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Thread: Trip Ten April 19'

  1. #1
    Registered User takemetonegril's Avatar
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    Trip Ten April 19'

    A little history

    2019 was the 10th trip with my group. It should have been my 12th consecutive year. In August 2014 I had a heart attack. I made the 2015 trip and the 2016 trip. 2015 was a little weird because I was just finishing cardiac rehab and didn’t know my limits.

    2016 was definitely different. …………We were having the usual ball and then my left leg and hip started hurting and by Wednesday I was in my room for the rest of the week. I’ll spare you the details as that is a whole other story. I barely got home with the help of a couple of Docs in our group and our community traveling medicine kit.
    I got home and could not walk, the MRI showed my two herniated disks and (surprise) kidney cancer. So Sept 16’ I had cancer surgery to remove a kidney. I missed the 2017 and 2018 as a result.
    Trip 2019
    Returning this year of course had a very special meaning for me. It just killed me missing those trips and I was afraid I’d never get back.
    I booked the last day of the 2018’ trip. My whole group was still on resort preparing to leave and I was at home for the second year, but I was booked and the TA gave me the repeaters discount even though I wasn’t there (it’s really an early booking discount anyway) which was nice. I absolutely obsessed for a year. I could think of nothing but getting back home.
    April came and I was finally off. Everything went perfect with the travel which is unusual. I arrived on Friday and walked right through passport control and customs and actually beat my luggage to the carousel. My bag was the first one out of the chute and I was standing right there, first time ever. My cabbie was waiting and from 22-23 minutes from the time the doors of that plane opened (I was in the first or second row) I was in my cab and we were beyond the Mo’Bay circle. I was alone and I’ve used the same guy for years, so he hammered. I guess we were going 60 most of the time and 75 and 80 on the straight and fast parts. It was awesome. I got high and we chatted. He hooked me up with the best smoke I’ve ever gotten there in quality. I got about 10X’s as much as I needed, LOL. That alone is unusual.
    I walked up the steps at the resort and our TA was there and told me there were no rooms yet, so I left my stuff at her desk and grabbed my beach bag and headed off. I was wondering who I might see and what it would be like to see everyone again. I expected to see some of my peeps at the beach and pool later and was really excited to be there. I started across the dining room and immediately ran into most of our group at various tables having lunch. I was expecting a welcome back, how ya doing. Many of my friends dropped their folks, jumped up with hugs and all. They really made me feel I had truly been missed which felt awesome. The very first person I ran into was my best beach buddy. I grabbed a quick snack so I could catch up with the rest of the folks at the table and I couldn’t believe how good it felt to be home and how I couldn’t believe I made it. What at return.

    We headed down to H-block and found my friend’s husband, the other beach bum and I stowed my stuff in their room and off to the beach. We ran into a few of my very close friends on the way to the beach and they came with us for a drink and chat. Immediately ran into a couple others from the group and while talking to my friend I chuckled as I watched his toe nails get painted without his knowledge. I was thinking to myself OMG I’m back it’s almost like I never left and damn I looked down and my freaking toe nails had all been painted blue. Just too funny. It felt very inclusive in a very weird sort of way, but it’s not the first time it’s ever happened, just the fastest it’s ever happened.
    I thought this year I’m just going to do as I damn well please. I’m not going to worry about what anyone thinks. I’ll shave if I feel like it or not, dress for dinner, or not and wear my dear skin loin cloth whenever I damn well please. One of my best Hedo buddies made it for me 6 or 7 years ago, but I’ve only worn it occasionally. The first full morning there I was up at the crack of dawn. I showered and got the beach bag together, rolled a couple of bones and grabbed my headphones, Ipod, sunglasses and flip flops, off to the beach. It was maybe 7:00 and with the sun behind me and very bright I could see the shadow of the smoke and the strings on my loin cloth just bouncing around with my headphones cord. Not a soul around. I was so happy to be there. I was also pretty sure I was going to be in the loin cloth all week. I get down to the nude beach and go for some coffee and run into a nice lady and the first thing she says is: where’d ya get the loin cloth? Too funny. Everyone loved the loin cloth which was funny as in past years it wasn’t such a novelty. At one point there was talk of auctioning the loin cloth with me in it as one of our members was having an auction. The joke is that the damn thing comes off with one pull of a string. One got pulled quite a lot during the week.

