Aruba

Catch up with the first couple days in Aruba here.

On Wednesday, we slept in a bit, until 7:30. We had our snorkel adventure in the morning at 9:30. Knowing I would be getting on a boat, I made sure to take motion sick pills. They really helped, though thankfully, the boating time was super short before we would get into the water to snorkel. Our first stop was the SS Antilla shipwreck. This was my first time snorkeling at a shipwreck and it was neat to see.

Our second stop was a shallow area, only 7-10ft, and lots of coral and fish. However, the coral was not very colorful so it was a little disappointing. There are probably too many people. Plus, again, Brian and I are spoiled having done the Great Barrier Reef and also snorkeling in Bermuda. It was still a nice boat ride for the morning.

We got back right at noon and decided to stop at Nourish Café (Yoga Girl’s café at her studio) for some lunch. I got a taco bowl and green juice and Brian got a pesto panini and more coffee. We also saw Rachel walk into her office, but she was in a meeting when we were heading out, so I didn’t get to talk to her, but was cool to see her.

In the afternoon, I realized my arms had gotten a bit sunburned on the boat, in a strange pattern too because I had my arms crossed across my belly while laying down. I relaxed in the hammock for a bit and worked on some homework enjoying the sun while applying tons more sunscreen.

When I spoke with a girl at the yoga studio the previous day, she told me about the California Lighthouse restaurant that overlooked the island. You need reservations and I tried to make them around 5/6pm but the website said it was booked. However, it did allow me to book for 4:30pm, which I guess was still considered lunch. We arrived and I mentioned we had 4:30 reservations and they seated us, not even checking their book. There was no one at the restaurant yet so it was a little weird, but also nice to have it to ourselves and overlook the island. It’s an italian restaurant and they have a whole vegan section which was amazing. I had a vegan alfedo pasta and Brian had a seafood pasta dish. The portions were huge so we each brought home leftovers as well.

view from where we sat at the restaurant

While we were at the lighthouse end of the island, we took some photos and stopped at a beach for a short walk. However, since my arms already hurt from the sunburn earlier in the day, I wanted to head back and rub aloe on them. With an early dinner, we had a good time relaxing in the evening and even caught Toy Story 2 on TV.

Day 4 – Thursday

Thursday morning we were up around 7am again so that we could leave at 8 for our ATV tour. I was a bit nervous, but got the hang of it while we were out. We booked a double and I drove. If I hadn’t driven, I probably would have gotten motion sick so it was nice that Brian let me drive while I beat him up on the bumps. Despite all the sunscreen I kept applying, my arms hurt from the burn they got on the boat ride the previous day and the beating hot sun on them did not help.

In addition, my Go Pro display decided to break. We took a few pictures in the beginning and a couple videos. They ended up turning out fine, it’s just the display that broke and I have sent my camera back to Go Pro to hopefully get a new one…hate that it broke on it’s first trip and only 2 months old.

I was glad I had my iphone though and I took it out at the stops for many photos. We stopped at a natural pool and I was so ready to get into the water to cool off. That felt amazing!! After the swim I dried off and tried to put on more sunscreen even if I just had white patches all over. We were trying to use reef safe sunscreen and it takes a lot longer to rub in.

Aruba desert — this felt so much like the outback of Australia

The ride back was nearly an hour and my arms were burning and hurting at the end. They were also covered in dirt which made it hard to even add more sunscreen to them. I was so happy that we drove over to the ATV place so we got to go straight home and it was only a 10 minute or so ride. Brian drove and once we got home, we rinsed off in the outside shower and took a short swim in the pool. Then it was time to eat. It was after 1 and we were starving. Thank goodness for the restaurant leftovers we had from the night before. Then it was time to shower inside, apply all the aloe again and cool off. We didn’t feel like doing anything in the afternoon.

Around 4, I asked Brian if he wanted to head out to the shops. I wanted to get a little souvenir of some sort. So we headed out and walked around. We stopped in the Aruba Aloe store and I got the two recommended products for sunburn. I applied it immediately because my left arm just constantly felt on fire. I have never had a sunburn like it. I was happy the aloe store had a lotion to apply because it felt so good immediately. I think since my aloe from home is a year old, it may have lost some of its effects. I then applied the cooling gel to try to cool it off. It helped, but definitely didn’t make all the pain go away.

We then stopped in Starbucks and I got an iced tea. Mostly because I wanted to hold the iced tea to my arm. It also tasted good. It had a whipped topping which went well with the iced tea.

After some more walking, Brian grabbed food at the beach bar and I headed to yoga. My intention in yoga was to be present and try to flow forgetting how much my left arm was on fire. I think I was successful for maybe half the class time. It was difficult practicing on my travel mat because once my hands and feet broke a sweat with the humidity, I was slipping everywhere, so that was tough. I was so happy though that I got to see the big room, the Luna Shala.

