HOW THIS GOT STARTED:
Lee wanted to go someplace
“special” for her birthday. She didn’t
know where, other than some tropical beach location. Since this was to be her birthday trip, I was
fine wherever we went. A couple
different locations were looked at, and discarded for various reason (either
cost would be too great to fly there, didn’t have a lot of amenities, or
whatever).
While watching House Hunters International one night, we saw an episode where a
lady was looking at property on Providencials.
Where’s that? Turks & Caicos
Islands? Where’s that?? We’d never
heard of the location, but what we saw on the episode looked really nice. Immediately we began to research this, and
soon we knew the “Grace Bay ” location of the island of Providencials
Due to some diligent checking on
TripAdvisor, and reading in the only edition of the Frommer’s book, we decided
that a resort by the name of Royal West Indies would be the place to go. RWI had three types of rooms: Ocean front, ocean view, and garden view. Garden view would only open on the interior
of the resort, and the least expensive.
Ocean front was obviously the most expensive, because it’s was exactly
what it said it was. Ocean view was
described as “being able to see the ocean from your balcony, but not a direct
view.” Since the information on RWI’s
website made it sound like the beach was “only a short distance away” from the
buildings, it made sense to go the mid-range-cost ocean view.
Through her research, Lee also
found the existence of a locally-produced magazine called When When How, which was made specially to give tourists information
about eateries, shopping, and other points of interest on the island. Lee got a subscription to it, so beforehand
we could read about places to check out once we were there.
Since this was considered British
territory, we’d need our passports. We
were getting our about six or so months ahead of time, so we weren’t in a
rush. I recall sitting at the post
office waiting to have the pictures taken (and final paperwork done) hearing
about all the people who were trying to get their passports for trips only a
few weeks away … and then complaining about how slow the process was.
Flight arrangements were made, but
it seemed like the easiest flight would be one out of Dallas .
(I seem to think there was a layover on the flight out, but I don’t
recall specifically. It might’ve been in
Miami , as that’s where a lot of international
flights going to and from the Caribbean end
up.) Lee’s friend Michael would stay at
the house all week to keep an eye on it, make sure Ais got to school, and take
care of the dogs. Since there was a
laundry facility in the room we’d be in at RWI, there was no need to bring a
lot of clothes. We’d just plan on doing
laundry half-way through the week.
One of the things we built into the
trip was to come back on Tuesday the 30th, even though we didn’t
have to be back to work until Wednesday the 31st. We figured we’d be exhausted from the
traveling, and need a day just to catch up on laundry, get groceries, or
whatever before diving back into the work week.
After I got home from work on
Tuesday, and Michael was already there.
I immediately went to bed, not because I was being un-sociable, but
because I’d be driving us to Dallas
for an early morning flight, and it was a three hour drive to get there.
DAY ONE: Wednesday,
24 October 2007
Whatever time the alarm went off,
it was too early to get up. I was a bit
more well-rested than Lee was, as she stayed up talking with Michael for a
bit. Once Lee was showered and ready,
she could sleep in the car on the way up.
Lee woke up briefly here and there, especially as we got close to Dallas to be able to
direct me along the confusing highways (which didn’t have a lot of street
lights to chase away the dark) so we could get to the airport. Argent was parked, and the location noted so
we could find it again. Once the shuttle
brought us to the terminal, I seem to recall that we still had to wait about an
hour before we could even start going through security.
Once through security and boarded
on the plane, I’m sure we slept the first leg of the trip. After the layover, when we were actually out
flying over the water, I’m sure we enjoyed looking at all the little green
islands in a vast ocean of bright blue.
It was probably late afternoon when
we arrived on Providencials (or “Provo ”
as the locals call it). The plane parked
out on the runway, and you had to go down a ladder to disembark, and then walk
to the terminal. Really gave you the
feeling that you weren’t in your own country any more. As soon as we walked inside the terminal, we
immediately had to go through immigration (as this _is_ foreign soil), and then
we got to retrieve our luggage.
