marine sanctuary. The water was cool, but not cold, and clear as glass. We anchored at a depth of about 12 feet and spent an hour snorkeling amongst hundreds of fish, which I hopefully captured on film with the underwater camera that I decided to purchase. Some of the other swimmers said they saw a shark, which was my signal to get out of the water and instead enjoy the fruit and pastries that were offered onboard the boat.
Dinner was a group event at Schooners, the al fresco seafood restaurant near the water, and I enjoyed the lemon grilled snapper, but I was more interested in getting to Cricketers Pub to see the Giants/49ers playoff game. I made it for the 4th quarter to watch the Giants win in OT, then sand a couple of songs at karaoke before heading to bed just in time to miss a prolonged rainstorm. The rain on the roof lulled me right to sleep.
Today started with breakfast at Barefoot on the Beach, with an omelet made to order served outdoors on the sand beneath a thatched roof pavilion with the ocean waves in the distance. Just gorgeous. After a quick guided tour of the resort to see a number of different room types, we had the rest of the day at leisure and I spent a delightful few hours at the beach. Sand like silk powder, a lounge chair under a shady umbrella, a couple of pina coladas and I was in absolute heaven. I'm ready to head out for our last dinner now, and I know I'll have even more to be thankful for, but I'm starting to look forward to heading home tomorrow and being back with my husband. His presence is the only thing that would have made this trip absolutely perfect. I'm thankful I'll be back with him tomorrow!
No comments:
Post a Comment