Part 2: Fitbit's Food Plan In-Depth. Part 3: Fitbit's Food Plan Tracking Tools. Part 4: Tips for Fitbit Weight Loss Success ---Tips for Fitbit Weight Loss Success. The first key to success is sensible eating. Learn a little about the difference between carbohydrates, fats and proteins and how those three macronutrients should be balanced. 3 Cryptocurrencies to earn passive income with — Part 4. Received significant support from those who recognize the adult entertainment industry as a driver of innovation and those who understand that the communities most motivated to switch to a new economic platform are those.
Today I’m going to wrap up the details on our recent trip to Grand Cayman. In case you’ve missed any part of this series, you can start with. As you’ll see, we shifted into cruise control and simply relaxed our last couple of days.
Now, let’s continue on with our journey Sunday, January 14 I was wakened at 6 am today by the house alarm next door going off. It sounded for 10 minutes or so and then quit. It went off a time or two throughout the day as well but it appeared that nothing bad was happening over there.
I went back to sleep and got up at 8:30 am. We watched some TV then went for our longest beach walk yet — we left at 11 am and got back at 1 pm. It was so pleasant just to do this — walking in that environment was very peaceful and beautiful. We ate lunch and played some cards, then watched the day’s NFL playoff games, sat and chatted, and had pizza for dinner. We finished the day by playing more cards (FYI, Uno was our game), watching Shark Tank (one of our favorites), and heading to bed. How our beach looked today (a bit overcast out). Monday, January 15 Today we were up at 8 am, ate breakfast, and out the door by 10 am.
It was a bit overcast — a perfect day for a trip to. We walked about a block to the main road, hailed a bus, and piled in. Ten minutes later we were downtown. Wikipedia says the population of George Town is 28,836, but that must count about 20,000 tourists. The town didn’t seem that big to us.
And the crowds were not bad either. There were no ships in today so it was relatively mild. I’m sure Tuesdays through Thursdays would be packed as that’s when the most cruise ships come in.
The town had the normal shops that you see in every other Caribbean city (t-shirts, jewelry, restaurants, etc.) We did a good deal of shopping, buying several t-shirts among our group. The “central station” (more like a parking lot) for busses in downtown George Town. We were home by 1 pm, ate lunch, and hit the beach. The wind had kicked up and so had the waves (it was funny to see the fish pulled back and forth in the currents). We only stayed out for 45 minutes or so.
Once my parents got back we visited a bit and then went out to dinner at the Boggy Sand Cafe — the same place we ate on night #1. We joked that our tradition should be to eat there every trip on the first day and the last. I can recommend the Jerk Chicken as a tasty meal.
Good food and close to home! We came home after that, packed a bit, and watched a movie before hitting bed. Tuesday, January 16 Well, all good things must come to an end and today was that day for our trip. We were up before 8 am and spent the morning eating, visiting, packing, and tidying up a bit. At 12:30 pm (the owner allowed us to have a late check out since no one was coming the next day) a cab arrived and took us to the airport. We all got checked in and sat together, chatting until my parents’ flight left. BTW, the Grand Cayman airport is about the size of our garage.
Ok, it’s not that small, but it is tiny. And they have all the planes arriving and leaving at the same time, so the waiting area was PACKED. About 30 minutes after my parents left, we boarded our flight.
We got on at 3 pm and by 4:30 pm we were in Miami. Then the “fun” began.
Miami International Airport’s customs process must have been designed by Hannibal Lecter or some other person who wanted to inflict maximum pain. Step one was to stand in the line from hell. The killer line at Miami International Airport customs. Step two was to fill out an electronic pass and get a slip of paper. Thankfully they gave us TSA pre-check slips too. Step three was to stand in the line from hell’s brother. At this point in the experience there were signs asking us not to take photos.
I know why — they didn’t want the word to get out how bad it was. 1.5 hours later, we were through customs (BTW, it took my parents 15 minutes in Atlanta). Thankfully we had carry-ons, no checked luggage, and TSA pre-check. Even with that, we got to our gate around 6:30 pm.
We grabbed a bite to eat. Grand Cayman food prices made airport food prices look like a steal! We then got on an 8:10 pm flight to Denver. FOUR AND A HALF HOURS LATER (yes, it was brutal) we landed.
We called the hotel shuttle and were lucky that when we got to the pick-up area one was already there. But it was pulling out, so I had to chase it down. We got on, went back to the hotel, then drove home. An hour later and after 14 total hours of travel, we were home. By the way, it was good we came home on Tuesday and not the day before. On Monday Denver had freezing rain and then snow that shut down two interstate highways.
![]()
Then it was sunny on Tuesday and it all melted, so we had no problems. Final Costs Because this is a personal finance blog and we have to have numbers somewhere, let me share the final expense numbers. If you recall, when we were planning here’s what we had in our budget:. Windsong Villa: $5,438. Excursions (3 excursions for four people at $75 each): $900. Flights: $2,000. Food: $1,000.
![]()
Car: $1,000. Less what my parents were paying: ($2,000) Grand total (not counting miscellaneous costs): $8,338 We told my parents that their Christmas gift was that we’d pay their $2,000. In addition we picked up a few other expenses for them along the way — like souvenirs, the boat excursion, and the turtle farm. Let’s look at our actual costs a couple ways. Looks like you guys had a great time! It is so important to get away sometimes.
My wife and I are leaving for a short weekend getaway today, in fact. Grandparents are coming up to watch the kids, too! So, first trip kid free in probably six months. Really looking forward to it. All in all, seems like you guys really did do your research and had a great family time! Thanks for taking us on your journey.
Really enjoyed keeping up with it. The Grand Cayman’s sound fun to visit. May have to give them a shot when we take our 10 year anniversary Carribean trip in 18 months. Thanks for all the travel details! I’ve always been frustrated when cruising that it’s so expensive to just do something like go to the beach, so I’m much more of a fan of hanging out in one place and doing things on my own.
That condo does look amazing, and so does the pool! Was it hard to go back to Denver and the cold after being in the warmth? I know that for us, leaving the long warm days of Santiago in January for the short, freezing days in New Hampshire required an adjustment period of about a week and a half. Glad you enjoyed it! We didn’t know about the shopping cart “rule” you shared on a previous post. I was shaking my head at the inconsiderate people leaving shopping carts by the road!
I was also glad to learn about your positive experiences with the buses. We have always rented a car, but will probably try the buses in the future. If you go back, I recommend a visit to the Botanic Park. It is small, but has some beautiful trees and flowers. The Color Garden is the best. It costs $25 U.S. I’m curious where you were able to walk on the beach for a couple of hours.
Was it the beach by your condo? We walked down that beach and didn’t get very far before we ran out of beach and had to walk on the slippery rocks in the water to get to the next beach. A couple of points I see here. Your FIRE and still take some very good and not necessarily cheap vacations. A lot of early retirees write on how cheaply they live. You are doing FIRE the way you want to. I don’t want to retire and just exist.
I want to do some nice things and one thing is travel. Cruises are popular because people don’t want to plan. They just want to show up and have fun and it will cost you big time. Same can be said about Disney. You did some research and planned a beautiful vacation that was 100% unique. Something I did for our 25th wedding anniversary. You took a chance and it worked well.Most people don’t want to take a chance or to even plan there lunch for tomorrow.
For me personally there are many places in the USA I want to see that can be just as exotic and fun.
Comments are closed.
|
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |