VACATIONS FROM HOME

Friday, December 27, 2024

VACATIONS FROM HOME 2024 RECAP

OH, THE PLACES WE’VE GONE AND THE PLACES WE’LL BE

Apologies to Theodor Geisel

With our heads filled with brains and our shoes filled with feet

And our hearts all swollen because the world is a treat

There are so many places so many to choose

Team VFH has no time to lose

Is it best to go here, or over to there?

Should we see this or just have a beer?

Whether to swim in tropical climes

Or to clamber up mountainous climbs

There are all these choices because the big world is a treat

With our heads filled with brains and our shoes filled with feet

Now’s not the time to just sit and to wait

For things to happen or a sign that is great

There’s too much to see too much to do

Cause by now you know about our brains and our shoes

We’ve been plenty of places so far, this is true

But what’s on the horizon we will always pursue

The places we’ll go, we’ll give you a clue

Because well you know those feet and those shoes

The new year awaits there’s destinations anew

But where we’ve been is quite marvelous too

We traveled to far and exotic lands

Where people speak and you can’t understand

But love is the same wherever you walk

And the smiles melt the incoherent squawks

We were in Vietnam and Cambodia too

As different a world than we ever knew

But smiles still brimmed and it was quite a show

And we were forgiven for mispronouncing “Pho”.

In Vietnam we saw lanterns and beaches and trains in the street

In Cambodia we dodged monkeys and monks and crickets to eat

There were tunnels in Vietnam to explore

And so many temples in Cambodia, “wait there’s more?”

Closer to home was Nashville in June

And my heart swelled then like an enormous balloon

It was in Tennessee I finally saw my daughter again

After years between hugs and pandemic caused strains

Despite all the years the love was still there

And I have to admit a fought back a tear

Vegas was next and a Rat Pack show

Of a faux Frank and Davis and the crooner named Deano

We were there for a wedding, but something was amiss

Because the officiant was not a midget Elvis

With all of these travels you would think we’d be done

But the brains are still working and there’s still so much more fun

And you see our shoes are still filled with our feet

And to see more of this world is always a treat

St. Lucia was next, all beaches and sand

Paradise and rum on this tropical island

We saw turtles and rays when we dove and "got wet"

And every day ended with a brilliant sunset

Now the year is ending and we're still on the road

But traveling for us never gets old

Christmas in England is always so sweet

And seeing the kids is the biggest treat

But remember! There’s no time to wait

Time slips past and it will always be too late

It’s a big world out there, someone’s got to see it

Especially when our heads are still filled with brains and our shoes filled with feet

Happy New Year

Love Janet and greg

Tuesday, December 24, 2024

CHRISTMAS IN NANTWICH

HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS
DABBER PARADISE

Team VFH is back in Nantwich, England for Christmas. We consider it our second home, at least until we’ve overstayed our welcome.

We’ve been traveling to this historical and charming little town in Chesire since 2011 when Janet’s daughter married an English lad who was born and raised here and have since made their home in Nantwich. We come here to visit them and the grandchildren of course, and over the years Nantwich has become as familiar to us as our hometown of Collegeville, PA.

There are so many points of interest for us here that it would be too unwieldly to put it in one article, but here’s a few:

DABBERS

Their wedding was held at the wattle and daub Crown Hotel which dates from the late 1500s. There are a number of these types of structures throughout Nantwich, bulging and leaning haphazardly. The Crown has a very posh pub on the ground floor and a fine restaurant. On that wedding night we ran up quite the tab at the pub.

THE CROWN HOTEL NANTWICH

Dabbers is the nickname for Nantwich citizens as well as the local town’s Football Club.

We like to take in a game when we’re here. Usually they play on Boxing Day, December 26^th, but they are away this year, so we went to a game last weekend.

NANTWICH TOWN FC

THE BELLS OF ST MARY’S

Set in the middle of town presiding over a picture-card square is the Anglican church of St. Mary’s. She dates from the mid-13^th Century and each time we visit Nantwich we light votive candles for our dearly departed family members.
Monk's Lane with
St. Mary's

The bell ringers of the church practice on Thursday nights, but throughout the days the peal of their craft reports off the surrounding buildings. It is a majestic sound and at midnight of the New Year the square brims with people to literally “ring in the new year”.

If you are interested in tapping into your inner Quasimodo, they invite the curious to come by:

BELL RINGING AT ST MARY'S NANTWICH

PUB CRAWLS

The pub culture in England thrives in Nantwich and there are several we like to visit while here. The previously mentioned Crown Hotel is expensive, or posh. The Nantwich Club is not, but you do need to be invited. We have an “in” there with the father-in-law who is a member. Other notables are The Vine, The Leopard and The Red Cow.

Speaking of dearly departed, the first pub we frequented in Nantwich, The Rifleman, affectionately called “The Gun” has closed and is now a funeral parlor.

FESTIVALS

Again, too many to mention in one sitting, but here are a few:

The Nantwich Food Festival, September - We attended this in 2023. A great excuse to drink craft beer and eat a lot of food.

Nantwich Show, July – We attended this as well in 2019 at nearby Reaseheath College. Basically a massive 4-H event UK style.

Jazz and Blues Festival, Easter weekend – We have to get to this one eventually.

The Battle of Nantwich, - January – A reenactment of a major 1644 battle during the English Civil War.

Words and Music Festival, - October – Shakespeare wannabees and musical acts descend on the town for a week of performances.

WALK ABOUTS

Janet once fretted that I would get bored in Nantwich, but there’s lots of walking to do through town. Stopping for coffee, or the library or a pub is always on the agenda and finding new ways through town via back alleys and snickets, public cut-throughs, is always a fun way to wile away the afternoon.

WELSH ROW

On this current trip I crossed the River Weaver up Welsh Row to walk the towpath along the Shropshire Union Canal, part of the vast network of canals in England. The border with Wales has changed a lot over the years and used to edge up to the river

Speaking of Wales, we have made several day trips to places like Llangollen and Llandudno. Other places in England we’ve visited on day trips or overnighters have been Chester, Liverpool, Lake Windermere in the Lake District (where Beatrix Potter of Peter Rabbit fame lived) and York. We’ve also used Nantwich as a jumping off point for several mini vacations in Europe. Cheap flights are routinely available from Ryan Air. We’ve traveled to Bruges, Budapest, Tenerife and Seville.

CHRISTMAS LOGISTICS

Managing the logistics of a holiday gathering can be harrowing, especially when everyone hails from far-flung locales, but Nantwich is a precious gathering place.

This is our third time to be here for Christmas, and perhaps this is the best time to visit.

The grandchildren are always excited to see us, but they do keep their eyes on the growing cache of presents underneath the tree. We always bargain with them about the time for a Christmas morning wake-up and I think we’ve got it to 6:00 am, and I’m sure the pounding on our bedroom door will begin RIGHT AT THAT TIME and not a moment later.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

SHROPSHIRE UNION CANAL

Love Janet and greg

Sunday, December 22, 2024

ARRAY OF SANDALS RESORTS

WHERE TO GO NEXT?
St Vincent and the Grenadines

When we travel to a Sandals Resort it is not just for a relaxing stretch of indulgent whims and scuba diving. While lounging about sipping drinks at the swim up bar we are always thinking ahead to our next Sandals landing spot.

We do this for a couple of reasons.

The Sandals family of resorts makes it easy for you to plan for future trips. They offer incentives if you book your next stay while still at the resort. For $250 you can lock in your future vacations at the current price, and they give you loyalty points that can be applied to the cost. Most importantly though is after 70 paid days at any of the Sandals you get a free week’s stay.

CHASING THAT FREEBEE

Since our honeymoon in 2018 when we first stayed at the Sandals in Antigua, we have amassed 52 days, and we are at something called “Emerald” status. Whatever… all I know is we are very close to that free week.

Two more stays and we’ve made it. THAT is an incentive and Team VFH will jump on a freebee offer like bums after a ham sandwich.

St VINCENT and the GRENADINES

Our next planned trip is the newest addition to the Sandals family on St. Vincent. When first conceived by Sandals the resort on St. Vincent was slated to be a Beaches resort, their (gasp) family friendly all-inclusive, but pulled the plug on that scheme.

St. Vincent is the main island of this country which includes the islands of Bequia and Mustique. My first attempt at scuba diving was in the waters of the Grenadines. I was shocked and smitten with the sport of scuba diving because of the clarity of the water and the diversity of the sea life. We are really looking forward to this trip. I just hope the volcano La Soufriere, located on the north of the island doesn’t erupt again. It last erupted in 2021, but the resort is on the other end of St Vincent.

PRIVATE BEACH

Jamaica

There are 17 Sandals resorts scattered over 8 different islands and there are 7 on Jamaica proper. We stayed at Sandals South Coast a couple of years ago and we just planned to return to it, rather than explore another resort on the island. I know I know we often say it's a big world out there so why repeat a destination. Well, we became friends with another couple a few Sandals resorts ago and they expressed an interest in South Coast after we raved about the resort and so we decided to return.

Plus, it’s less expensive than the other resorts.

Sandals South Coast is very nice and spread out with a pristine 2-mile private white sand beach. Private is the key word. Normally there are people hawking stuff on the beaches, but South Coast is private and secluded, surrounded by a 500-acre nature preserve.

Sadly, the diving here isn’t the beat. The coral has been beat up because fishermen once used dynamite to fish, but anytime we can get “wet” is still fun and the dive spots are a mere few minutes offshore, so after a two-tank dive we can still be home for breakfast!!

Another attraction is the Latitudes Bar, an over-the-water watering hole with hammocks off the edge. It’s a great place to watch the sunset.

We will be there in December 2026. Stop by and I’ll buy you a drink.

Thanks for reading.

Latitudes Bar Sandals South Coast

Love Janet and greg

Monday, December 16, 2024

COMING AND GOING

NEXT UP ENGLAND

HO F*KING HO

I’m awfully sorry, I left my computer open again and Raisin got to writing.

What the F*K?

They just got home a few days ago and now these B*tchs are traveling again?!

I knew something was up when they didn’t even put their bags away after the last trip.

At first, I figured they were hungover from drinking too much rum in St. Lucia, but that’s a normal F*king night for them. How many times do I have to wake them up by licking the drool off their faces when they pass out on the couch watching Wheel Of Fortune.

I’d like to solve…. THEY ARE A**HOLES!

No, Mommy is packing the bags again and Daddy has been wearing a hat to bed. I don’t know if he’s coming or going….

That’s a joke for you F*king dummies out there, in case you didn’t get it.

Who the F*ck reads this S*itty blog anyway.

Here it is the Christmas season, and they are flying off to England. They are going across the F*king “pond” to visit family. Pond? I should pee in it. I should poop in the travel bags too. They like picking up my poop. Dummies.

So, they’re going out to visit F*king family during the Christmas holidays, but what the F*ck am I? They say they F*king love me. Well Ho F*king Ho! F*king spare me the Christmas cheer and why don’t you both just jump off that F*king Rainbow Bridge.

Sunday, December 15, 2024

ST LUCIA AND SANDALS

PARTY ON

Between lolling about at the pool indulging in drinks like “Dirty Bananas” or “Mudslides” or a “Frozen Bob Marley” or, my preference, just a shot of the local rum, “Chairman’s Reserve” with some ice and lime, and scuba diving and bickering over where we want to eat next, there’s little time to explore an island.

(And, an inside note, if you want to make sure you arrive on time for your spa or dinner reservation while at Sandals Grande St. Lucian be sure to avoid drinking too many Dirty Bananas concocted by our favorite bartender Peter at the swim up bar…he never lets your glass get empty.)

Anyway, the indulgent nature of a Sandals resort lends itself to lolling about. Better to linger than to explore, right?

For those so inclined though, Sandals Grande St. Lucian offers plenty of off-campus activities, from zip lining through the jungle, biking through the jungle, jeep tours in the jungle, helicopter tours of the island and taking mud baths in Soufriere.

Scuba diving is always included in a Sandals vacation, but we often find the costs of extra tours prohibitive. Still, we managed to go off-campus a couple of time for mini-adventures.

