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We recently got back from a wonderful family trip to Beaches Resorts in Negril, Jamaica.
Travel: To get to Negril we left NY on a 9:55 Flight. We left our apartment at 7:20 am and got to LGA early. We checked our one large bag curbside. (Read more after the jump)
Going through Security was pretty painless. Kids under 9 don’t have to take off their shoes anymore, but of course our kids took them off anyway! I sat with my 4 1/2 year old daughter on the plane and my husband sat with our 6 1/2 year old son. We basically kept our sanity through the package of red and blue toy soldiers that I bought for my 6 1/2 year old son. I also had a lot of snacks that I gave out.
Flights:
Because my four and half year old daughter is small, I used the CARES Harness to give her a five point harness on her seat on the plane (note, this is NOT for cars). We landed painlessly in Miami and found our connection (we had to take the Skytrain to our gate). I had thought we’d have time to get some food in the Miami airport, but it was only around 10 minutes before boarding. We met up with Esti Berkowitz of PrimeTime Parenting, Suzanne Chan of Mom Confessionals and Serena Norr of Mama Goes Natural and MomTrends. Our kids are friends, which made things much easier. The flight from Miami to Montego Bay was on a 757 (thank god it wasn’t a really small plane) and took around an hour.
Here’s where it got a little difficult, you have to fill out your customs card and go through customs to get into Jamaica. It wasn’t too hard, but the kids melted down.
Tip: Fill out the WHOLE Card — even the bottom — on the plane. Bring a pen for this.
Then we went through immigration (painless) and then through customs (not hard either). After we exited, we waited for our ride to Beaches in the Sandals/Beaches Waiting Room, which looked like a comfy bar/restaurant. It offered free beverages, seating, music, and private bathrooms.
Then we boarded a small bus for the trip from the airport to Beaches, Negril. The trip takes 90 minutes, so just like the airline flights, stay prepared with snacks and activities. I had put all my snacks and toys/devices away, luckily Suzanne had plenty of snacks to share. It started raining on the busride, this is what we saw when we pulled up to the hotel.
In my next post, I’ll talk about all the fabulous things we did at Beaches Negril (hint, Super Grover 2.0 is involved).
Huge thank you to Beaches Resorts for sponsoring this trip. We were provided with a free accomodations and two plane tickets (we paid for 2 other tickets). As always, all opinions are my own.
So excited to read more about this trip!