    As a result of my screwed up back, broken heart and single kidney I HAVE to work out daily. If I don’t I can’t walk. I’ve worked out on past trips, but now it has to be real serious, every day with intensity even if I don’t feel like it. Day two or three my leg and hip started hurting so I thought it through, I figured I needed to do exactly what I do at home for a work out.
    I like to be on the beach from sun up to close to sun down, but this work out thing was totally going to mess that up. I tried to swim to work out and my back tightened right up so I stopped. I went to the gym and stretched and did all my regular daily physical therapy exercises (basically yoga) and rode the bike. It was really fun. I had to ruin my beach mornings, but if I got to the gym at 7:00 I’d get out of there at 8:15 or so and run into my friends in the dining room.
    I’m not a breakfast eater, but decided to have something every morning. They had this fantastic Natural yogurt in a bowl and nuts and dried fruit which was very good. It changed my whole morning routine which changed my whole daily routine. All good.
    I met the husband/wife guest gym instructors at the gym who invited me to their aerobics class, but I’m not capable or wasn’t at the moment. I’m usually good for something like that, but all the walking at the resort was killing my back. They were real nice and as it turned out we kinda knew each other on line as we had conversed on a forum (this one) for a couple of years. In a funny way the gym was a highlight of my trip. I got to meet a really nice couple who work out and it made me feel great every day and it got me through the week, (barely) but I made it.

    Misc:
    My beach buddies (husband and wife) were chatting about one of the repeat guests we know and I mentioned she has hit me twice while very excited. My friend couldn’t believe it, which I found odd. I told her it wasn’t in malice per se, maybe a little over excited maybe. I told her I’ve actually been struck quite a few times over the years and didn’t find it offensive, some get a kick out of taking a crack at my butt, I’m fine with it. She was outraged. Her husband and I wandered up to the bar not 5 minutes later to grab a beer and sure enough some girl cracked me right across the butt. I looked at my buddy and said “did I do anything whatsoever to encourage that”? We spent the rest of the week counting up how many times people wanted to whack me. It wasn’t always girls either; one of my very oldest guy friends took a crack at me as I was walking by his beach chair at the end of the week. I told my friend I was going to get my first tattoo on the side of my butt that says “strike here” so they’ll know it’s okay. Isn’t that funny though?
    I dove twice on the 11:00 boat. It was so fun because it’s always the same people who are some of my best friends on the resort. How fun is that. I’ve been diving since I was 17 and at 63 I have the privilege of diving with such good friends in the Caribbean. So damn lucky.
    Our group hired the One Love bus and it is everything they say it is. Lembert is a really good guy. It was fun, 8-10 bars in a couple of hours. It was like a tour of Negril dive bars although only one (my favorite) was really a dive bar.
    We nude cruised. I’ve never been hotter in my life then on that cruise or never colder in Jamaica as we got caught in a downpour once so I have mixed feelings about that cruise. This year’s was the best. Weather was perfect. A privately rented cat from RUI with a group showed up next to us. I swam over and as the skipper if I could come up. He chuckled and said that if it was his regular tourist tour it would be okay, but this was a private tour so he wasn’t so sure. We swam with them and they loved it, they were all very cool and a couple of the girls just climbed right on board when they all went back on the boat. It was funny. The best part was the ride back. In the past it’s been straight across the bay and home. This year it was a slow nekkid grind along the shoreline, just outside the swim barriers of the hotels and resorts mid beach. What a ball. Waving to the swimmers and guests, it was just to fun to watch the reaction. My sister is a Sandals TA, so while travelling past Beaches we were going to knock it off because of the kids, but honestly the kids never looked up and the adults were waving and laughing, seemed all good to me.
    We had 9 or 10 singles this year with the group. That made it fun, we had a singles dinner which made me feel very 5th wheel as I was the 5th wheel. Thought I might have had a date, but she was too smart for that action. I did have a nice dinner with a friend at Pastarfi one night and a couple of really nice private dinners in a really cool spot with a very fun friend.

    Resort Stuff
    Food: Just like attending an open bar wedding for a week. It’s not bad at all, it’s not really great at all, but I don’t care as I don’t eat most of it. I managed the whole week with just a single bite of beef. It was beef rib and was too rich for me. I ate fish every single meal at night with a nice salad. I’m on vacation so I’m having some stuff so my salads were epic, probably 1500 calories alone, but it was salad after all and I was eating fish, LOL. I managed to limit myself to only three rum balls even though one night everyone was almost gone out of the dining room and there was a whole plate of them and I thought about making a run with the whole plate back to my room. Ice cream, now you’ve got to respect soft serves in the dining room and at the nude pool. I really can’t eat it anymore, but vacation is what it is, I had it three times and it was great. Years back at 3:00 am the ice cream station was the only thing set up and you could wander through the dining room and get some with nuts and chocolate and it seems that the tradition continues as the spoons and parfait cups where out when everything else is put away..

    Rooms:
    They’ve really cleaned them up a lot. My TV didn’t work but we didn’t spend much time watching it. The upgraded bathroom was nice but for the first time ever I didn’t have hot water for the first two days. I took a hot shower in my friend’s room before I got moved. The red night light is weird, made me think I had severe sun burn when I looked in the mirror, but a minor complaint. Bed was nice and hard which or course is good.

