This travel journal is my attempt at quickly capturing events and impressions of my solo trip to Aruba so as to be able to remember it better later. It isn't proof-read (yet, at least) nor edited for content or context.
2/21/23
4:40 - Dropped at BLI. Skated through security (literally no one in front of me). I could have arrived 30 minutes later and still been fine. Oh well.
5:50 - Plenty of space on BLI->OAK. I somehow got an A boarding pass (which never happens) so I got a window seat near the front of the plane with no one next to me. I tried to sleep but only ~20 minutes. Alas. Podcasts otherwise.
7:45 - 2.5 hours to kill in OAK. I resolved to walk, so I did. Then I had tea ($4.50) and did a crossword. The other standby for Denver recognized me from trivia. "Is your name Wren?" I get no end of joy out of stuff like that.
10:45 - Denver flight was full so wasn't able to get on. The nice gate agent helped me play the "where should I go?" game. Another employee came by and had good things to say about Aruba which helped solidify my resolve. We found a way to get me to Orlando by tonight if I sprinted through the airport to catch a Phoenix flight. I did, with some huffing and puffing.
11:15 - OAK->PHX was pretty full, but I managed an aisle seat near the back. The flight was just long enough to watch Wes Anderson's Asteroid City. A decent way to pass the time.
2:15 (MST) - Orlando flight isn't for 3.5 hours so plenty of time to meander. Luckily Phoenix is a much bigger airport to explore than Oakland. Mindy bought me a starbucks lemon cake from afar. I got a burrito for $14 (but just ate the beans and rice and saved the burrito for the plane).
5:50 (MST) Cleared for boarding(!) so went ahead and bought a hotel room in Orlando. Hopefully I can get to it from the airport. On the plane I watched 355 (chick action film) and Elf (but dozed during the first half)
11:50 (EST) Landed in Orlando. Found shuttle bus to the hotel (Wyndam Garden) ($81) and checked in. Trouble falling asleep from time zones, but once I fell asleep, I slept soundly.
12/22/23
8:30 (EST) Walked (.5 miles) to Waffle House (it's an institution!) and enjoyed the experience (though the food less so ($14)). I did appreciate that their menu prices have tax included!
10:00 Hotel shuttle to airport. It was a nail biter getting on the flight, but me and the other stand by took the last 2 seats! I even got a window seat (which never happens!)
3:45 (AST) Landed and cleared customs (without actually talking to anyone (which also means no stamp in my passport :-( ) I was worried since I didn't have a place to stay booked nor a return ticket, they might give me grief, but no worries.
4:00 I set about the long-ish walk into "town" to start my hotel search. It turned out to be ~3 miles. First stop was a hostel that was full (and owner didn't speak English). Second hostel was behind a nice lady's house (who also didn't speak English but I spoke spanish to her and it seemed to endear me a little. The bed, though, was in a tight cramped room and she wanted $35 for it. No dice. Nice I hit up Victoria City Hotel which was more mainstream (though not high end). They wanted $145. When I told them it was cheaper online and I wanted to offer to give them my money rather than booking.com, he said go ahead and pay online. I got it for $111.
5:30 After a quick charge of the phone and dropping off my bag, I headed for the beach! It was quite nice with different trees than I imagined. Lovely to take off my shoes and walk in the water. I had a milkshake ($6.25 (I think. I paid in US and got AFL back)) while in a beach chair watching the sunset. Pretty nice.
6:30 I walked downtown and wasn't overly impressed (American chain stores (victoria secret, crocs, etc.) It reminded me of Puerta Vallarta in the touristy part of town. I saw the movie theater but nothing good was playing. Maybe I'll check back. I also made it to the "I [HEART] ARUBA" sign and tried a jumping video, but I think it was too dark. There were a few redeeming parts of the walk/town. Coming back, there was a raggae band/concert on the street (in honor of Christmas) that was SO LOUD (just like in Jamaica). A couple blocks further along, there was a more mexican-style band and a bunch of old people were dancing to it. Both were really cool as they seemed not for tourists.
7:30 Dinner was at a Surinamian place ($13) thought food felt like standard chinese (fried noodles with chopped meat on top. The experience, though, was great. It was obviously a family owned place and tons of locals came in to chat up the owners while I waited. They were very nice to me and I preferred it so much to a sit down tourist place.
