Rudy & Tam - November, 2008
TamNRudy ~*~
Trip # 5 to DaZoo!
~*~
November 7 – 16, 2008
Our 5th vacation to Hedonism 2 was a blast! It was our first in November, the other four trips were in April or May. We decided to go in November because a bunch of our friends were strong-arming us, threatening to go to Sandals if we did not go with them to Hedo. Well, what kind of friends would we be if we let that happen? We were lucky enough to latch onto ValsPals and their good rates. Thanks to Brent for being patient with me and all my goofy emails. Sorry we didn’t even get to really meet you guys until the last night. And we LOVE the shirts and mugs!
We flew out of MCO in Orlando on Air Jamaica, over the approaching Hurricane Paloma with nary a bump; and arrived in MoBay at about 4:40 PM. Of course, it never occurred to me that there was a rush hour in other countries. Well, there is! And it took us over two hours of negotiating city traffic to get to Hedo. We were the only two in our van and our driver was nice enough to not stop for a break. He told us that there was also a rush hour on the weekday mornings into MoBay, so to consider that when planning our arrivals and departures in the future. Believe me…we will!
When we got to the resort, they just handed us an envelope with our keys to room 2126. (This is why we didn’t get in with the ValsPals gang immediately… it was so late that their welcome table was not set up. And we didn’t know to check there the next day; I mean who goes to the lobby when you can be on the beach? No harm, no foul.) Got our stuff at the room in a few minutes; quick shower and a change of clothes and it was off to the dining room. Lots of hugs and kisses when we found our friends. We ate a small dinner and had the first of many, many Hummingbirds. YUM! More friends arrived the next day and we were set.
As usual, the days blurred into one big fun time. So let’s just mention the highlights.
· Veterans Day – sparkly red, white and blue top hats and US flags, bedazzling tattoos. We also made sure to include our Canadian friends celebrating Remembrance Day. Thanks to all those who have served to protect us! And thanks to Sunshine who, once she was told about Veterans Day, was so impressed that she made sure to mention it several times during breakfast.
· HedoHashing – our friends are Hashers, the worldwide Drinking Club with a Running Problem. They organized a Hash that was fun, included beer and rum and gambling as well as some silly songs. Gosh! I like this club. And now Rudy and I are no longer virgins. Chocolate Starfish and Miss Libertitties made us come. LOL! More info? Here you go: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hash_House_Harriers
· Theme nights were fun too as usual, especially our first Dress as Your Favorite Drink Night. ValsPals Red Night was nice too…my new liquid metal dress was so shiny! We are considering sending our Red Night photos to some folks for our X-mas cards!
· We spent some time over by the Prude Pool, and until we got loud we were able to be naked. It was nice and cool under the trees, had the bar to ourselves, and were able to relax some after the frenetic chaos of the Nude side. The weather was much warmer than we expected, so the shady Prude Pool area really hit the spot after a day of sun down by the nude beach.
· Ittybittypools by the main dining room were a fun place to hang out one day; nobody said anything about us being naked there either.
· Blowup pirate and monkey were funny; ended up trading to the beach vendors for jewelry. And the little beach balls were fun to play with in the pool! Damn that Oriental Trading Company and their online shopping!
· Naked Water Slide – a riot as usual! One time, Rudy won highest splash and almost made his goal of hitting the disco wall; he did get the handrail and soaked EC Vixen who was keeping score.
· Beach Banquet – this was the first time we had dinner on the beach at Hedo. It was great! It was also Naughty School Girl night. Our friends, Rub-A-Dub and Giggles, were the cheerleaders. Congratulations to Mike and Trish from BC! What better place to be married that Hedo2?
· YEAH! It became our cheer and apparently some people started to call me (Tam) the YeahGirl. Funny! The truth is this; if you can’t find things in life that make you want to spontaneously raise your arms in happiness and cheer YEAH, then you ought to reevaluate a bit. Lingus – courtesy of Schlabotnick & Beer Tool, what a great name for a dog! And a great waterslide yell too!
· DIMA & Tits4Tots, we can’t wait to see you at New Years! Jame and Jody, it was fun Hashing with you fellow virgins. Liz & Chris from VT, finally got to meet you in person…after years on the BBs yakking it up. RastaBill, as usual you were a one man show! My Trip Advisor penpal – LivesforVacations – it was great to meet you & your hubby during your day trip. We wish DivaD could have made it too.
· Delroy & Scumba, Paulette, Grace, Stephanie and the other great bartenders, thank you for your expertise and patience. Thanks to our housekeeper Cecile for a nice clean room and towels when we asked for them. Tony, love your hugs. Agustus kept his beach clean and was so helpful to us, making sure our chairs and towels were in order throughout the day.
· Sunshine Guarantee – got a free day voucher for the hurricane day. Just had to make sure we got our name and information in the actual red folder by the front desk. If this happens to you, just keep going back to see if the folder is there…the first few times we stopped by it was in the manager’s office being updated. Staff will take your name and room number on a scrap of paper, but take time to make sure your name is in the actual book.
· Bacon, bacon, bacon…and lobster! Buffet was good, though it was hit or miss on the anchovies for Caesar salad. Lox and bagels most mornings. One British guy was so impressed with cream cheese…he’d never tried it before….that made me laugh. Munasan was a great time, though we were the only group to cheer the chef each time we went…come on, people, clap! It makes it more fun for everyone. On the downside… Pastafari, the one time we went, got really smoky/hazy from the grill or something and several of us got nauseous from the dim atmosphere in there. Perhaps lack of oxygen? Going outside made us feel better almost immediately. Also, service was great when we got there, but we must have done something to piss somebody off because by the end of the meal we were being ignored, it took at least 20 minutes for coffee and the crème brulee to arrive. And then they only brought one coffee instead of three. Yes, we were probably a bit boisterous and silly (being dresses as pirates does that to you), but we were polite and complementary to our wait staff. Oh well…whatever…we didn’t go back.
Complaints…we don’t really have a lot to complain about. Room 2126 had a tub/shower, the first time we’ve had a tub. Didn’t use the tub, but the shower put out so much water that the tub did not drain it fast enough…but who is going to complain about good water pressure? The sink didn’t drain really well until we took the little stopper off; it was set so low that the water couldn’t drain readily. The water temps did fluctuate during peak times, but not too hot or cold. Hot water was always available. TV Remote needed new batteries; no problem, we had some. AC worked great, had this little oscillating vent that went up and down to blow the air around the room. We did have to give it a good spray with Lysol (tiny cans available at Walmart in checkout area) because it had some scary white fuzz on it. The bed was actually two twins put together, but was the most comfy bed of all five of our trips. The others, real king beds, have always been so hard. One day when towels weren’t available in room or for beach…just kept ours from the day before…apparently the laundry service company was backed up with work or had machines broken; complaining about it would not have gotten us towels any faster. Our housekeeper felt really bad about it and we hope folks didn’t blame her or her co-workers for a laundry snafu.
Room 2126 before we messed it up.
Avast Matey! This be ARGH room!
Fast Boat! Looking toward Negril
along the coast.
Our Rock!
