Grenada - Part I

Back in October I celebrated my 40th on the beautiful Caribbean island of Grenada.

We booked everything about 18 months in advance. Give or take. My wife and I love flying overnight to our final destinations. It makes the arrival day that much longer; getting to the hotel a few hours before check-in always makes for a day of less pressure and anxiety. It helps get the most of our money.

Well, I guess somewhere along the line with all the overnight details with different dates and different time zones to keep track of... About two weeks before our travel date, we realized that we'd be landing in Grenada on the afternoon before our check-in date at Sandals Grenada.

Who knew the best Indian meal of my life would be found in Grenada? And not at our resort!

Yeah. As in a full 24 hours before we could check-in.

Talk about YIKES!

When I tell you that we scrambled to find a place because Sandals wanted almost $1,000 for one night's early check-in! That was a fun few hours. But we lucked out and found a spot about a mile from the airport and about a mile from Sandals, so we said, "Sweet. We can even walk there and save even more cash! And then we can walk to Sandals."

Ha!

We ended up on quite the walking adventure. Sidewalks aren't really a thing outside the bigger cities in Grenada and they drive on the opposite side of the road.

Woof.

Life-saver! Cute spot. But it's also apartments, so it's a weird setup.

It was actually a life-saver, though, because we slept most of the day in our room and with the time difference... it was just a weird, long day. And dragging heavy ass suitcases in 85 degree weather with 90% humidity half on the road and half in the dirt????

At least we woke up bright-eyed and bushy tailed for our expected walk to Sandals. But my wife had other plans. She hailed the first taxi-looking vehicle and had them drive us there. Which was great, but in hindsight maybe we shouldn't really be stopping random unmarked vehicles in foreign countries and trusting them to drive us anywhere safe?

At the time it seemed like a good idea?

Probably some white privilege at play.

And then we were at the resort by like 10am and we were so ready to really start our vacation: 10 days of endless food, endless pool, endless relaxation, endless drinks, endless.... you know.

Let me tell you something. The humidity in Grenada is insane.

IN-FUCKING-SANE!

Been to Florida? You ain't felt shit. I'm talking you're just covered in a layer of moisture and sweat all day.

And I mean it.

ALL. FUCKING. DAY.

If you step outside, you're sweating. It collects on you like dew. It's a fucking presence. It's like a thick wind. You can't see it, but you can feel it.

It has a weight.

But it's also like... who cares? If you aren't inside your ice-cold air-conditioned room, you're either on your way to another ice-cold air-conditioned room, or you're in the pool. Or you're in the ocean. Or you're grabbing a drink.

Or you're drinking in the pool or the ocean so who really cares at all at that point?

So, yeah. After leaving our bags with reception, we scrambled out of our clothes, put on the bathing suits, and started the party!

Yes - I bite my nails to hell and back. Oh well.

I'm sorry, but is this pose really necessary? Iguana doing too much.

Our first day was filled with fresh pizza, lounging in the pool, good drinks (I prefer rum-based tropical nonsense), and just decompressing from hours and hours and hours of travel exhaustion.

Spending extra for a room with a walk-out pool was fucking worth it. No one really used it so it felt like it was only ours. Nice and quiet.

HOWEVER! We traveled in the middle of a month where we were doing a one-mile-everyday challenge. So, yes, we were that white couple who had to make time to go to the gym every single day. But I mean... it's a half hour at most of getting ready, doing the mile on the treadmill, and coming back to the room. And we had a pool cool off in. Or a soaking bathtub on our patio. Or a pool near our room with a waterfall. Or a shower with no doors in our room. I mean... 30min in exchange for all that?

We tried our damnedest to take a mirror selfie every time we left the room with regular clothes on, too.

And the food. THE FOOD! I'm not one for posting pics of food so I won't. But it was great. It was filling. It was delicious. And it was in abundance! We could order anything from any restaurant and boy oh boy did we. When it's an all-inclusive setup, what's the danger in saying yes?

Our friendly critter encounters were iguanas during the day and cats at night.

What can't you see in the nighttime pics?

THE HUMIDITY!!

Oh. My. God.

Think it cools off in the evening like a "normal" beach resort?

HA!

It "cools down" to maybe 82 degrees and the humidity goes UP because clouds full of rain start gathering so even when it's dark it can feel worse than the goddamn day!

But, I mean, who's gonna really complain when you got a drink your hand and this as your view?

Not me.

Overall, our first day at the resort was off to a great start!