Forever Young: Caribbean Getaway 2014

Andrew and I have been counting down to this trip since we booked it back in February. So sad that this vacation is over but thankful for the opportunity to go and the memories that we made. We decided to take a big trip this year since next year we will be building our house and most likely will not get to go anywhere. It came at just the right time since Andrew has been traveling for work each week for the past five months and it has been that long since we have spent a full week together. We had a wonderful time.

We started our trip off with a bang with almost missing our plane leaving out of our local airport headed to Atlanta. Our flight was to leave at 6:00 a.m. and I don’t know what possessed us to think we could get to the airport at 5:30 and still make it. We thought we remembered it only taking that long last time (our regional airport is very small with only a few flights leaving each morning). Talk about living on the edge. I thought the guy checking us in was joking when he asked why we had arrived so late. Then when he handed me our boarding passes and said ‘good luck making your flight’ I knew we were in trouble. The line for security was so long and seemed like it took forever – I was praying so hard we would make it. In Andrew’s version of the story he says I was crying. I say I was doing a nervous dance. Either way when we got through security we ran all the way to the gate to hear them making final boarding call. That was way too close for me! Lesson learned. The rest of our trip went smoothly with on time flights and no lost luggage. Small blessings. The worst part of the whole trip was the hour and half ride from the airport to our resort on the most curvy mountain road you can imagine. But we made it!

I don’t even know where to start with talking about how beautiful everything was. The only way I know how to explain it is that I felt like it absolutely exhausted me to keep looking at everything because I had reached my limit of how much beauty I could see at one time. I am not kidding. We stayed at the Sandals Halcyon resort but there were two other Sandals resorts on the island, the Grande St. Lucian and Regency La Toc. There was a complimentary shuttle that ran between all three (only 15 minutes apart) and you could use amenities at any of them. I fell in love with the Sandals resorts. Everything was so nice and well taken care of – we were waited on hand and foot! Our favorite resort was the Grande St. Lucian just because it was the newest and had the best atmosphere. Our resort was smaller and quieter with more of a garden type feel than a tropical one. If we go back we will definitely stay at the Grande but we enjoyed our resort too! There is no way you couldn’t enjoy it no matter where you stay.

We had the opportunity to go on a sunset sail to see The Pitons and swim/snorkel in a bay area between the two peaks. I was nervous about going because I get seasick but the waters were super calm and I didn't worry about that at all once we were on the water. It was a wonderful experience and I am so glad we went! The area where we snorkeled was over a protected reef and it was so beautiful. Wish we had had a water camera!

We also went ziplining! I had been before on a smaller zipline but nothing like this! We got to ride on twelve different lines through the rainforest - some that were almost 700 feet long and with speeds up to 30 mph. It was so much fun!

Andrew got to play golf at the Regency La Toc course. Golf was included but they required you have a caddy to play. I think Andrew liked having someone carry his clubs, help decide which one to use, and get down and look at breaks on the greens for him. I told him not to get too used to it! The course was beautiful – located partly on the side of a mountain and some in a valley.