I ate a bit of a snack plate for dinner and then we took a night swim. It helped my burning arm. I then iced my arm in the evening which felt good. When I tried to sleep, the burning was so hot, I actually took my towel with ice and placed it over my left arm while I slept on my right side in order to sleep. Sleep was rough though. I just couldn’t get comfortable. Apparently Aruba sun is something else and I have even been to Australia and burned where the ozone has a hole in it. Also we did go through at least 2.5 bottles of sunscreen on the trip, so I was really trying not to burn.

Day 5 – Friday – Going Home

Friday was the day to head home, but we didn’t need to rush and it was nice relaxing in the morning. I made breakfast and ate outside before unpacking and repacking my suitcase to make everything fit. Honestly my arms were still warm when you touched them from the burn and I didn’t want much sun time because of that. After a short yoga flow outside, I stayed in until we decided to leave at 11. We returned our rental car and got to the airport nice and early. After checking our bags, we decided to grab a bite to eat, knowing we still had a couple hours before the flight and I didn’t want to starve on the flight.

Then it was time to go through the passport gates. I got asked if I was older than 18 years old as I was about to step up…yeah…just a bit…Then we had security and they don’t have a precheck line so off came the shoes and out came the laptops. In addition, I was told to take off my watch. That was a new one to me.

Next up was customs with grabbing our checked luggage and bringing it through. That line was long, but we both have Global Entry and it came in handy to jump the line and get checked that way. Then there was a SECOND security, so off came the shoes and out came the laptops again. Packed back up again we were finally in the gate area. Brian got coffee and we wandered around for a bit. Then I got out my laptop and wrote for a while. It was nice to have a solid 40 minutes before boarding to relax.

The flight was a bit bumpy heading into NYC. I basically put on movies I had already seen and just shut my eyes for a good portion of the flight. The flight was about 5 hours and we actually landed early, but then there wasn’t a gate ready for us so they said 10 minutes. 10 minutes went by…the plane moved an inch…and they said 10 minutes again. We landed at 7pm…we couldn’t get off the plane until 8pm!! It took an hour, not 10 minutes. It was very frustrating waiting. I was glad we didn’t have a connection to make. We had rented a car one way to drive home which would be another 3.5 hours or so.

Once off the plane, I saw Jamba Juice and basically ran for it. Your throat gets so dry on a plane and I was dehydrated. Knowing it was already late and not wanting an actual dinner, I got a smoothie and enjoyed it. By the time we got our bags and our rental car, it was after 9pm. It was a long drive. Well Brian was driving and I was attempting to sleep, but I don’t really sleep well in cars. Brian stopped at a Taco Bell to get some food too. We finally got home at 1am Saturday morning and crashed into bed. I was glad we had the weekend to recover and get unpacked instead of heading right into work.

And that wraps up our trip. Now it’s back to regular activities with work and school. I needed that beach time, even if my sunburn was recovering for a bit. I ended up peeling a week later…a little delayed. It wasn’t even THAT bad, more annoying than anything. I’m glad as we came back to upstate NY, it was getting warmer. We actually came back and had a beautiful weekend even though we heard it rained like the whole time we were gone. I’m glad we missed that, but the rain is back again. I hope we get some nice summer days, but my classes are also keeping me pretty busy this summer.

Do you sunburn easily?

Have you been to Aruba or other Carribean islands? I would love to go to the virgin islands next, US or British.

We have finally made it to the Honeymoon recap…Aruba!!

So originally when thinking about a honeymoon, Brian and I wanted to head back to the Bahamas, but then Brian brought up Aruba I think. I couldn’t say no to Aruba (HELLO YOGA GIRL!!). Lately when planning trips as well, I like to use my vacation time to go to new places. Since we haven’t been to Aruba, why not. Brian decided in his brief time off from working this winter to take a scuba diving course. He did all the paperwork and coursework locally and was able to get the reference paperwork filled out to complete his open water dive in Aruba. This meant the first two days of our trip, he would be diving and I would be off doing my own thing. Aruba was perfect since I could take a yoga class in the morning at Yoga Girl’s studio and then just relax. My summer classes also started our first full day in Aruba so I had quite a bit of reading to do in the first week and homework to figure out.

After a whirlwind of a trip through Charleston (part 1 and 2), our wedding and a brief stop in Atlanta, I was ready for some downtime. I booked an Airbnb studio apartment that was basically around the corner from Yoga Girl’s studio. I still drove there. I probably could have walked in daylight, but there are also crazy drivers in Aruba and it was just easier to drive and park in the back. We arrived on Sunday night and immediately headed to the grocery store before they closed. We had a grill to use and a cool bar area outside by the pool in our backyard. Brian grilled up some kebabs and it was the perfect dinner. Then we settled in planning our week.

