AWOL Part 2 Trip Report- 2009
As a preface, I will start this report by saying that Kitty and I are co-hosts with our good friends Rick and Ivy of AWOL, so yeah, we’re biased.
This being the second year of AWOL, we expected that the group would be a little stronger, a little bigger, and very ready to blow the roof off Hedo 3. We were absolutely correct.
Flight: Continental. San Diego, Houston, MBJ. Spent the night in Houston on the way with C/M. Such great hosts! Out for drinks and dinner. Up early the next morning for the drop-off at IAH and on our way. No delay en route, and we soon found ourselves after a very quick run through customs in the superclubs lounge playing the “who is going to hedo?” game. Kitty got her bottle of Smirnoff Tuscan lemonade out and I dug a bottle of Capt Morgan out of my suitcase and we were off to the races.
The Bus: Just us and one other couple going to H3- the rest to Breezes. 80 minutes or so without a planned rest stop, which was weird. When asked, the attendant told us that they were not supposed to stop. I for one don’t mind the rest stop as it is usually an opportunity to get more ice for my Capt. and Coke. Picked up another drink at Breezes and were on the long driveway in no time.
Arrival: Got to the lobby to find a couple of the early arriving AWOL’ers waiting for us. B/E with drinks in hand- awesome! Shortly arrived some others who were attending a vow renewal. What a great welcome! Immediately had a room available and went to settle in. Our requested room was not available (716) until Saturday- no worries. Settled in and spent the rest of the day and evening absolutely LOVING the atmosphere with good friends. Saw some old CI friends, visited a bit, and enjoyed the disco later with B/E.
Friday: a little group business in prep for Saturday’s big AWOL arrival. Some pool time and visiting.
Saturday: Spent the day in the lobby with R/I, B/E, G and most of the other early AWOL’ers waiting on buses. As people would arrive they were met with hugs (and some with kisses too!). Drinks for all on arrival as well. Strange thing though. As people arrived, many never left the lobby. By the time the last bus came in we had nearly 35 AWOL’ers hanging out in the lobby. The energy was exponential and the feeling of friendship and family was just incredible. Met some new friends and by the time the afternoon was over I was spent- off to bed by 730 for 13 hours of catch-up sleep. I think I was a little dehydrated as well.
The rest of the week is a bit of a blur with a lot of woowoos, a lot of sun, a lot of laughing, and more than a few new friends that gravitated towards the AWOL people when they saw how much fun we seemed to be having.
Highlights: Meeting people in the lobby, M and B making it in from England, AWOL naughty gift exchange, G and B then Melissa in the talent show. Kramer’s kangaroo kourt, Linus and Lawrence making appearances. There were a couple go-big days for Kitty and I both without any drama. Good times!
Some overviews:
Pools: Nude pool filtration was, as always, a little lacking. At one point we could not see our feet. We spent 2 days in the quad, and even the last day- a good portion anyway- in the prude pool with Ed and Laurie, Mike and Stacey, and Mark and Shalimar- which we nudi-fied until management requested we get dressed again. The nude pool was closed for a time one day while the pump was worked on, and the water was better later that day.
Hot tubs: Nude was hot as always. We spent very little time in there as usually 10 minutes in the hot tub and it is bed time for Kitty. The quad hot tub was down for a couple days.
Disco: Fun, but as always the music is hit or miss. When it is good, the energy is soooooo great. When it is bad, well, it’s just bad.
Piano Bar: John was fun as usual. It seems to us that the song book is a little smaller than it used to be. Karaoke was fun and we ended up with an all AWOL crowd toward the end one night. Loved it.
Food:
Nude Grill: Excellent work by Chef John. He is a gentleman who takes true pride in his work. Does it take a little longer than we are used to? Yes. Is it worth the wait? Definitely.
Scotch Bonnet: New ordering format was being tried out- go up to the counter to order then they let you know when it is ready. We did not eat there after this was instituted- waiting to hear how that was.
