Thursday, March 15, 2018

THE REWIND SERIES | SANDALS ROYAL BAHAMIAN

Lately, I've been thinking about all the fun things I've done over the years, and how it's kind of sad that I didn't have this blog then so I could share it all.  I've said it before, and I'll say it again:  We used to be a lot cooler than we are now.

Right now, we are just not in a phase in our lives where we're able to take a lot of big trips and I have to say I miss that.  It used to be so much easier to just pick up and go, but now, with Craig's new job, the football camps, my Etsy shop, the boys' baseball schedules, school, LIFE...it's just hard to get away.  We do have our fun little getaway coming up in April, we'll go to the beach as always at the end of summer and we're planning our first trip to Disney World for Thanksgiving!  So we aren't totally deprived, but still.

Earlier this week,  I found myself taking a stroll down memory lane on Facebook.  I was going through all of my old Facebook albums of fun trips we'd taken and old birthday parties and got all nostalgic.  #idothatalot

All of those old pictures inspired this new series.



I'm calling it the Rewind Series.  I'll be sharing fun trips we've taken over the years, events, birthday parties, and even just regular "day in the life" type posts of what it was like when the kids were little.

I decided my first post in this series would be our anniversary trip from 2009 because it was what inspired me to do this series in the first place. Our pictures from the trip showed up on my On This Day thing on Facebook and I had the hardest time believing that was 9 years ago!

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In March of 2009, Craig and I dropped our sweet 10-month-old off with Nana and Papa for a week and set out for the Bahamas to celebrate 4 years of marital bliss married life. ;)

We knew we wanted to go to another all-inclusive resort so we decided to try out The Sandals Royal Bahamian.  We had gone to the Sandals Grande Ocho Rios for our honeymoon in 2005 and had the greatest time so we were eager to see if the Bahamas could live up to Jamaica.  

(By the way, I just checked the Sandals website and it's now called Sandals Ochi and has been updated a lot.  We stayed in the Romeo and Juliet Suite and it was amazing!)



If you've never been to a Sandals, you should try it out!  We are big fans.  We love the all-inclusive aspect of it for one.  You aren't supposed to tip anyone so there's never that anxiety over if you have cash for the bellhop or the bartender etc.  We did have Butler service with our room both times we went though and tipped him at the end of the week. 

We also picked the Bahamas because it was a straight shot to Miami from Dallas and then a quick 45 minutes to Nassau.  And no jet lag.  Jet lag is the worst especially if you're trip is a fairly quick one.  (We were only staying 5 days.)  Jet lag is the reason why I'll never go back to Hawaii.  Give me the Bahamas anyday.

Quite honestly, I don't remember a ton of details from this trip. But what I do remember is this...

When we got there, we were upgraded to a better room which was awesome.

We ended up with a suite with a small living room and separate bedroom and bathroom.  The bar was always fully stocked and you could request anything else you may want.  We had a room with Butler service, so we also had in-room dining and could ask our butler for pretty much anything our heart's desired.  We requested a lot of those cheese and cracker plates for some reason.  They were just so good!

These were some shots from our balcony one morning before everything got started for the day.



This resort was much smaller than the one in Ocho Rios but was still perfect for what we were looking for.  Which was basically a low-maintenance beach getaway with good food and good drinks.  It doesn't take a lot to make us happy.



There were several different restaurants (like all Sandals resorts) and you were free to pick wherever you wanted each night.  Our favorite was Kimonos which was a hibachi place.  Since this was before I had my cell phone permanently attached to my hand, I didn't get pictures of anything there.  If I had, I would have definitely taken a picture of my shrimp covered in this amazing butter sauce because ohmygoodness....my mouth is watering just thinking about it.

I remember nothing about the other restaurants but I'm sure they were great.  Just clearly not great enough for me to remember them 9 years later.

But we do have pictures!

This one was at whatever restaurant was right on the water.  Gahhhh we were so young.