    Weather
    Perfect. I think it rained once for a couple of hours the first full day I was there, then it was beautiful and hot all week, very hot (I love it)without a lot of wind much of the week. I think it’s the best weather I’ve had in 15 trips to Jamaica. It made the scuba easy and nice without the wind.
    Grounds:
    They’ve done a nice job of cleaning the place up, rehabbing and rehabilitating the grounds and plants. That was a big job as it’s a big property and it had been let go but the former owners.
    Staff:
    They have always been nice, now they are a little more professional. Professional is nice and efficient. The bartenders at the nude bar are really outstanding and the resort deserves credit for kicking up the service down there. No one likes standing in line and fighting for drinks. When the bar was packed this trip, the wait was minimal most of the time. Paulette is still at the prude pool. I love stopping there for a beer and a beer refill on the way back to my room from the nude pool. The beer at the nude pool was very cold this year. All staff members were really nice.
    I couldn’t walk all the way to the back of the resort they moved my room which was really nice. It took a day but I got the best room after that. I so appreciated that. The reservation manager and an incredibly bright young girl on the front desk helped me out without any big deal over it.
    I think this trip is 9.5 out of ten. No TV or hot water for a couple of days knocked a couple of points off, but the actual resort experience was a 10.
    The Spirit of Hedo Lives Within Me


    H2 April 22th -30th 2022 thirteenth trip with the Bunch

    The guests, the atmosphere and the freedom really can't be beat


  2. #2
    Registered User The Travel Slut's Avatar
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    Great detailed report and thank you for your time writing and posting it......

  3. #3
    Registered User takemetonegril's Avatar
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    Thanks.....Not many of us here anymore, but it's still a great place to post a trip report.
    Cheers
    The Spirit of Hedo Lives Within Me


    H2 April 22th -30th 2022 thirteenth trip with the Bunch

    The guests, the atmosphere and the freedom really can't be beat


  4. #4
    Registered User CapnMorgan's Avatar
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    Great report...delighted to read you enjoyed your trip to the max, in spite of the physical challenges that you faced...the power of Hedo!
    s
    St. Martin, FWI, 1991-2011
    Hedonism II -January 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 (x2), 2017
    Cayo Largo, Cuba, December 1-7, 2014
    Hedonism II - April 10-17, 2016 K&A Spring Fling
    Hedonism II - April 16-23, 2017 K&A Spring Fling
    Hedonism II - April 8-15, 2018 K&A Spring Fling
    Hedo 2 April 14-21, 2019 K&A Spring Fling
    H2 April 8-17, 2022 K&A Spring Fling


    "If you want something you've never had, you must be willing to do something you've never done" - Thomas Jefferson

  5. #5
    Registered User sunandsea's Avatar
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    Thanks for posting this interesting read. Good to hear you are on the mend. Wishing you many more Hedo days....

  6. #6
    Registered User takemetonegril's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by CapnMorgan View Post
    Great report...delighted to read you enjoyed your trip to the max, in spite of the physical challenges that you faced...the power of Hedo!
    Thanks, I am 100% now, more or less, LOL.......declared cancer free this past Sept and my heart is fine. A couple of "lifestyle" changes is all, but not the usual.

    Cheers
    The Spirit of Hedo Lives Within Me


    H2 April 22th -30th 2022 thirteenth trip with the Bunch

    The guests, the atmosphere and the freedom really can't be beat


  7. #7
    Registered User takemetonegril's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by sunandsea View Post
    Thanks for posting this interesting read. Good to hear you are on the mend. Wishing you many more Hedo days....
    Thank you glad you enjoyed it. I wrote it in Word and couldn't edit it properly into paragraphs and such, but it is what it is.

    Cheers
    The Spirit of Hedo Lives Within Me


    H2 April 22th -30th 2022 thirteenth trip with the Bunch

    The guests, the atmosphere and the freedom really can't be beat


  8. #8
    Super Moderator 2naughty's Avatar
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    Awesome trip report. to ten more
    Past Trips:
    November: 2008, 2011, 2012
    October: 2016
    January: 2014, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020

    Upcoming Trip: January 19th - 31st 2021

  9. #9
    Registered User lovin_life's Avatar
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    Great trip report - I may even have shed a small tear at the beginning - so very happy to hear all about your return & the welcome you got from all your friends - Now that's what Hedo is all about, Man!
    Release your inhibitions, Feel the rain on your skin.....

    Upcoming Trips:
    H2 Nov 4-14, 2020


    Past Trips:
    13 trips to H2 (Mar '10, Jul '11, May '12, Jan '14, May '14, Jan '15, Jul '15, Jan '16, Jul '16, Jan '17, Oct '17, Jan '18, Jan 19)
    9 trips to H3
    Freedom of Seas Cruise (Nov '13)
    Desire Los Cobos (March '13)
    Copa Cabana Desire - Costa Rica (August '10)
    3 trips to Temptations (October '09, '10, '11)
    Spice - Lanzarote, Spain (April '15)

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