Antigua Trip - Day 2 - Arrival

…bodies in the sand,

 tropical drink melting in your hand — Kokomo (The Beach Boys)

I was so excited to get to the airport this morning and get the travel part of my day started.  With the mishaps the day before with the hotel shuttle and the fact that you couldn’t reserve a spot for the shuttle, I opted to grab a shuttle earlier than I needed to just in case.  This was a shared shuttle with the 3 hotels in the area and I didn’t know what to expect.  I am happy to report that my hotel was first, so I had no issues getting a ride to the airport, but the 2nd hotel we stopped at filled the van, so it’s a good reminder to all, plan accordingly and plan a backup plan. 

I arrived at the airport, and I had issues checking into my flight.  I had to check a bag, and the kiosk was giving me an error and told me to flag down an employee.  I had a bit of trouble doing that as the American Airlines kiosks ask for a reservation number and it’s not super obvious what number it’s wants on the ticket, so many people had to ask.  Turns out, because I had picked up my bag yesterday instead of trusting them to put it on my flight, the system was confused.  It worked out in my favor though, because I got to skip the bag line.

Happy to report that the flight took off on time and the flight was noneventful.  I was looking for a restroom on the way to customs, but I didn’t find one until after I was in the line.  It was behind the elevator and escalator, and I didn’t notice until it was too late, and I was far in the line.  I noticed because there were people around me traveling in groups and they were leaving the line to go to the restroom while the rest of the group remained in line.  I will say that this line dragged on.  I was in line for about 55 minutes.  The good news was there a restroom immediately on the other side and by the time I got through the line and restroom, my suitcase was waiting for me.

We went to find the Sandals shuttle and soon we were on our way to the resort.  The resort is about a 20-minute ride from the airport.  We were staying Club level, so we were taken to a separate area of the resort for check in.  The check in experience was very luxurious, they sat us down on comfortable chairs and brought us a welcome cocktail and a cold towel while we waited to be checked in.  The only time we had to get up and go to the desk was to put a card down for incidentals.  We were escorted to our rooms.  This was my first time at Sandals, so I didn’t know what to expect.  Our rooms were in the Mediterranean Oceanview Village which was the same building as the Club level check in.  The first thing I noticed about my room was the view from my room.  I was blessed with a beautiful view of the property. 

Arrival Cocktail

If you are unfamiliar with Sandals, it is an all-inclusive brand for adults only.  The company does have a family-friendly brand called Beaches which are family-friendly resorts.  Sandals is generally geared towards couples, but as the travel world is changing and there are many more friends’ groups starting to travel, Sandals is starting to implement some other bedding configurations as properties are getting refurbished.  

As I walked into my room, I was reminded that Sandals is geared for couples, the room had a beautiful king bed, and the bathroom had no door except on the toilet room.  The bathroom was VERY spacious.  Because I was staying at Club Level our in-room bar at the normal soft drinks, juices, water, wine, local beer, with the addition of a variety of liquors.  I checked out the room and unpacked and then headed with my co-worker to meet the rest of our co-workers at the pool.  I was greeted with a swim up bar which I consider one of my favorite things after my trip to Mexico.  We hung out for a while and then went back to the room to get ready for dinner.

We had reservations at the hibachi restaurant named Kimonos.  I don’t normally go to hibachi restaurants unless I’m on vacation so it’s always a treat for me.  After we went to dinner, there was karaoke happening at the bar, The Drunken Duck, so we enjoyed the energy, and I left early because I was so exhausted from the travel day and pool time. 

On the walk back to my room, I was introduced to the fact that there were resort cats everywhere, and I was thrilled.  This would become a running theme in this trip.

If you went to check out Sandals Grande Antigua or anywhere else in the world, fill out this link for a quote: https://travefy.com/f/6ws9rqequmpara2uwxzesgnu3gdappcy4a