by Sunny
follow me on Twitter @sunnylooksleaps
There are many different reasons to travel: business, pleasure, visiting, celebrating, exploring, and experiencing new cultures. Now, we love to travel and love to sightsee. We visit at least one new city a year and check off our list of “must-see” attractions just about everywhere we go. Jimmy and I have raised a little travel trooper who at 6-years-old has walked Pike Place Market, the expanse of the National Mall, and Walt Disney World four times over. More often than not, our travels are full of adventure from dawn to dusk. Our most recent trip to Jamaica was anything but….and it was perfect. Read on to find out how two sightseeing, schedule- packing travelers turned off their calendars, to-do lists, and devices to enjoy the peace and bliss of a truly relaxing vacation.
This vacation was literally ten years in the making. Jimmy and I had read about the Rockhouse Hotel after returning from our honeymoon. We instantly vowed to travel there on our 10 year wedding anniversary. Ten years of stalking a hotel’s website and Trip Advisor reviews is no small task. Along with visiting the hotel, we also wanted to visit 7-mile beach and Rick’s Café, both nearby in Negril, Jamaica. Jimmy considered booking a fishing charter. I figured I would book a few spa treatments for myself. I mean, the beach, the spa, the fishing, and Rick’s was a super short itinerary. After all, we would be there for five days without our daughter. So much time to ourselves! Maybe we could do the Glass Bottom Boat, too? Here’s how it actually went down.
My view from our porch in villa 13.
The Arrival: The 90-minute drive from Montego Bay to Negril was anticipation at its best. When we finally arrived at the Rockhouse Hotel, it was hard to believe we were actually there. I knew the place instantly from the hundreds of photos I had looked through online and it did not disappoint. We were welcomed with a rum cocktail which is really the only correct way to be welcomed to the Caribbean in my opinion. We were led to our villa and shown around the property. Within minutes, we were in our swimsuits and jumping from the ledge of our porch into Pristine Cove below. We swam from one end of the property to the other, and watched the sun sink below the horizon as we climbed the ladder out of the sea to our villa. A brief shower and change, and we walked down the stone path to dinner at the Rockhouse Restaurant.
Rum Cocktails at the Pushcart Restaurant.
The Realization: Jimmy and I have always been buddies. Some of our married friends are the opposite. They always have another couple to tag along on date nights and vacations. Not us. We are cool being alone, just the two of us, even if we don’t have anything super exciting to talk about. I think this trip helped us realize that all over again. I believe it was during dinner on the first night, over a shared calamari appetizer, that we started mentally canceling some of our vacation plans. Who needs a beach when you have a private porch outside of your front door and no irritating sand to deal with? Why go to Rick’s after seeing the most spectacular sunsets of our life from the infinity pool at the quiet, peaceful Rockhouse? We can snorkel any time of day in Pristine Cove, why book the glass bottom boat, too? The more we talked (and ate, and drank), the more we realized that we had everything we wanted at the Rockhouse: a beautiful setting we had waited years to experience and each other.
You wouldn’t have wanted to leave either.
The Bliss: Once we realized we were on the same page with staying put, the true bliss began. We did have a couple’s massage on the cliffs which was amazing, but other than that we had no plans, no schedule, no to-do list. We dared each other to jump off of the many rock landings around the property as well as the famous jumping bridge. We camped out at a different set of beach chairs everyday, each with a view more amazing than the next, and read and drank rum cocktails. We chatted up the bartender at the pool bar over the signature drink, “The Stingray.” We ate amazing jerk chicken on picnic tables while talking about what we were going to eat for our next meal. And every day closed with a spectacular sunset and quiet dinner at the Rockhouse Restaturant or Pushcart. We were on “Jamaica time” and it was bliss.
The jumping bridge!
The Return: When it’s time to return home, we usually spend the ride to the airport talking about our trip and what we would do the next time we visit. There is usually a list of things we would like to do again, or things we learned about too late and didn’t get to experience. With this trip, we agreed that we wouldn’t have changed a thing. And because of that, we felt relaxed, refreshed, and ready to return to our lives back home.
The happy couple!