8:30 Back at the hotel. My room doesn't have windows (for $111!?!?) so it feels a little box-like (though there is A/C so climate is fine). I looked a little at other hotels and things to do. I think I've got a plan for tomorrow, at least the first half.
12/23/23
8:30 Free breakfast at the hotel (scrambled eggs, bacon (cooked perfectly), american cheese, toast, fruit, and juice)
9:30 headed to the beach with my hammock, book, swimsuit, and towel. Super super nice time! I dinked around in the water, but the seagrass precluded too much swimming. Found perfect trees for hammock (shaded) so read a bunch and generally lazed. After a while, people started to show up, slowly at first then passing by in droves: The cruise ships had let out and it is kind of sick to see, but I try not to judge. Happy to be able to be lazy.
11:15 walked a while down the beach path; found a tourist plaza (unused but quite grand) then back to the hotel to change and get ready for the afternoon adventure.
12:00 Set off walking. The plan was to get on the street car, but it was stationary and full of cruise-ship folk. On the walk, I found a *very* local place to get a papaya batido and empanada (11AFL/~$6). The lady was surprised at my spanish, which felt good. I ended up walking ~2 miles to the aloe farm/factory/museum/shop, which was REALLY COOL! For one, it was free (big points in my book) and secondly, it wasn't overly pushy of its products (though I did duck out of the tour once we got to the "this product is good for..." part. I really enjoyed reading the history of aloe on the island and looking out over the fields. The factory wasn't in session because of its a weekend.
2:00 Walk back to town (~2+ miles) in the hot sun. Hopefully didn't get sunburned, but we'll see. The town is inundated with cruise ship folks. I eventually ended up at Dunkin Donuts to get a beverage which turned out to be a bust ($5.85 for "iced tea" which was just a tea packet in ice water, though I did convince them to put milk in it so it could have passed for milk tea, but just barely).
3:15 I tried my hand at the streetcar, but again it was slow and full. Probably for the best because I've already walked its route a couple times (a mostly pedistrian walking street with just your basic tourist commerce).
3:45 Back at the hotel to cool down and regroup for evening (hopefully to do a dinner on the beach at sunset). Also to try to book some stuff for tomorrow, the all important "Night Before Christmas".
4:30 Hotel for tomorrow booked (it's got a pool!) More on that tomorrow, once I see the place. Doing the online booking stuff sucks. Back in my day, you read the lonely planet and just showed up and hoped there was space. I miss those days.
5:00 Walked down to the beach and went for a proper swim (-ish. The eel grass was still a deterent, but I got out deep enough to be able to actually swim.) Then I had dinner at the same spot as the milkshake from last night. Dinner was a burger and fries with another milkshake ($21). I would be ashamed of eating a burger instead of something more local during such a short trip, but the place really just had "regular" food (pastas, burgers, salads)--nothing I couldn't get in any mall parking lot in America. But even with that caveat, the fries and burger were both sub-par and I should have been more adventurous. Alas. The milkshake, however, was even better than yesterday's. And overall, my toes in the sand while watching the sunset and planes come in and land...pretty great way to spend a dinner alone.
6:45 Walked back to the hotel. Google fit says 9.5 miles on the day which ain't bad. Most of it was done in shoes with backs! (The rest was in crocs on the 2 trips to the beach and back.) At the hotel, I showered and watched a dumb comedy central Christmas movie (Let's Get Merried).
12/24/23
7:30 Free arepa for breakfast. Super fun dish but the meat so SUPER tough and stringy. When I asked for milk in my tea, they brewed the tea in milk which worked fine for me. I'm going to miss that free breakfast.
8:30 Back to the beach to string up the hammock and read. That was a routine I wish I could keep, but I'm switching hotels. Alas.
