It's been 3 weeks since I posted my vendor review and I am so sorry. I tortured Bryan for honeymoon pictures for weeks! He was out of town for 2 weeks then there was Thanksgiving and time just got away from me! I actuallywrote what follows here on November 30th, so I was thinking of my readership. I picked 37 pictures of more than 300 that were taken on the honeymoon, so I hope you enjoy. If anyone wants any other information on St. Lucia, feel free to e-mail me at tomboybride2010@gmail.com. Here goes, my blog as it was written almost 2 weeks ago:
After my vendor review, I was ready and willing to close out the blog over the weekend when I realized I had not blogged the honeymoon. I've gotten easily a dozen requests to share pictures of St. Lucia and unfortunately, since Bryan swiped the memory card out of my camera about a year ago, the pictures have not been in my possession. (I know what you're thinking - why not just go get the card out of his camera? I would do that, if I knew where his camera was - Bryan is the type of person that can find things in the chaos of his dresser, bookbags, and car; I, on the other hand, need things out and readily accessible.)
Finally, after bugging him about this for a little over a week, I am proud to say I am the owner of our honeymoon pictures!
St. Lucia was, in a word, amazing. Bryan and I left on a 9am flight out of Atlanta the Sunday following our wedding. The flight was absolutely perfect (and this from a girl who hates to fly). I'll also mention that this particular installment of my blog may become a running advertisement for Dramamine. I don't consider myself someone who's overly prone to motion sickness, but Bryan had read online that the drive from the airport to the resort was going to be about 90 minutes and was very curvy with a lot of ups and downs. The last thing I wanted to do was kick off our honeymoon by yakking in a shuttle full of strangers (or, really, any vehicle for that matter). So yes, I bought 8 packs of Dramamine at the airport - and each and every one of them came in handy!
We landed at the tiny airport and went through customs immediately (my first time doing so - yes, I felt cool!). We stood in a line and were ushered to a shuttle where we rode to Sandals Regency St. Lucia with 3 other couples. This was also the day the Eagles were playing the Falcons in Philly and I happened to be stuck in the shuttle with a guy that loves dog murderers - oh, sorry, I meant an Eagles fan. It was an interesting ride to say the least!
It's a pine cone!!! At the St. Lucia airport!!I have no idea why this pine cone was there, but I was pretty darn excited!
Below are some pictures that Bryan took on the car ride to the resort. The island was so lush and beautiful! The car ride was bearable thanks to Dramamine!!!
When we arrived at the resort, we were told the building we requested was recently painted and therefore, not ready. Instead we were placed in the main building where we had an amazing view of...a tree. Due to the fact that the location of the room overlooked the pool, Bryan also noted the noise level was not to his liking. We ended up requesting a much quieter room (this wish was granted the next day!).
While I managed to not get sick on the shuttle ride to the resort, I did happen to attempt to put my contacts in only to have the St. Lucian soap residue still on my hand (or so I think...) practically blind me. Great, five minutes into being at the resort and I had a eye that was as red and swollen as if I had cried for 3 days straight after getting punched in the face repeatedly. I looked HIDEOUS! But I did the best thing I could which was cry (I was in THAT much pain!!!) and finally exhausted myself and fell asleep. The redness subsided significantly after about 3 days and yes, those contacts ended up in the trash.
I woke up to the realization that we needed to eat dinner and watch the Phillies!!! If you've done the math on this, you know that the Phillies were in the National League Championship Series throughout out honeymoon. I am proud, yet slightly embarrassed, to say we did not miss a game!
Our first meal of the honeymoon was a restaurant called The Pitons - they served Caribbean food. Two words: Jerk Chicken. It was just plain delicious. After dinner we headed to a bar called Cricketers Pub to watch the game. I walked in the bar to find...DOZENS OF PHILLIES FANS!!! So we weren't the only newlyweds that wanted to keep up with the biggest games on the planet!!!
Monday was our first full day at the resort and we took advantage of sleeping in. It ended up being the only day that we did so! We woke up to head down to breakfast (read: after 11am!) so we went to Neptune's - a Mediterranean restaurant for lunch. Neptune's became our lunchtime stop of choice. After lunch, we headed to the beach where I started reading my first book of the honeymoon "The Art of Racing in the Rain" by Garth Stein. Awesome book. I also did a heck of a lot of Sudokus. And to be honest, nothing could have made me more relaxed...until I tasted this delicious frozen drink called a "BBC" (which I think stands for bananas, Bailey's, and coconut). My response to this was: "Bananas??? It's healthy!" Reading and playing Sudoku in the Caribbean while drinking frozen alcoholic beverages - this was EXACTLY what I envisioned on our honeymoon!
The view from Neptune's and us enjoying our first Mimosas!
There was a beautiful gazebo overlooking the main pool that Bryan and I relaxed in during a light rain shower.
Monday evening, Bryan and I decided to take advantage of the fact that we could visit the other Sandals resorts on the island and headed over to the Sandals Grande for dinner.
Tuesday we decided to go for a little excursion. Bryan had signed us up prior to our arrival on the island. We were told to be in the lobby by 8:45am for pick-up. After a fast breakfast at Armando's (yet another restaurant at the resort), we were met by a driver who showed us to our private car. Bryan and I were both confused as the ziplining tour he had signed us up for most certainly involved an accompanying tour group. (At this point, you might be saying, "Uh, so why did you get in the car?" Yeah, I don't have a good answer to that. I've seen enough scary movies to know you don't get in the car!!!).
Luckily for us, the car took us to the rainforest. Our driver (unfortunately who's name I can not remember) was incredibly knowledgeable about the island and was more than happy to share tales of his upbringing and family with us. And thank goodness for the Dramamine!!! We arrived at the rainforest and were directed to a garage-like room where our tour guide put us in harnesses.
