Aruba- Our Thrifty Vacation (that we won) – part 1

We are back, did you miss us?  We wanted to share our trip with you, hope you enjoy reading about  it! In a multi-part series.

View outside our hotel in Aruba – first day

Our longtime readers may remember that we won a trip to Aruba a year ago. Matt was so excited and I was too…but I never saw myself really taking the trip. I have told you before that I really don’t like anything new (yes I am a big chicken). When we won  I had  just had a baby, I would still have to pay for food and some of the travel for the trip. I never leave my kids, and what would we do with our site while we were gone for a week?  To me it just seemed too stressful, so I did not plan to go. Yes I know this may sound crazy, but that is how I felt.
We had a year to plan things out, thankfully I have an adventuresome hubby that was willing to plan the trip and literally drag me to Aruba. Both sets of our parents graciously watched our kids, Ingard ran the site.  Which meant Matt and I had a wonderful vacation, free from all the stress of everyday life and it was fabulous. We played hard, went to bed early and just had fun! I guess what a “real” vacation should be.

Our trip started out with a short flight from Boise to Vegas with a 5 hour layover. The airport was much larger than anything we have locally, and I had my first tram ride ( yes this small town gal, does not get out much…lol). Which we got on only to realize we forgot our baggage. Once we went back to get it, they were the only ones left on the carousel….. just sitting there spinning around and around. It would have been a long week, in Aruba without our bags. Unlike commercial travel where you need to be at the airport 3 hours before your flight, a private charter from Jettly saves your time. You can reach the airport and be airborne in just a few minutes.

Five hour layover, no kids and blog free, we were not sure what to do with ourselves …. we started to act like a bunch of kids again!  Not sure why Matt felt the need to stick his finger in my nose…but I caught it on camera…lol!

We walked around the airport and walked past the candy shop. Matt spotted the pear Jelly Belly’s…… Yes that is him looking very guilty paying  $3.75 per quarter pound. That is a $15 a pound…. are you kidding me???  He got about 25 jelly belly’s for $2.50 that is NOT a thrifty deal 🙁

Then it was back on the plane for a long red eye flight to New York.  Never knew why they called it the red eye, but soon found out.  I just happened to be seated behind someone who snored, groaned, gasped, moaned, and kept me awake the whole 5 hour flight.  I had ear plugs in but they did not seem to  help much.  The next morning the sun peeked over the horizon and the whole plane all looked a little rough with red eyes ( ahhh now I get it).  We had a short layover then right back on another 5 1/2 hour plane ride to Aruba.  Well it took 24 hours to get there…. but it was worth the trip!

This was the view from our hotel room…. breath taking!  I headed straight to the beach, took a swim and had fun people watching….. much to my surprise the average vacationer age was 50-65.  Tons of older couples walking hand in hand along the beach splashing in the waves, laying out in the sun and having a blast.  Most of them in tiny little bathing suites  ( I will spare you those photos…lol).

We then hit the showers, and got cleaned up for dinner only to realize lack of sleep and totally exhaustion had caught up with me.  I climbed into  bed at 7pm sick as can be.  But at least I had a great view to look at…… and no little ones to care for, so I drifted off to sleep hopping to feel better the next morning.

More to come tomorrow……