Cayman Trip - Day 2: Totally Worth It!

We woke up early on Saturday in order to get some breakfast before heading to the airport. Our hotel had a really good breakfast, with made to order omelets. I love that (ham and cheese please!) We ate and then we were ready to pack in the van and leave. We were surprised to have the same shuttle driver as we did the night before. He must have liked us.

Our group arrived at the airport nice and early. The shuttle driver suggested we get there early, and my dad (and I) are always happy to make sure we don't miss our flight. Matt and I checked in electronically, the rest of the group was forced to stand in line to check in. Unfortunately we were standing in the international line. This line was especially long and slow moving due to the volcano in Iceland (I think it was Iceland) that had all flights into northern Europe canceled. So we waited and waited and waited. Finally they reached an agent, and we waited and waited and waited some more. I didn't stick around to hear what the problem or resolution was (I was playing with my niece and nephew) but finally we were set free from that line and moved onto security.

I am happy to report that we moved very smoothly through the security line and made our way to the gate. We dropped our stuff and Matt and I headed back to the food court to get some drinks from McDonald's. By the time we made it back to the gate they were boarding (it was still 45 minutes before the flight.) So we grabbed our stuff and smashed onto the plane. Again we were unlucky and someone had booked the seat between us. She moved to the aisle, and we took the window and middle. Nice and cozy.

This flight was sadly not equipped with the individual TVs for each seat. I started to watch the movie, but it was boring, and my niece Arden wanted to come back and play with me. She moved back into my lap (which made it even more cozy) and we colored and played with stickers and read books until she was bored with me and returned to her seat. I need to add that I was expecting a shorter flight to Grand Cayman. I assumed that Atlanta and Grand Cayman were on the same time. Come to find out they are in the same time zone, but that Cayman doesn't do daylight savings. So what I thought was a 1 1/2 hour flight was a 2 1/2 hour flight. Not cool!

Anyway - we finally make it to Cayman and get of the plane. Right away I am wishing I was not wearing long pants and real shoes. The heat and humidity are screaming for me to be in shorts and sandals! We made it through all the customs and such. I received my FIRST ever stamp in my passport (pretty cool).

The next step was to get our car. Matt and I rented a Corolla, which is considered a full size car in Cayman. Also catching a ride with us were my parents and my sister. Unfortunately our luggage wanted to come with us too. We got the car and started loading our stuff in and new instantly we were going to be uncomfortable during the ride. This whole time we were waiting, waiting, waiting for my Brother in Law to get his car. Turns out the wait was worth it. They were out of the small SUV he had rented and had to give him a bigger one. Why was this good news? Because we were able to fit all of our stuff in his car! Way better than riding with luggage in our laps.

Then we were off and driving - on the wrong (left) side of the road. We were trying to find somewhere to eat, since the kids (and many of the rest of us) were hungry. A little bit of driving and we found a Wendy's. That sounded nice and fast so we pulled up and got our lunch. It was nice to stop and sit and not be in an airplane or a car for a little while. It was a nice Wendy's with an upstairs so it was OK if the kids wanted to run around or scream a little (I know I wanted to!)

Lunch ended and we were off to find our home for the next week. We drove along most of the southern coast and then up the center of the island to the north. We followed the north coast to Rum Point and then just around the corner there it was! A Beautiful, large, BLUE house! Our house!


I jumped out of the car and hurried into the back yard to check it out. I was not disappointed at all in what I saw. There was a beautiful beach in the back yard with a hammock and beach chairs, a deck going out into the little inlet, a screened in porch. It was heaven. Here is a video of me running around like crazy - so excited about what I was seeing.

The house was amazing. There were three bedrooms upstairs. A master bedroom (Chrystie and Preston and family took that one). A 2nd bedroom with a kind size bed (me and Matt) and a pink bedroom with 2 twin beds (for Val an Arden). The rooms had decks. It was Awesome.

We unpacked and got ready to head to the beach. About a 5 minute walk up the street and we were at Rum Point. This is a beautiful beach. One of the prettiest I have ever seen. The water is so clear! Here are a few pictures we took on the first day there.

We all got in the water and played for a while. We saw some fish and a ray right there! So amazing. We didn't have a lot of time to play before the sun started to go down and we had to dry off and go back to our blue house.

I am not sure when it was, but between the beautiful house, the wonderful beach, and the amazing water I realized that all that travel was TOTALLY worth it!

Coming soon - Day 3: the first snorkel