Munasan: Natalie is a joy, the food as expected. We ate there 3 times in 9 days.
Pastafari: Very good each of the 3 times we ate there. No complaints at all- even had the spaghetti and
meatballs one night.
Buffet: Very good. Kitty even raved about the vegetable lasagna and when she saw chef Joseph walking through the lobby made sure to go tell him how great it was. No surprises in the breakfast, lunch, or midnight buffets. All good.
Drink:
Nude bar: Gloria and Serena ran a good day shift. Quick service and good drinks. Our only complaint was that the crowd managed to regularly exhaust the bar’s supply of Vodka, Crown, Peach Schnapps, and Cranberry Juice. We drank a lot of woowoos apparently. After discussing the problem with Mr. Parish we were assured that it would be addressed, and the problem lessened.
Main Bar: Got to see Anieka, she’s a doll. Staffing seemed adequate and we hardly ever had to wait very long, even when it was crowded. The bartenders were courteous, friendly, and went out of their way to take care of us.
Quad: We had to go there to see some of the AWOL’ers- T/L, M/S, B/S, C/W, J/L. Great volleyball games and the only time I have ever burnt my bits- forgot the water is a little shallower in there!!!!!
No problems there, but it did seem short staffed a couple times.
Excursions: We did not break away from the sand gravity this year at all, but on Wednesday somewhere around 50 AWOL’ers went on the nude cruise. While details were not shared, when they got back they said it was awesome. Since the resort’s cruise scheduled for Thursday was underbooked, we were happy to have those booked for that day join our group going. By all accounts they were folded right into the group and had a great time!
AWOL Activities:
Sunset Social: lots of fun and a perfect sunset for the first official function of the week. The food was good and the bar was nicely staffed. Ace came and did some introductions and information. He does a great job and we appreciated all of the interactions we had with him. Got through some basics for the week including the calendar of events and such. People seemed to enjoy.
Naughty Gift Exchange: Great time- lots of fun toys and accoutrements. The paddle and the wand were very sought after!
Group dinner: We had a nice setup near the basketball courts for our group dinner this year. It was very convenient and unlike years past trying to fit everyone into 2 seatings in Pastafari we had room for everyone at once. As in past practice, we were able to give away $800 in AWOL funny money good towards next year’s booking with AWOL through Castaways Travel, and a complimentary 3 night stay at Hedo 3. We also gave awards for AWOL’ers of the year. D got an award for performing the Heimlich on another member and effectively saving his life one afternoon in the Reggae Café, and C (our blind member who jumped in with both feet) received the other award for exemplifying the kind of social and party spirit that we feel AWOL is all about.
A personal note: When Kitty and I visited H3 for the first time- 6 years ago- we attended with another group. In that group we met some fine people. Each year we seem to meet more and more “hedo people” that we just can’t seem to find near our home. As this group of folks has grown, we have made efforts to visit some of these people at their homes, and they have become part of our year round day to day lives, enriching ours because we have the privilege of knowing them. It makes the DIF harder and harder each year when we come home, and leading up to the trip. I will not list or address all of our “hedo people”, but will just mention two by name. To Rick and Ivy: thank you. Our lives are better because of the time we get to spend with you. We look forward to many years of being able to share this endeavor with you- many more drinks, many more afternoons at “Rick’s table”, of shared family breakfasts, afternoon trips to Encinitas for Jamaican food, and evenings in your pool. We love you guys.
Next year- July 31st to August 7th- the adventure continues with AWOL 3.
Nick (and the sexy, vivacious, dishy, saucy, sassy, naughty, lovely, hottie, hard workin, life lovin', sleepy, salacious, nasty, shaven, gorgeous, beautiful, cohostess with the mostest love of my life Kitty)tm
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Next Trip: Hedo II, 7/23 to 7/30, 2016
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Co-Hosts of kitten + angel's 15th Annual Spring Fling April 9th - 16th, 2022 (We will be onsite 4/7/22 - 4/18/22) 
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