AWOL, The Sequel….7/30 to 8/8, 2009
I will preface this report by saying, we, along with our friends Nick and Kerry host AWOL.
We flew Vegas to Atlanta to Montego Bay on Delta since AJ has canceled service from LAX. The flight from Vegas to Atlanta was probably the worst of the legs as we were to stay the night in Atlanta. On the ground we discovered that one of our suitcases had the wheel broken off, dragging it thru the airport to the hotel shuttle, dialing G to see if she had a replacement we could use since this was one of the suitcases loaded with the AWOL group goodies…no answer…found out later I had failed to make sure her phone number was right…dialed C…he was due in from San Diego on an early AM flight connecting with us to Mo-Bay, he brought us a fold up luggage carrier…AWOL folks are helpful in times like these…There were 5 of us on the flight from Atlanta to Mo-Bay, we met D in Atlanta’s airport, we had gotten to know her thru our weekly chats so it was like meeting old friends. To those that provided information about the Duty Free Shop in Atlanta, we thank you; we purchased our tequila there before 7 AM. We were a few minutes late leaving ATL, but on time to Mo-Bay.
On arrival to Mo-Bay, thru Immigration and Customs in no time at all. We checked in at the SC lounge and advised them that we were taking a cab; they gave us the registration cards a few bottles of water for our group of 5 and introduced us to the JCAL (taxi) folks. The cab ride cost $100, split 5 ways, we asked the driver to stop at his spot for drinks and a potty break as promised for G, drinks and potty break, back on the road, in all, from SC desk to Hedo with breaks in 55 minutes. We will now take the taxi and incase there are not 5 people to split the charge with, we will just factor the cost into our vacation budget, yes, I know, the bus ride is part of the experience, we have had that experience on the previous 8 trips, we are good thanks.
Arrived at Hedo, met by S/A, P/C and the lovely E, oh, and B too….not so lovely…feel da love mon…feel da love…drinks in hand, we registered along with the rest of our AWOL folks. Everyone’s room was ready but ours…not sure how the hosts get the short straw, but its not our first rodeo, people head to their rooms, we head to the bar hug Ionie and head to the nude pool for see Serena. We are told our room is ready as we go thru the lobby and head for it to drop off the luggage. We grab our towels and off to the nude pool for a minute, we were to meet our friends and hosts, N/K at 2ish. Say our hellos to Serena, have a drink and off to the lobby.
Thursday and Friday were spent with our old friends from CI, Rob, I am now a VX convert, thanks, and good luck to you and Elle and G/V in your future endeavors as hosts of CI. We also attended CI, T/D vow renewal, thanks for the invite. Drinking, lounging in the pool, drinking, eating, drinking…well you get the idea. Trips to the piano bar and disco were also included. One of the couples arriving Friday were celebrating their anniversary with the group, we talked the resort into letting us in their room before they arrived, we put up a Happy Anniversary banner in the room and the resort provided champagne. It was fun meeting them in the lobby and sending them off to their room knowing of the surprise. It didn’t take long before our new friends R/V from Chile were back hugging and thanking us.
Early in our chats someone had come up with the idea to produce our own countdown counter; it involved boobies and edible numbers. We the hosts, had reserved the right to post the #1, so in Hedo fashion and a great idea from N, we posted from the lobby of Hedo 3, our 1 More Day…boobie shot involving, K/G/E/Ivy. We did get a few replies from other members regarding how cruel it was of us to rub it in that we were already there, but…oh well…lol…feel da love mon…feel da love…Friday evening, ok Saturday morning, we met S/T in the lobby with some food, it was time for AWOL, The Sequel.. to happen.
Saturday...in anticipation of meeting our 100+ memebers, we started out making our group goody bags, with lots of help from K/S/T/G/Ivy/B/E, N and I did the honorable thing and just watched…with group bags in tow, we headed to the lobby for the official arrival of AWOL. The resort, Lance Parrish, Leejay and Diana had everything ready, banners flying, table set for the gift bags… we waited. The next 6 hours were pretty much the same continually…bus pulled up, people got off, we screamed and yelled, gave them drinks, took pictures, helped them register, hugged and on and on and on…it was loud, it was fun, it was continuous…the tone was set for the next week…we also provided a laptop AWOL members in the lobby to mail home that they had arrived if they wanted to. This routine was repeated for the next 7 days, albeit on a much smaller scale. In addition to our meeting folks, we said our good byes to some of our CI friends departing the resort. D/J, you gave it a good ride, congrats on your success with CI and best wishes in the future. After the meeting of folks in the lobby, shower, dinner, piano bar, drinking…etc…
Sunday...much sun, drinking eating, Chef John is back…yeah…jerk chicken nachos. This year he served them on fried flour chips…loved loved loved them. More drinking, more eating..etc etc etc..