Monday morning, we were up early so I could drive Brian to the other side of the island (a whole 45 minute drive, small island). Also there are basically no stop signs in Aruba. There are many yield signs and circles to force you to slow down. Also the average driving speed was between 40-60kph which is only between 20-30mph so really not very fast which makes sense with all the circles at intersections.

Once I dropped Brian off for the day, I headed right to yoga. I was able to look around some of the studio, but they were filming in the main room. Since I arrived early though, I started chatting with another woman visiting from the New Jersey area and who happens to have a house in the Charleston area. She has a daughter who recently graduated from college and I was telling her about my online MBA program at Penn State in addition to all my traveling. It was nice chatting for a while. I often find people in yoga are just so open and easy to talk to.

It was only an hour class so it went by quickly. I was actually glad because the air was shut off during the class and it was quite humid and warm in the room meaning I was slipping on my mat. I purchased a travel mat just for this trip, but plan to use it going forward as well. It was no slip for a while until my hands and feet were sweating so much I could actually do chaturanga correctly by sliding over my toes. We moved and flowed and for the class being titled “power yoga”, it was not as intense as I was expecting, but still a fun time and perfect way to start my morning. Afterward, I checked out the café and grabbed a green smoothie. I started to talk to another girl there asking where she was visiting from. She was from the PA and Philadelphia area and we started talking about that and yoga retreats, yoga girl and travel. She actually did a yoga retreat with Yoga Girl in Aruba last year and it was cool to hear about that experience. Maybe one day for me. We talked about other islands and travel as well and she mentioned a few restaurants to check out in Aruba for a nice romantic meal for me and Brian. We could have kept chatting, but her ride was there and I wanted to head back for some lunch.

After eating and checking on my emails from my teachers to start the summer classes, I started reading my supply chain book and then spent a while writing. It was so nice to have that quiet and down time. Around 2pm, I headed back to the other side of the island to chill out on Baby Beach and wait for Brian. Apparently I made perfect timing because Brian saw me pull in and had finished early. I sat down on the beach and he appeared shortly after. In the time I took to cover my body in sunscreen and read a few pages of my book, Brian went to grab a bite to eat and returned. I took a quick dip in the water which was super warm, but I didn’t want to leave my stuff on the beach too long, so I headed back to my stuff and Brian was tired and ready to go anyway.

Back to the house, Brian wanted to take a nap, so I brought my supply chain book outside and read for a while by the pool. I did take a quick dip in the pool, but then as the sun started to set and the breeze picked up, I was content reading by the pool and staying dry. The wind was challenging when reading and taking notes, but I made it work and it was nice to just be comfy outside in a bikini.

Somehow 2 hours went by and I didn’t even have my watch on, but I was starting to drain from the reading so I checked on Brian and woke him up basically. I found a restaurant nearby that sounded good, Dragonfly, and we headed out. I got orange chicken and a mojito because when a mojito is on the menu, I usually get one to try. Brian got a huge salad and some sushi.

I realized as we were out for dinner that it gets dark at 7pm which seemed so early because we are getting used to the sun being out later at home. Aruba doesn’t do daylight savings time so they were on Eastern time while we were there, but also not as many daylight hours which was an adjustment.

Day 2

Tuesday morning I dropped off Brian and then headed to SUP yoga. There were only 4 of us in the class so it was nice and small. The balance is definitely challenging on a board and we had awesome boards for yoga, Boga Yoga boards (putting that on my future wish list but maybe when I get a new car SUV to carry it and have time to SUP). There was also a huge starfish in between my board and the person next to me. I wish I had brought my Go Pro out for a picture as it was beautiful and pink. We told our teacher after class and she said it was rare to see them in that swim area. We left it where it was though as to not disturb it, but I was a bit afraid of falling off my board and stepping on it because we were only about hip deep.

When I got home I ate some lunch and had a bit of time to work before I headed out to pick up Brian around 1. Brian only had a half day of diving to finish.

In the afternoon, Brian napped and I worked on homework. It was really the perfect balance for me.

Then we headed out to Eagle beach. Apparently it’s the 3^rd best beach in the world according to TripAdvisor, but I wasn’t overally impressed having been to many Australia beaches. I did have fun playing with my new Go Pro.

We didn’t spend too long there before heading to the grocery store. The traffic was bad as we drove. We saw some people just drive over gravel to cut across the parking lot and then make their own space. The driving in Aruba is something else for sure. Also people pull out in front of you all the time because that is just the way they drive down here. If you wait to pull out, you will be waiting forever, so you have to be a little aggressive.

We got back around 6 and Brian cooked up Tuna for himself and a steak kebabs for me. We also skewered some brussel sprouts and cooked those on the grill to eat. It was a nice evening. Brian and I sat outside on our computers and working on our own things. I had my first supply chain class which I enjoyed while sitting outside at our little bar patio.

On days 3 and 4 we were finally doing activities together and I’ll come back with another post for that.

Aruba Days 3 & 4 and Home

Aruba Days 1 & 2