And then at another restaurant.  I remember trying hard to cover up my sunburned face with makeup before we left the room.




And we loved The Pub for a fun hangout with other fun people after-hours while snacking on fish and chips and shepherd's pie.


When we were laying out by the pool one day, we noticed some other couples our age nearby with LSU gear on.  Since Craig played for LSU for years, he ended up talking to them and we made friends quickly.  They were good ole southern boys married to sweet southern girls.  Everyone got along like we'd known each other forever.  That's always fun.  :)




We didn't do any excursions while we were there because we just didn't want to leave the resort.  We had plenty to keep us happy there.  But they did offer a little boat ride out to a private island where you could wander off by yourselves and explore.

They made us take this cheesy picture before we walked down the dock to get on the boat.  There were resort photographers wandering around all the time snapping pictures.  And then charging you an arm and a leg for them at the end of your trip.  I'm so glad I have these now though.


Our walk down the dock looked like a screensaver.



And we loved this deserted beach.



And one more picture for good measure.  The photographer caught us walking by the fountain and made us stop to take a few pictures.


They always want one of you looking at each other and smiling.  One of you kissing.  And one of you smiling for the camera.  EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

But look how sweet.  :)

Overall, we loved our trip to the Royal Bahamian.  We've been to a couple of all-inclusives in Mexico as well but Sandals topped both of those.  We still love the Ocho Rios resort best but the Bahamas one was great too and I'm sure it's even better almost 10 years later.  I love that we can get there quickly and it feels much safer than Mexico.  We've never been to Atlantis but it's on our bucket list.  I'd love to get back to the Bahamas soon.

Have you been to the Bahamas?  Where did you stay?  Have you been to a Sandals resort?  Tell me about it in the comments!

Hope you enjoyed a look back on Anniversary #4 for us!  Monday we will celebrate #13.  Sometimes I can't believe it's been that long and sometimes I can't believe it's ONLY been that long. ;)

I'll be posting these Rewinds sporadically so please come back and see me!

Have a great day, friends!



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8 comments

  1. SO much fun! We have been to the Bahamas on one of Ben's work trips! We went to Atlantis and stayed at The Cove. We went to Mexico the past 2 years!
    Happy early Anniversary!

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  2. I love this! Never visited Sandals but this makes me want to.

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  3. What a cute series! I've blogged for almost 10 years but, like you, there are so many older memories that I think would be fun to have on the 'ol blog! Your trip to the Bahamas looks awesome! We have traveled to The Exumas in the Bahamas and it's absolutely amazing- my favorite trip to-date. I did blog about that one. :-p

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  4. A lot of people with busy lives and kids your age can’t just take off on a big trip whenever they want to. We are on spring break this week too and in the same boat. You shouldn’t feel bad. You have a great family and that is what matters!

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  5. Your trip to Sandals in the Bahamas looks like it was wonderful, and all the pictures are beautiful! We've been to the Atlantis and it is lots of fun! We went to the Couples all-inclusive resort in Ochos Rios, Jamaica and didn't really care for it as much as it sounds like you really liked Sandals, so I wish we would have chosen better on that trip. I like this new Rewind series!

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  6. I have never commented, but love your blog! I feel like we'd be besties if we lived near each other. �� Anyway, big Sandals fan here too! We also honeymooned at Sandals Ochi Rios in 2006, and then after having kiddos didn't do ANY traveling until our 10 year anniversary. We've since changed that, and renewed our vows at Sandals Antigua for the 10 year, and visited Sandals Grenada last year. We loved them both!! We definitely go for the butler too when we go; what a treat?! Enjoyed your Bahamas pics, and look forward to more in the Rewind series. Hope you have a happy anniversary!!

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  7. We went to Sandals St. Lucia for our honeymoon - it was amazing!

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  8. I just found your blog from Friday favorites. I'm enjoying going back through older posts, and especially like this rewind series!

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