We’d previously made arrangements
with Grace Bay Car Rentals, so we’d have wheels for the week. From the information we’d read, taxis were
few and far between on the island, and you could wait a little before one
showed. While that might be fine for
some, if we only have a limited time on the island, and want to be back at the
resort to see sunset, then we don’t want to wait. A person from Grace Bay
Ignoring all the locals who were
standing about outside the airport, we really had no idea what to expect of the
area. All the information we’d read said
that Turks & Caicos had one of the lowest crime rates of all the Caribbean islands, but it did exist. We were certainly strangers in a strange
land, and I kept my eyes open. The area
around the airport is not the prettiest of places. Many places you could see the rock strata
which makes up the island, and all the cars were covered in an off-white
chalky-type dirt (which was similar color to the rock strata). Going down the roads in this section, many of
the buildings looked like they could’ve used a fresh coat of paint, and many
had bars on the windows. That didn’t
make me feel safe. I started thinking
that the resort would look more like that too.
After a couple turns (courtesy of
roundabouts), we were officially on the Leeward Highway . This was two-lane divided highway, with
street lights space long the center. Oh,
and this was a place where you drove on the left-hand side of the road,
too. Our driver gave us some various
pieces of information as we went along the highway. In a section of the island known as “The
Bight” we passed the only grocery store on the island. It was an IGA! That made me amused as how much time Mum had
shopped at the IGA in Argyle, as that was the only place close by. Mum always said the letters stood for “I
Gotcha Again,” as some of the quality wasn’t the best. I didn’t say anything out loud, but mentioned
it to Lee later.
We continued up the Leeward Highway ,
and did notice spare houses close to the highway, as well as the ocean
beyond. That was what we’d come here for. A few turns off the highway later, we were at
the parking lot for Royal West Indies resort.
Our small economy car was waiting for us, and it literally was a
Japanese import. All the “safety
warnings” on the sun visors were written in Japanese. The person from Grace Bay Car Rentals
informed us they were one of the few rental agencies on the island that rented
cars with the steering wheel on the right-hand side. I signed all the paperwork, and got the keys.
Once we checked in, we were lead to
our room, Room 331. That meant we were
in the first room on the third floor of Building Three. We walked past the lush gardens surrounding
the two pools, and noticed the Mango Reef restaurant to our left. Our building was to the right, directly
across from the restaurant. On the
fronts of all the buildings were the white patios which looked over the
area. We went around to the back side of
the building where we went up two levels of switchback stairs, and the door to
our room was to the right.
Upon opening the door, we were
amazed how beautiful the room looked.
The door opened on to a galley kitchen and living area to our left
(towards the front of the suite), a bathroom across from the entry door, and
the large bedroom to our right. Staying
at RWI wasn’t cheap, but the style of the room was worth it!
Considering what time of day it
was, we decided we’d go back to the IGA tomorrow morning to get supplies (the
food we’d plan on snacking on, and having breakfast on the beach with). We only unpacked what we needed to do so (and
put the necessary items in the heavy room safe), and head out to the
beach. It really only was a short
walk. The grounds were well-manicured,
and there was a stone pathway which went in front of Building Two (the only
other “ocean view” location). The
pathway ended at a dock-lock structure, with a small building on the side where
you could grab towels for the beach, and secure any available beach
chairs. Lee didn’t swim, but she watched
me frolic in the ocean. It was a quick
dip, as it was close to supper, and we wanted to get something to eat.
We had a nice dinner at Mango Reef,
and charged it back to the room. We
tried the local favourite, conch (which is a type of sea snail). I found to be bland and chewy. Lee thought
it was decent, but not anything to write home about. We knew you could
get “conch fritters” other places, so we thought it might have a better taste
once it was battered and fried.
After dinner, we got our drinks,
our first rum punches on the island.
They tasted so good. It was $8
for a pint-glass-sized drink, so that was pretty reasonable. Since Turks & Caicos uses American money,
it was just easier to give a $10 bill, and let the rest be tip. We did notice some people had gotten their
drinks in plastic cups to take them out to the beach. We knew we’d have to remember that for later
ones.
It was a bit overcast, so the
sunset was mostly hidden behind the clouds.
Still, it was great to watch. We
retired a little early to catch up on the sleep which had been disrupted during
the travel, so we could be fresh to explore the next morning.
### 30 ###
No comments:
Post a Comment