10:30 Back to the hotel to check out. They are really nice there. I can't say the hotel was worth the value, but it was close becuase of how nice they were (and the breakfast)
11:00 I initially was planning on taking the bus to the new hotel, but I ended up walking (3.5 miles) because what else was I going to do. It wasn't totally about saving $2.60 but that didn't plan no part. As always, with walking, I saw cool stuff: another I [heart] ARUBA sign. I got a coconut smoothie ($7) that had real coconut in it, but lacked a certain something (genuineness?) Saw lots of fast food places on the way (pizza hut, wendys, subway) which frames the status of this place a bit
1:00 Arrival at the new hotel. THe room is great. The pool looks great. But there's evidence of it not being my type of place: (breakfast is $12 and you have to order the day head. Christmas dinner around the pool (super awesome idea!) is $40 with apps and drinks not included. I feel like for $140, at least breakfast should be included. Oh well. THe room does have a fridge and kettle, so I immediately mixed up some tea and set it to cool.
2:00 Swim -> read -> Swim -> read. I expect I'll do more of that tomorrow and I'm excited about it!
3:00 Hustle off to the grocery store before it closes early on Christmas Eve. It will be closed tomorrow too, so gotta stock up. The place was a mad house so I didn't get to have the enjoyable time I usually have in foriegn grocery stores. But that's okay because 1) it seems like most of their stuff was akin to the states or Europe 2) most stuff was labelled in Dutch so I coudln't decypher and 3) it was all so pricey I couldn't really dream or try new stuff as freely as I usually like. BUt I got meat, cheese, bread, crunkies, tea, sugar, half and half, chips for $32 (oof!)
5:00 After dropping off food at the hotel, having a little as a snack, and cooling down by the pool, I set off to the beach for sunset. I looked for a geocache (thwarted) and had a few attempts at finding a milkshake before success ($7 with nestle ice cream). I walked the paved path down and the beach back. (I found a different geocache at the south end). The beach walk back was AWESOME with the sun going down and seeing all the sand snowmen! I look forward to walking it again tomorrow, remembering to wear my suit so as to get a swim in! Google fit says 4 miles.
7:00 Back at the hotel to work on Twas the Night Before post. I also ended up having to format this journal to make it suitable for posting, so lots of computer work. I'm giving up and will finish formatting tomorrow
12/25/23 (CHRISTMAS)
8:00 Breakfast by the pool of meat/cheese/bread and tea. I was skeptical of buying all the things needed for tea (tea, sugar, half and half) but it really has been nice. Besides my cuppa, I had a mugful of cold milk tea (I've been trying to figure out the in room fridge enough to get really cold stuff)
9:00 Set off on a nice walk. Instead of heading south, I went north when I hit the beach, aiming to check out Palm Beach, a commercial district 2.5 miles away. The walk was pleasant, though starting to get warm. I got a geocache at the butterfly place. The town itself was the epitome of americanized tourist shithole. Overpriced restaurants, mall, bowling alley--all interspersed with kiosks trying to sell overpriced adventures. Luckily most of it was shut down for Christmas so it wasn't so bad to walk through. I did get a postcard or two ($1). Coming back, I visited the bird santuary (very informal pond with lots of vegetation). Egrets and herons seemed to be the good birds. There were some ducks too, and a chicken.
11:00 Hotel time to recouperate from the long morning walk and drink some milk tea. I also ate a little more meat/cheese/bread as I didn't know how long my afternoon adventure would be. I read by the pool a little too.
1:00 My afternoon adventure was to be snorkelling, getting to the beach by public bus. The website didn't specifically say what the schedule was, but I saw lots of buses out on my morning walk, so knew it was running. But, lo, 10 minutes into my walk, a case of the paradise quickstep snuck up on me. Sorry Aruba, but I befouled your bushes. Not the best way to set off an adventure. After another visit to an actual bathroom, I seemed to have gotten it out of my system and headed to the bus stop. I ended up with 45 minutes (which became an hour) to wait, so I jumped in the ocean which felt good!
2:30 The bus was clean, modern, and probably mostly geared for tourists, though there were some locals aboard. $2.60 each way. The beach I ended up at (Arashi) was SUPER crowded! And there was very little shade. I dropped my stuff in a pile and immediately went in the water. To my surprise, the snorkeling was pretty good! There wasn't much in teh way of pretty reefs or plants, but I saw tons of fish of all sorts of species. The mask worked great too. When I got back to shore, I was really feeling the heat. I found a spot in the shade, but that wasn't cutting it so I hopped an earlier bus and headed for the hotel.
