I am a woman that has always liked to travel. Back in my twenties, I was
always up for a quick trip to see relatives or friends, and usually enjoyed the
time away, but I had never really been that far from my home base so to
speak. When I was 25, some friends and I decided to go to the Caribbean,
it was a first for most of us, so we excitedly sat down and planned the trip
and eventually made our way to the Bahamas. We had such a good time we
decided we had to make traveling like this a yearly event.
Unfortunately all did not go as planned, things came up and time got away
from us, so no trips were embarked upon and none were even being
considered. 2 years passed and with no trip on the horizon, I found out
other friends were going to Puerto Rico, so I ended up inviting myself on that
trip. We had a great time. I promised myself then that I would do some kind of
vacation every year if it killed me. The next year came, and I corralled
my friends together and planned a winter trip to Jamaica. This group of
friends were a few of my closest, plus two friends of friends, and though we
had a great time, one of the extras, ended up being a complete bitch. She actually did her best to almost ruin our
last night there.
How did she almost ruin our night
you may ask, well let me tell you the story. As I mentioned earlier, three of
the group were my really close friends; the other two were just casual friends
to me through two of those friends. My friends were Denise, Sasha and
Leah. Beelzebub was a friend of Denise and Sasha. The whole trip she just
had a nasty attitude, and she was rude, especially to the men who made the
mistake of trying to flirt with her, which is fine if you’re not interested.
But my motto when you're on vacation, is this, be friendly, even if you're
rejecting the flirtation because after all you don’t have to take him home, but
you also don’t have to be a rude assed bitch either.
Denise had made “friends” with
one of the hotel bellman during our trip, and he invited the group to his
friend’s restaurant on our last night there. We were picked up by another
of bellman’s friends, so eight of us squeezed into a car, it was a big
car mind you, but there were eight of us, so it was a tight ride, as we drove way
out into the countryside of Montego Bay.
Upon
arriving at the restaurant, and let me tell you it looked more like a shack
than a restaurant, we walked in, to find what upon first glance looked like a
complete dive. Everyone sitting at the
bar looked like the Jamaican version of a rough neck. I was kind of expecting
to see machetes lying on the bar because those brothers looked scary as hell.
As we made our way to the back area, we smiled big old smiles and said hello to
everybody in that joint. The back room was the main dining part of the
bar, and it was surprisingly very nice. We sat down and proceeded to have
a very good time.
When
the check came, Beelzebub started bitching about the amount she was charged.
(As a side note at the time the exchange rate was 33 Jamaican dollars to every
one US dollar. So basically Beelzebub was arguing over pennies). The rest of us
looked at her like she was crazy. Did she forget where we were, and who was
sitting out front? I really wanted to shout “girl have you lost your
damned mind!” Leah and I lay our money on the table with a smile, and
said thank you for the hospitality to the owner and excused ourselves, saying
we had to go to the restroom. We nonchalantly strolled outside, smiling
sweetly at the men at the bar as we left. We waited on the others to
settle the dispute, wondering if we would have to make a run for it and knowing
if we did, we would be out of luck because we didn't know where the hell we
were. Luckily it all worked out and we made it back to the hotel in one
piece.
I later told Denise and Sasha
they needed to speak to Beelzebub about her attitude and behavior, as for me
and Leah, we couldn't wait to see the back of her.
After that trip I promised myself to be more
discriminate when choosing traveling companions (in other words don’t travel
with that chick ever again!!!!)
When the next year came around most of the members of the group either had
boyfriends who did not want them going anywhere without said boyfriends, or the
scheduling couldn’t be agreed upon, so the group dwindled down to just two. We
went to Cancun. Even though it was only a duo, we had a nice time.
I made myself the same promise once again when I got home, that I would be
traveling again the next year, and if I had to do it alone then so be it. (Of course I did not expect that would happen
so I knew I was lying to myself, or so I thought).
What this so called prologue has led up to, is my first real experience of
taking a true vacation alone. ALL BY MYSELF, as Eric Carmen would say in
a song. (I just found out who sung that, by the way. You learn something new
every day, because I really thought it was a woman).
