Hedonism II Trip Report - Chad
Nov 01-11, 2023
Greetings from Los Angeles fresh off our 9th trip to Hedo on a 10 night trip. Where to begin?
Travel: It's a LONG day of travel from Los Angeles to Negril, but worth it as always. We love the airport lounge life, and take full advantage of anything to make our travels less wearing. Plus at this point of our lives, we also use Club MoBay and have a private driver zip us too and from the resort. So outside of the required two planes to get to Hedo, everything worked out well.
Check-in and our room: The check-in process was smooth, and since we arrived on a Wednesday, I'm sure that helped. We got the room we wanted, 2224, and never had to switch. Plus the room was ready for us upon arrival, which was at 1pm. With views of the ocean, a private balcony and recently remodeled - we felt right at home.
Food and drinks: What can you say, the food is Hedo food which works for us. I like breakfast in particular, but the lunches and dinners are great too. We did dine at The Flame, the NEW Harry-san plus Pastafari. Harry-san is nice now that it's enclosed. It's just cooler now, brighter and has a side sushi bar - we loved it. Pastafari is still the same Pastafari as always, dinner did take FOREVER one night there, but hey......soon come mon. The drinks were flowing hard at all the bars and they all tasted great. I stick to rum drinks for the pool parties and try my very best to only suck down water most of the day, outside of those pool parties. If you ever want a fun drink, try some ginger beer with Appleton Rum - very tasty.
Disco: The disco came back alive this trip! Most of that was due to the Dirty Pervs being there, which we were a part of. They had DJ's in the disco about 4 nights out of 7 and the place was always packed. This made me happy, it reminded me of the good 'ol days. It's the exact same disco from the early 2000's, but if it's not broken, don't fix it. Thankfully, the DP's have excellent music, so we really enjoyed it. They'd usually get going around 10:15pm, then conclude around 1pm I think.
Pool parties: Hey, that's why we come, for those wild ass afternoon pool parties. We'd usually show up at 2pm to hopefully find a cubby-hole, then start to enjoy the first drinks of the day. By 4pm or so, that rum was taking effect and the pool parties would start to get wild, which was fine by us! :-) This trip was more music than pool games, which was fine by us. It's not that we don't mind the pool games, but sometimes they take FAR too long and they're too many for our taste. Hedo did run the infamous car wash, which at this point we only observe vs. participate. We participated in a few new firsts this trip, and loved it all - no regrets.
The EC's: I'm not sure what to make of this one. Back in the 2000's they seemed to be more exciting, but maybe that's just my youthful mind at work. The male EC's seem to be more personal and stick around longer, so it's easier to know them. But they were around for pool parties to dance pool-side and a few times, they'd get in the pool with their clothes on.
In summary, it was another rocking trip as we just love going there. It's a combination of Jamaican culture, naughty adventures, seeing familiar faces and you just feel at "home" there. From the tree frogs, to the harbor, to the people you meet - you just can't go wrong. Why is this resort so popular? I think it's mostly because humans want to belong to something - from religion, sports, clubs - we all just want to belong. And at Hedo, you belong to this resort that not everyone will understand, only if they go there themselves.
Trips in the bag...
#1. May 2000
#2. May 2001
#3. October 2002
#4. October 2003
#5. October 2021
#6. April 2022
#7. October 2022
#8. June 2023
#9. November 2023
