Aruba 2017

When you say you’re going on vacation, everyone immediately says, “I can’t wait to see pictures!” Then you get back from vacation and people start asking for pictures. Well...we took over 100 pictures on our Aruba vacation, and I imagine you’d be pretty bored looking at them!

I’m presenting our vacation pictures in a different format. A story format. If you don’t care about the story, then you can scroll through and just look at the pictures! Either way, enjoy!

Why Aruba? Eric travels a lot for work. So he accumulates points for both airlines (mostly Southwest) and hotels (mostly SPG, now including Marriott). We compared international flight destinations for Southwest with Marriott/SPG hotel locations. Aruba was an easy-enough trip and there were several Marriott properties. We booked one Marriott property, did more research, and ultimately decided to go outside of our normal hotel comfort zone and chose Amsterdam Manor Beach Resort.

Neither Eric nor I had been out of the country before our trip to Aruba. (OK, that's not completely true...Eric went to Canada when he was a kid, sans passport.)

Side Note. I’ve got to be a geek for a second...the day before we left for Aruba, I received my Stars Hollow Monthly delivery (Gilmore Girls-inspired goodies delivered every month). And inside the box was a passport holder! And not just any passport holder, a purple passport holder!

For you non-Gilmore Girls people...this is in honor of a secret society that Rory encounters in college. "RFID-blocking" which Eric tells me means that someone can’t scan my info while this is in my pocket, which apparently they can do with some normal wallet.

The Trip. Here’s the reason you probably don’t care about all the pictures we took… We didn’t do anything. We sat under a palapa (wood-stemmed hut with dried palms to create the umbrella) and drank fruity cocktails. We ordered room service. We ate lunch at the bar at the beach. We got a pizza at the bar at the hotel. We walked to the Super Foods so we could make PB&J sandwiches for lunch. We watched movies. We took naps. I read. Eric learned a new programming language. We had a lazy, relaxing vacation. Which is exactly what I wanted and needed. And if you want and need that, too, then I highly recommend Aruba.

Our day-to-day life is ruled by the clock. Wake up at a certain time, leave for work at a certain time, go to meetings at a certain time...you get the picture. This vacation, I did not want to worry about any "certain time." And we accomplished just that!

Day 1. Oh, travel day...early-morning wake-up calls coupled with little-to-no sleep the night before. Thankfully our travel day was uneventful! Raleigh to Orlando to Aruba!

Our vacations generally start at this bar in the airport...because it is the only place Eric can get a legit breakfast. I sit and watch him eat because a granola bar is enough for me.

First flight (Raleigh to Orlando)! So excited about vacation!

Second flight (Orlando to Aruba). Tablet picture. I obviously don't know where to look.

This is what I do to kill time on the flight...

Word search and Mahjong...

...yes I will make a great old person!

One of the reasons I love Southwest -- I can watch the flight plan and see stats!

Once in Aruba, we got to use our passports for the first time! Woo hoo! Sadly, this momentous occasion was not photographed because they were pretty strict about the “no pictures” policy during the whole process! We got off the plane, scanned our passports, scanned our bags, went outside to that gorgeous Aruban sun, and grabbed a taxi.

They have the taxi situation pretty well planned in Aruba. The prices are set based on where you’re headed.

Our hotel check-in wasn’t until 4pm and we arrived around 1:30 or 2. The fella behind the counter offered us rum punch, pointed us to the ocean bar for lunch, and told us to come back in a couple hours. Before we left, he was very excited to show us our reservation with a bright green sticky note that said “Upgrade!” I wish I had a picture of his face when he showed us the reservation. When I am sad, I will think of his face.

Strolling to lunch in my pineapples.

Passions on the Beach. Lunch was...forgetful. But that view was not!

From Rum Punch to Pina Colada for Eric...

From Rum Punch to Aruba's own Balashi for me...

Upgrade. Shortly after lunch, we got to check out our 2-bedroom suite. 2 BEDROOM SUITE! Thanks for the upgrade, friend!

View from our suite!

Master Bedroom

Master Bathroom

Ceiling in the Master Bedroom

Second Bedroom

Kitchen

Living Room

View as the sun is going down.

Happy Hour. The hotel bar had 2 happy hours. One from 5-6pm and one from 9-10pm. The first night, we enjoyed some rum punch at the early happy hour before ordering room service and calling it a night.

Day 2. Good morning, Aruba! 

And this is where the photos of the beach begin...

Legs or hot dogs? Does it even matter when this is the view?

I told Eric I wanted one of these in our backyard. He said that the dry palms probably wouldn’t do well somewhere where it rains a lot. Bummer. Who knew Aruba had a desert climate?

Beachside bar just steps away!

Pina Coladas on the beach!

“Hold my drink so I can take a picture.”

Early happy hour again... This time with pizza (not pictured).

Day 3. Took a stroll to Super Food to get some supplies, including Dutch Peanut Butter and Jelly, goggles, and a macchiato of sorts for Eric.

I guess I can sit here all day again…

Switched to margs for the day.

Messy hair, don’t care.

It is true. I do.

Here's to hoping this is peanut butter!

After lunch (it was a late lunch!) and some relaxing, we took in the sunset on the beach.

These cool trees were all over Aruba. Google tells me they're called divi-divi trees.

At our hotel with gargoyles...

Day 4. We were out on the beach a bit too much on Day 3 and we both woke up with a little sunburn. So we took it easy on the fourth day.

Taking it easy included the early happy hour (where we ordered several appetizers).

Eric opted for a Mojito.

Those freckles sure come out in the sun!

I could get used to this view. 

After our evening cocktails, we took a walk on the beach! First stop was a swing hanging from a divi-divi tree.

Day 5. Our last day in Aruba. We got up "early" and headed to the ocean for a swim before packing up and heading to the airport.

Don't make us leave!

I have lots more that I want to share about Aruba (including things we learned about excursions), but this post is long enough, so maybe some other time!