Tour Guide: "So, you signed up for the Treetop Challenge Course?"
Bryan: "Uh...did I?"
Me: "WHAT???"
Tour Guide: "Oh, it's fun! You'll like it, then afterwards, I'll take you ziplining."
Bryan: "OK"
Me: "Wait, wait, wait...what is a Treetop Challenge Course?"
Tour Guide: "An obstacle course about 300 feet above the ground in the trees"
Terror set in and I quickly began to threaten Bryan with the promise of an annulment if I had to do some kind of obstacle course 300 feet off the ground. "Oh, you'll be fine. I bet it's super easy - walking across bridges and stuff." Bryan said.
Did he learn NOTHING from our trip out West? I don't like hanging out on suspension bridges, thankyouverymuch.
We started the climb....
The first obstacle was...a tight rope that was suspended from tree-to-tree. I kid you not, my legs were shaking helplessly. And yes, I realize I had a harness and was clipped into a safety line above me, but it did not stop the fear.
There were 11 obstacles in all. Each had a little trick to it that the Guide demonstrated to help get oneself across. Very few, in my opinion, were anything resembling super easy.
The odd part is after we finished it we walked DOWN to get to the zip course. You want to see a girl that has no fear on a zip course? That was me. After my nerves were pushed to the brink, I felt absolutely nothing but exhilaration ziplining. It was absolutely amazing and in retrospect, I was really happy we did the Challenge Course. (Sidenote: Just two weeks ago, the Real World/Road Rules Challenge had an obstacle much like one of those featured in the course we did! And many of them were unable to complete it!)
Wednesday was another relaxation day complete with multiple BBCs (although in this picture I am drinking something blue that was made with entirely too much alcohol - I couldn't even finish it!). We also had reservations at the French restaurant at the resort, La Toc. This was one of my favorite meals of the trip.
More views from our room. The weather was SO perfect while we were there - not too hot by any means.Below is where they had a "Chocolate Bar" - one of my favorite evenings of the trip!
Pictures of the "Cool Pool" - the one we hung out at ! It was less crowded and noisy, not to mention closer to our room.
Thursday, we went on a Land and Sea Excursion with Joe Knows. Enter more Dramamine!!! This was a blast. Our main tour guide was a guy named B.K. that just kept saying things like, "Yah Mon" and "Good vibes...good vibes." The sights were absolutely beautiful - the weather was stunning the whole time we were on the island, but perhaps Thursday was the most gorgeous day! We went to see The Pitons themselves (the mountain range, not the restaurant), we took a dip in a mud bath in the Sulfur Springs, we cooled off in a waterfall, and we went snorkeling!!! The day was capped off with an incredible meal at a local restaurant - this was my FAVORITE by far - seafood stew, fried breadfruit, dumplings. Simply amazing. Thursday evening we had reservations at the restaurant Kimono's - a Hibachi restaurant at the resort.
Us covered in mud, above, one of my favorite things we did the whole time! And to the left, us under "Jake and Vienna's waterfall".
Friday we decided to hang out again by the pool all day. Above, there are pictures of us just relaxing in a hammock and kissing at sunset (I had to have one kissing picture - it was our honeymoon!)
Yes, by this point I had finished my first book and was well into my second "Baby Proof" by Emily Giffin. I realize the irony of reading such a book on our honeymoon which is part of the reason I did so! :-)
Friday evening, we attended a Carnivale-type event that the resort hosted. The entertainment was something to marvel at - people on stilts performing a routine, fire-breathers, lots of beautiful dancers and a great band playing the sounds of the Caribbean. So much fun.
On Saturday, we again chose to relax. Above you can see the Hawaiian shirt that Bryan insisted on wearing. I should've worn a solid dress though - eek! We were a vision standing next to each other! We ended our week with dinner at Armando's and a bottle of wine for just the two of us in our Oceanview room. Bliss.
Sunday afternoon, we made the trip back to Atlanta. As much as I was disappointed to see our honeymoon end, I was completely rejuvenated by the trip.
I know this blog has been long, but the summary is this: St. Lucia is incredible. The sights are breathtaking, the weather was PERFECT, the food is phenomenal, and the people are wonderful! BUT if we were to do it all over again, we would've picked a more secluded resort.
We had a GREAT time and we met many couples from all over the country, but because we were one pair of newlyweds out of HUNDREDS of pairs, it sort of felt too...commercial, if you will.
And the Sandals resorts don't try to hide how commercial they are. The logo is on everything from the hammocks to the sailboats to the umbrellas. Our take on it is that it would be a great place to go with another couple or even a group just to party. But in terms of romance, I don't know that I would consider the resort a romantic setting (We found out that any romantic-type packages required an additional $50-$300). Luckily, Bryan is plenty romantic on his own - things like lounging in the hammocks together and cuddling on poolside chairs was lovely in and of itself. And please know that this is just my opinion on this resort alone - I have never been to any of the Sandals on the other islands and only briefly went over to the Sandals Grande St. Lucia for dinner at an Italian restaurant. I am not the expert of all things Sandals, nor do I have any bad feelings towards our experience there (with the exception of one rude bartender who wanted to watch the REPLAY of a soccer game rather than put the Phillies game on...).
Would I go to St. Lucia again? In a heartbeat. But now I have the Caribbean bug and desperately want to explore some other islands as well - Antigua, anyone??
The closing of the blog is coming!!! I knew I could not wrap things up without a Honeymoon Blog and I knew my readers need to think warm thoughts right about now. But stay tuned! I am PROMISING a blog for the ages in the days ahead!
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