4:00 At the hotel, I was second guessing how well I was dealing with the heat and thinking about upping my return plans. But some tinme in the A/C with a cool milk tea helped settle me down.
5:45 I set out for my evening sunset beach walk, which I've become very fond of. The temp is nice. I get to be without a shirt on. And the beach isn't so crazy. I ended up walking all the way past the hotels (2 miles on the beach?) in hopes of ending up at the Olive Garden (a suitable Christmas dinner for me, right?) Olive Garden was a bust (partially because I wasn't feeling hungry and had some concern about my tumtum.) I tried 4 or 5 other places, but it was all too expensive when all I wanted was something small, simple, and cheap.
7:30 I got back to the hotel and had some meat and cheese with bread. I did pick up some fruit ($5), though, for breakfast, so I'm excited about that! Overall, I ended up walking 12 miles today!? TOgether with the sun I got and the swimming I did while snorkeling (no fins, of course), I think I should sleep well tonight. (Last night I had a Della dream in which I cried.) In my evening computing, I solidified my return plans (re-upping this hotel one mor enight, reserving flights). The taxes on the flight coming down was $10. Returning is it $75 (US customs, immigration, and agriculture fees accounting for 1/2)!? Not a proud american moment.
12/26/23
8:30 Tea and crossword by the pool. It would be the perfect enjoyable way to start the day except for the few mosquitos around. :-/ I went for a morning dip in the pool and tried a little stretching, but it wasn't really taking. I also dove into the fruit I got yesterday. The pineapple was super good, the papaya was underripe by a long shot. Alas. I was looking forward to that.
9:30 By way of a little adventure and to get myself out and breakup the morning, I went for a walk to a nearby geocache. It was lame, basically hidden in an empty lot. Not much interesting to say about the walk either.
10:30 Back at the hotel, settled in for a stint of reading by the pool. Last night I figured my book (it was really good!) and grabbed one of the few English ones that had in the common area. We'll see. Hopefully I'll be able to finish it by tomorrow when I leave. I also had some bread and meat and cheese (pretty much my only diet these last couple days) and milk tea (which I'm calling a semi-successful experiment; the fridge here doesn't do ice well.) I got a little stir crazy over just hanging out, but I jumped in the pool a few times and new I didn't want to go out in the heat like I did yesterday.
3:30 I took off on another walk, this time in a direction I hadn't been before (away from the beach). I found some promising leads for dinner tonight, but mostly it was general store fronts of businesses that were either not open or closed forever (one never knows, as defunct businesses seem to be everywhere). The walk was 3 miles and killed an hour and that is about the best I can say about it.
4:30 A quick stop at the hotel to get ready for my last beach sunset walk of this trip. I was trying to gauge the time so I wouldn't walk in too much heat, but would have enough time on the beach for a swim and then enjoy sunset.
5:15 I took a new way to the beach to swing by a smoothie stand I visited my first day. It was closed :-( I had big plans for a final dessert beverage on the beach this evening but I was thwarted. It wasn't to be the first thwart. I got a pineapple milk from the convenience store instead ($3). It was alright but not cold enough. My beach timing, however, was perfect. I had a nice swim and frolic in the waves as the sun was going down and the temp getting to that sweet spot that I love--warm enough to be shirtless but not enough to work up a sweat. There's always wind on the beach too, so that's helpful. The sunset was a bit of a dud; low far off clouds had it disappear way before the horizon. The light was still nice, as was the atmosphere of everyone snapping selfies but also lots of people swimming and building sand castles and still playing in the water. I really like walking the beach at sunset
7:00 I had worked up an appetite (perhaps from my meager eating the last couple days, perhaps from all the walking) and I set off for the the restaurants I scoped earlier. They were all closed and nothing else was around. I ended up buying a microwavable kraft mac and cheese ($2.50) from the corner store to eat with the last of my ham. Pretty disappointing, but functional, I guess. Tomorrow I've resolved to have a proper meal (I hope!)
7:30 The rest of the night was spent in the hotel, eating my "dinner", catching up on e-mails, etc. It'll be an early night because I haven't been sleeping super well and the sun and walking is catching up with me. Tomorrow I'll pack up and head to the airport for the long journey home.
