Bermuda



(Editorial note - I wrote this about a year ago and never posted it... Whoa.)

Wanna hear about Pat and Jen's honeymoon? Too bad. You're going to hear about it anyway.

After running around like crazy people for the week leading up to the wedding, we slowed things way down. We took our time getting back from Buffalo. Unfortunately, the radio fuse in the car blew out on the ride home. We had a four-hour drive with no music. But this gave us a good chance to decompress and review everything we had just been through.

"Wow... We really pulled it off."

"Yeah."

After a short stay at home, we were off again. We had no problems getting to Bermuda. It's a short flight (definitely a priority for me). We checked into our hotel on Wednesday afternoon. Always join whatever "rewards club" your hotel offers. Will I pimp out my email address and household income information for a free upgrade to the ocean view room? Absolutely.

The locals couldn't have been friendlier.

"Welcome to paradise!"

"Thanks."

"Is this your first time here?"

"Yup."

"Well, what took you so long?" he asked, in mock disgust.

This seemed to be the standard greeting to the newbies, as we heard it a few other times from the locals during the week. However, some of the locals didn't go along with the "mock disgust" thing and seemed to be actually disgusted that we hadn't been to Bermuda before now. Even still, everybody was super friendly. And we had great service all week.

I now know they tell you to take a long vacation after your wedding. We needed it. We were exhausted. The schedule for week went something like this: wake up around 9:30 for a nice breakfast (Ooh! Pineapple juice!). Grab a quick shower. Then spend a little time shopping or on the beach. Maybe a light lunch. Drink. Back to the room for naps. Then dinner and drinks. Sleep for 10 hours. Repeat. We did do some sightseeing. But Bermuda is more about taking your time and relaxing.

Bermuda is expensive ($9 for a can of cashews?! Yikes!). All this beauty isn't cheap. But you get a lot for your money. Example: I initially balked at the $35 per person all you can eat "BBQ Night" at the hotel. There's no way I could eat $35 worth of hamburgers and hotdogs. But in Bermuda, "BBQ Night" translates to grilled steaks, the best salmon I've ever eaten, scallops the size of your fist, and shrimps the size of bananas (oh, and they had hamburgers and hotdogs, too). The food was pretty much AMAZING all week long (and be sure to try the rum cakes). We had a sushi restaurant right on site at the hotel. We had British style Sunday brunch at the pub across the street. We even found a place in Hamilton that had decent coffee. We ate good.

The highlight of modern civilization has to be the swim up bar at the hotel pool. No money on you? That's OK. Just give us your room number. There was a lot of drinking. I never really got *loaded*, but I would say I was "lightly toasted" for a good chunk of the week. It's nice when you don't have to drive anywhere. I also liked the challenge the bartender and keep things interesting for him. What can you make for me today with pineapple in it? Sounds good. I'll have that. The "Dark and Stormy" is the local drink of choice (ginger beer with dark rum - and no, "ginger beer" isn't "beer"). Yummy. We had more than a few of those during our trip, especially when we discovered we could make them much cheaper by ourselves in the hotel room.

I'm not used to wearing jewelry, so it took me some time to get used to wearing the wedding ring. The only time I took my ring off was to go snorkeling. I figured it was better to take it off and know where it was than to risk losing it. Snorkeling was pretty cool, but it took me a while to figure out what the hell I was doing. And you can't help but panic a little bit when you get that first mouthful. But I would definitely do it again (and maybe go out a little further next time). I loved sitting in one spot for a while and just letting the fish swim by me. Bermuda has some of the clearest water in the world. Most excellent.

Now, it's one thing to sit around in your bathing suit and drink and lounge by the beach all day. But when you leave the hotel grounds and go back into civilization in Bermuda, make sure you're dressed up (it was a little too easy to play "Spot the Americans" while dining out). Most places are very formal (especially in the evenings). It was not uncommon to see men in shirts, ties and jackets even on hot days (paired with Bermuda shorts, of course). Playing dressup while going out for the evening was actually kinda fun.

We can't wait to go back to Bermuda. How soon is too soon for a "second honeymoon"? And shouldn't someone be offering me a drink right now?