Vacationing On the Island Of Turks and Caicos
Beaches by Sandals present one of the most intruding destinations to visit, Turks and Caicos. A place to escape the real world to just relax and not have to work at all, Turks and Caicos is where you want to be. While there, I had the pleasure of experiencing massages and spas, mostly for the adults, unlimited amounts of food to order at a wide verity of restaurants, and of course laying out on the shores with sand as white as snow and the water as clear as day. I also got to experience the thrill of riding on the banana boat and riding on the catamaran.
I still remember my aunt Angie telling me, “Pack your suitcase, we are going to Turks and Caicos.” I was shocked by her announcement and at the same time there were so many things running through my mind I didn’t know what to do first because I was full of excitement. I couldn’t wait to see the tropical islands with the crystal clear blue water in sight. It was just a dream vacation waiting for me to live up in reality. Not to mention the resort we stayed at was amazing. They had just finished building a new portion of the resort that was finally constructed on January 20th 2009, called the Italian Village where we had stayed at.
The day had finally come. My aunt Angie and I were headed for Turks and Caicos. Along the way we did run into a few problems on our way to Turks and Caicos. Our first flight was to North Carolina. It was there when we came along our first situation. We arrived at gate C and had to catch our next flight in five minutes and our destination we had to reach was gate G. Than I had asked my aunt Angie, “What happens if we miss our flight?”, she had than replied “This is the last flight out today to Turks and Caicos until tomorrow.” Than I had realized, “We have to run as fast as possible to gate G right now.” So than we had ran towards our next gate and I remember hearing the airport announcing, “Now boarding at gate G”, thinking to myself they are going to close the gate on us, we finally arrived after running through three other terminals. Once safely on board, my aunt and I were treated to first class seating, which I have never experienced before, and thought it was amazing being my first time. Now my aunt and I just kicked back and relaxed and enjoy our three and a half hour flight out to Turks and Caicos.
“If you look just to your right, you will see many of the islands that make up Turks and Caicos”, said the stewardess. I leaned over my aunt and saw not only the islands that made up Turks and Caicos, but what was so mesmerizing was the clear blue water. As I gazed at the water, I had realized that, what makes up these enchanting islands is the shimmering water that it reflects upon. The islands weren’t the only thing that was casting mind bending shadows on. What would seem like coral reefs from thirty thousand to fifty thousand feet up in the air, was actually just a cloud casting its shadow over the water. Yes I guess you can say I was foolish to think something bizarre as that but hey, what are the odds?
With a sigh of relief , we finally landed and than arrived at the customs center. To me that was a great sign of relief for the fact that I thought it was a long but pleasant flight. Stepping off the plane feeling the tropical breeze brush across my face and feeling the blazing heat rub across my skin was the sign of tropical paradise to me. Our next step was to check in with customs. As we were checking in with customs, we also had to grab our luggage. So here we are my aunt and I looking for our luggage, minutes past. Than my aunt had finally come to her senses. Our luggage never reached the flight back at North Carolina. Seeing how my aunt and I made the flight in less than five minutes, our luggage didn’t. Boy was I heated. I was freaking out thinking, “Wow, what are we going to do now”? I of course didn’t know what to do because I have never experienced anything like this before. Than, I asked my aunt, how are we going to get our luggage back? She had than told me, “Well I filled out the form with our information on it and they said our luggage should be here sometime tomorrow in the evening.” To myself I’m thinking “O I thought they had lost our luggage.” Now that I see that they didn’t lose our luggage, it was a great sign of relief for me. Although, the downfall to that was that my aunt and I didn’t have anything to where that following evening and onto the next whole day as well. Not to mention our tooth brushes and other things we needed to freshen up were all in the luggage too. Further more, as we leave customs and head towards the resort in our taxi, we got to see the island and the people that occupy it as well. The island stretches to about 12 miles long, that I find hard to believe but it’s true. It’s possible to run around the island, it’s only 12 miles.
Moving on, we finally reached our destination. We arrive at Italian Village and were welcomed by the hotel staff with moist towels to wipe our faces down from the intense heat and all. We were than offered rum punch, water, and even cookies, lots and lost of cookies. As we strolled along, we reached the concierge and finally checked in. Although, we had to wait like an hour because our rooms weren’t even ready yet, and to think it took just forever to get here the rooms would be ready right? Well we were wrong. There for, my aunt and I went into the PUB in the meantime, basically the spot where everybody goes to drink, hangout, eat, and most of all have fun. Believe it or not, the legal drinking age over there is seventeen. Of course I was eighteen by than so I was allowed that wonderful privilege and anyways I might as well take advantage of this now because I know when I come back to the states it won’t be legal to drink. There we are sitting down eating and drinking watching ESPN and notice the fastest man in the world was on TV who happens to be Usain bolt. Our waiter happens to come by and ask us, “Do you know who that man is”, my aunt and I looked at each other and said “No who?” Our waiter than replied, “That’s my brother Usain Bolt.” Now really what are the odds of that happening, getting a waiter with a famous athlete in the family? At the same time my aunt and I were shocked and thrilled, but we had also felt bad because we didn’t know who his brother was when he had asked us.