Monday was our AWOL group Sunset Social from on top of the Reggae Café…to say that a good time was had by all would not do it justice..we partied our collective asses off, the resort put out a great spread for us, lots of pictures were taken of the sunsets and of the festivities.
Tuesday was vow renewal day for L/C, R really really really got us to tear up with her rendition of The Rose. After the wedding and the cake, we headed to the piano bar for AWOL’s Naughty Gift Exchange. The resort provided us a bartender and much merriment was enjoyed. On this day, the sultry S joined AWOL, we had arranged for a b-day cake to be sent to her room that she says was yummy…
Wednesday was our AWOL Exclusive Nude Cruise…the resort had a few people booked for the Thursday cruise that we have never seen happen in 9 trips now, we invited those folks to join the AWOL cruise which they did, in all 46 folks went out…and came back..lol…this was the host day off break and we volunteered B/E to act as our proxies, thanks for all the help guys…word back from the cruise, a HUGE success, we will add this to our groups every year itinerary….and might even convince Ivy to go… this was also our groups first theme night, Naughty Skewl Girl…another big success with many dorks, some professors and hottie skewl girls abound.
Thursday…party on Garth…memory not so good…
Friday was AWOL’s last official day/night on the resort. We dined under the stars, gave a way free night stays, congrats to S/R and L/T, we also gave away $800 in AWOL funny money, good on next years booking, congrats to W/C, M/S, C/A, and P/E. It was our groups final theme night, glow…all I can say is that the Jamaican Aviation Authority has requested that we not do that again, aircraft flying overhead were confused and thought they had arrived at Sangster’s Montego Bay…
We left on Saturday morning as we had arrived, in a cab, this time with our friends and hosts, N/K, to the airport non stop in about 50 minutes or so. At the airport we ran into many AWOLers waiting for their flights home and the party picked right back up.
The resort…loved it, the people, employees, were fantastic, Diana, Leejay, Serena, Ionie, Chef John, Christine in Guest Services, Shelly Ann and Cardell at the main desk, Nancy the phone operator……the list goes on and on… we thank you and wish you all well in the coming year…Lance Parrish the new GM was everywhere all the time, I heard one person at the nude grille complain one day about an uncovered skimmer basket next to the ordering area, before I could get my food, Lance was there and on the phone to his staff getting the problem fixed.
The food…We ate in the buffet for B-fast, the line was a bit long in the omelet line at times, you can not get eggs any way other than hard boiled unless you order them cooked..scrambled, over however..or omelet…have to be cooked while you wait…lunch usually at the nude pool grille…we did enjoy the Reggae Café, they have gone to a new procedure of you ordering from the Chef now, food in less than 5 minutes, loved it, we did recommend they place an “Order Here” sign and a “Pick up Here” sign to help us vets get used to the idea….we ate in Munsan or Pastafari every night for dinner…enjoyed every meal.
The folks we adopted, we thank you, you became a very important part of AWOL, M, P/E, J/D and on and on…we hope you had fun, you all made it special for us…
I will in no way attempt to say thank you to specific individuals for fear of forgetting someone. Last year we thought that the bar had been set so high that we would never top the first trip of AWOL, we were wrong, if we keep saying it, can we go higher…when will the madness end. Please all of you know, you made this the bestest trip ever and we look forward to AWOL 2010, The Party Continues….
To our old friends, it was great to see you…to our new friends…we look forward to seeing you again soon…
To all of AWOL…they say that it’s the people that make the resort special…you are those people….
For the most part, this report in detail is accurate, I may be wrong on the exact days of occurrence; it appears my short term memory has suffered somehow…lol…
For those of you that have already booked for 2010, we thank you…
AWOL 2010, The Party Continues….now accepting reservations…
Ivy and Rick
"Once you go, you will know"
Next Trip: Hedo II, 7/23 to 7/30, 2016
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worse! LOL
Originally Posted by Black Vulcan
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