Topic Posted by: Sephora
Date Posted: Sat Mar 17 11:44:07 2012
Additional Comments: Ok this is ridiculous because I've been back for two weeks and I haven't had a chance to post and say 'hi', tell you about my trip and share a few photos. It's a very busy time of year at work due to approaching fiscal year end and by the time I get home...I am just too drained to do anything.
Ok, Aruba was fantastic. I had high hopes for it and it didn't disappoint. In fact, a certain aspect of it really surprised me and I mean that in a good way. Gorgeous weather every day!! And that's one of its selling points, it's a drier island. The beach and the water were just...stunning. I still catch myself thinking back to how it felt to be in that water and look at it surrounding you. Just beautiful. The resort we were at was great and they had an amazing beach/sand space. The food was good too (yes, even the buffet of which bf and I aren't usually fans). They had their 'specialty' restaurants where you could make reservations for dinner and those really were quite good.
Here's the aspect of Aruba that surprised me. I had heard that you can leave the resort and that there are bars/restaurants/shops outside the Palm Beach hotel area (where we were). But I guess I didn't realize just how many there were and how ALIVE it really is. There were tons of nice restaurants (various types of cuisines) and bars (even a Hooters lol), clubs and shops. I was ecstatic to see a Starbucks :D As bf puts it, 'you act like you have run into an old friend'. Haha! Downtown Aruba was also great. There were a variety of designer shops (LV, Coach, Gucci etc) if you were inclined to shop and the selection was quite fantastic I have to say. There was a nice area on a pier with more restaurants and cafes. We stopped and had ice cream at a Haagen Dazs. We don't have HD shops where I live so any time I see one in travels, I have to partake. And the number of jewellery stores in Aruba was just mind boggling. They were extremely expensive of course but I'm guessing if you were planning to make a big purchase, it's cheaper to do it there as there's no sales tax. The only thing I bought was a pair of Chanel sunglasses.
In retrospect, I don't think we'll stay at an all inclusive next time we go. The majority of hotels there are not all inclusive anyway. For how much we paid, we think it would probably have cost less to just pay for a room at a hotel and then eat out. We aren't big drinkers which is where I think the deal really lies with all inclusives. There were SO many nice restaurants to choose from that even if it ends up costing the same, at least you get to experience more variety :)
The one thing that wasn't too great was how windy it was. Aruba is a breezy island in general but I think they were experiencing higher winds than normal for some reason. It was bf's fourth visit there and he said it had never been this windy. When I say windy, I mean sand on the beach would blow around and slap you in the face. It wasn't a constant wind, more like wind gusts. So that was bothersome. Your book would fly off your lounger if left unattended lol.
Oh and if you don't like bugs/insects/creepy things like me, this is the place to go! There weren't even any mosquitos. Nothing!! It's a desert island so the only thing you had to contend with were iguanas lol. And those mainly hung out by the pool sunning themselves. We are mainly beach people so the iguanas didn't get in my way too much lol! I don't know how any one can relax by the pool with an iguana a few feet away. Yikes! When we did hang by the pool, I was on high alert with eyes open. Bf had my back.
Ok a few photos. Bad news is our camera flash wasn't working so a lot of the nicer photos we took at night didn't turn out :( We definitely need a new camera, I've known this for a while.
The first few photos are the view from our room:
We had quite a big balcony which was awesome:
And the bottom line of this post with the crazy wind interfering as usual:
Posted by: fuzzwuzz Date posted: Mon Mar 19 12:42:18 2012
Message: Wow, picture postcards! So darn pretty!! Sounds like you had a great time. Thanks for posting the pictures. We've done inclusive and non-inclusive and still like inclusive the best. We're so laid back and indecisive that we like knowing where we're going to eat at any given meal!! Otherwise we do the old...''where do you want to eat?'' ''I dunno, where do you wanna eat?'' ''You decide.'' ''No, you decide''... After a while it drives you to drink!!! LOL
Posted by: lifetimeviewer Date posted: Mon Mar 19 8:02:58 2012
Message: What a beautiful place! I'm glad you had fun. Thanks for sharing your pictures and descriptions of the island. Aruba is one of many islands I'd love to visit.
Posted by: sam Date posted: Sat Mar 17 22:29:09 2012
Message: Wow, what gorgeous pictures! With your camera, switch to manual setting and crank up the ISO to let in more light, that will make up for lack of a flash to a point.
Posted by: Geri Date posted: Sat Mar 17 13:42:54 2012
Message:
Welcome Back, Sephora !
Thanks for sharing your adventure and pictures. The first three could be postcards. Aruba definitely sounds like the place to go. I would love no bugs and low humidity. Glad you had such a great time.
Hope the work places eases up some and we see you around here more.