When we finally got to our room, we walked in and WOW, was I amazed to see what the room had in store for us. My room consisted of a bunk bed, my own sink and mirror, and unlimited access to an Xbox 360. Moving on into the next room, it was my aunt’s room which consisted of a really big bed, a really big couch, and an unforgettable jaw dropping view of the water. I didn’t realize that we were at the very top of the building we were staying in until after seeing that amazing view. After soaking all of that up, my aunt and I thought it would be a great time to celebrate and so we opened up the refrigerator and what do you know, there happens to be a fridge stocked up with lots of free alcohol and liquor. Of course at the moment called for a time of celebration, we popped open a bottle of champagne.
Afterwards, my aunt and I settled down for a bit than walked around the resort to see what we can expect the next few days. The resort was lit up with neon lights and also consisted of a giant pool that featured neon lights in it as well. Than my aunt and I had a seat at an outside bar with a couple drinks just talking about what a day we had and glad we made it. Afterwards, back up to the room and we went straight to sleep resting for the next day to arrive.
The next day arrives and we are well rested. Next thing you know the doorbell rings. Yes, can you believe that we have a door bell equipped with our room? Any who, it was the concierge to provide us with toothbrushes and toothpaste since we didn’t have our luggage at the time. I thought it was very thoughtful of them to do that for us. After freshening up, my aunt and I
headed over to a restaurant where they served a really big breakfast buffet. From pancakes to waffles, French toast, bacon, cubed potatoes, grits, sausage, eggs, and for something sweet five different types of Danishes and so much more to devour.
We headed over to the French village where there was a café full of many deserts, pastries, and of course coffee. The French village also featured a stage where guests come to watch shows and enjoy their evening dinner. What I thought was the best feature of the village was, the Red Lane Spa. From all that running around through the airport and wondering around the resort, the spa surely gets it done. That evening, we had sushi for dinner at the French village. At last after a long period of wait, our sushi was finally served and all was good. After dinner, my aunt and I headed over to the PUB to see what was going on over there. We walk in and had a couple drinks and than out of no where, someone starts singing. We had no idea that it was karaoke night. We did have a good time though because some people couldn’t sing which made it very entertaining to watch. On the other hand the people who could sing, well I must say was also very entertaining to watch. As that night drew to an end, we headed back up to the room and surprisingly, our luggage arrived. It was about one of the most relieving thing that occurred to us that night.
Today was the day my aunts boyfriend Tom was suppose to meet us here. He had departed a different day than we did due to the fact that he was caught up in some business. Tom was schedule to meet us here in the morning around ten or so. In the meantime, I was done soaking up the sun for now so I wandered around the resort and found a basketball court. As bad as I wanted to play, nobody was playing unfortunately. I wasn’t bothered by it though but moving on, I came along the equipment rental storage and I really wanted to rent a football to throw in the water with my aunt. Unfortunately, they were all rented out. So after the unfortunate events that took place for me, I headed back towards the beach to where my aunt was still laying out. It was just about that time to meet up with her boyfriend. When Tom finally arrived, we went and had some lunch and relaxed for a bit. Afterwards, we than went on an excursion to Iguana Island to observe the protected species that thrived on that island. I must say that it was pretty amazing because I remember getting off the boat on Iguana Island and than seeing a giant type lizard behind a shack.
Moving on, after we toured Iguana Island, we left from there and the boat took us snorkeling. I’m not the best snorkeler in the world and not that strong of a swimmer either so I knew this was going to be a bit hard for me. I had to do it though because my aunt paid for it so I didn’t want to waste her money. After the captain of the boat gave us a few tips and rules of snorkeling, off we go into the water. I jumped in and at first it was ok but than I knew that I wasn’t going to last very long. The water was choppy out and made it even harder for me to swim and snorkel at the same time. I knew from the start I shouldn’t have jumped off the boat without a life vest. After struggling for a while, I finally climbed back on the boat and waited for my aunt and her boyfriend to finish snorkeling. After snorkeling, the captain dropped us off at a private island and told us to hang out here for a while and find sand dollars. So we did just that but I didn’t find any sand dollars. By this point I was very hungry and thirsty because we waited on this island for about an hour and a half. During this time, we were standing just inches away from the water while giant stingrays swim past us. Finally, the captain picks us back up and we all board the boat. On the way back to the resort, the captain had been preparing a conch salad for us, and might I say it was very good.
Sadly, this was our last night here and we had to end the night going back up to the room to pack up for the next day. As much as I didn’t want to leave paradise, sadly that’s reality. So we headed back up to the room and packed our luggages. The next day arrives and we had to be out of the room by ten in the morning. We got up extra early so we could go have breakfast for the last time.
So there we are on our flight to Charlotte, North Carolina. When we finally got there, another unusual situation happens again in the same airport where we first departed for Turks and Caicos. Our flight was delayed. So than in the mean time, we went into some sports bar restaurant they had at the airport and ate there for a while. After the long agonizing wait for our flight, the plane finally touches down and we board for Virginia.