SAILING AWAY

the S/V Yankee Clipper

There was a time, long ago, that for us exploring our island was imperative. We had been to St. Lucia 18 years ago and sailed out of Rodney Bay on the majestic tall ship S/V Yankee Clipper. She was a three-masted cruise ship that was part of the now defunct Windjammer Barefoot cruises company. The beauty of that adventure was the Yankee Clipper actually used her sails, tacking into ports like Admiralty Bay on Bequia, and St. George’s in Grenda or islands like Carriacou before dropping anchor.

Before we sailed on that adventure we went to a local party that’s been going on for 50 years.

FRIDAY NIGHT JUMP UP

Thirsty…there’s that word again…for local experiences during our first visit to St. Lucia we went to something called Friday Night Jump Up in the nearby town of Gros Islet. This is not an event manufactured for tourism, but a weekly party, held by the locals of Gros Islet. At sundown and stretching till 4am every Friday barbecues are fired up, temporary table-top bars are set up, arts and crafts vendors claim their spaces and the music gets cranked up and locals and tourists dance in the streets. Now called the Gros Islet Dance Party, this has been held for the past 50 years, every Friday but Good Friday.

Gros Islet Dance Party

When we first went 18 years ago it didn’t seem quite so frenetic, and our little entourage decided to return, because Gros Islet is literally just a 5-minute drive from the Sandals Grande St. Lucian. We had to return.

Gros Islet Dance Party

This time it was very frenetic. More like a frat party. It was loud! Everyone danced to music that pulsated from massive speakers in the center of town. We swigged some icy Piton beer, twitched along with the music along with the rest of the crowd, and had a great time.

There was a police presence at the party and despite the crowds it all felt convivial and friendly. Even I danced, and did not break a hip!

Gros Islet Dance Party

We hired a driver to take us to the dance party. Our friends used Tim’s “On Time Taxi Service” to ride up from the airport and we used him to take us to the airport. His fee of $10 pp to the Gros Islet Dance Party was much cheaper than what Sandals would have charged us, plus he walked us through the dance party, kind of giving us street cred wearing his NY Yankees hat.

We recommend “On Time Taxi Services”. Contact Tim at 1-758-285-9601 or ON TIME TAXI EMAIL ADDRESS.

Sandals does provide free airport transfers, but we opted to take the Ferry from the airport and used Mark as a mini tour of the island on the way back. He cost $120.

(The Sandals transport stops at the other two St. Lucian resorts on the way to the airport, so we were early and beat the crowds through immigration.)

Here’s the website for the ferry. FUN TO SEE ISLAND FERRY

PIGEON ISLAND

Another “adventure” we embarked on was hiking the nearby Pigeon Island. At one end of the Sandals Grande St Lucian are the looming peaks of the island that has a fort and a look-out point. Rising dramatically from the water and silhouetted in the sunset pictures everyone takes during their stay at Sandals, the $10 pp entrance fee to this National Park is worth it as it leads to glorious views of Rodney Bay.

Sunset with Pigeon Island

St. Lucia traded hands between the British and the French several times during the 1700s and to this day the French-influenced and indecipherable patois is still spoken by the locals who dance between the local dialect and English readily.

In 1779 St. Lucia was taken by the British and a fort constructed on Pigeon Island. On the higher point, Signal Hill, the British were able to observe the French naval activity out of Martinique.

We made the climb, first to the fort and then signal hill, enduring a thankfully short-lived teeming rain and some loose gravel. We did not see Martinique.

Pigeon Island is now attached to the mainland. In 1972 a causeway was created with dirt excavated when creating Rodney Bay Marina, connecting this historic island with St. Lucia.

Rodney Bay from the fort

Pigeon island is also the main stage for the yearly St. Lucia Jazz festival. 2025’s festival runs from April 30^th to May 11^th.

ST LUCIA JAZZ AND ARTS FESTIVAL

Plan your trip accordingly, or just ask Peter for another Dirty Banana!

Thanks for reading.

Love, Janet and greg

from Signal Hill
Sandals and the causeway

Gros Islet Dance Party

Friday, December 13, 2024

SKIING AT SANDALS GRANDE ST. LUCIAN

ENJOYING LIFE

The Sandals Resorts company is an adult couples only family of all-inclusive high-end resorts scattered throughout the Caribbean. In all there are 17 resorts spread over eight different islands. The company is based on Jamaica and there are 7 Sandals resorts there. We are in St. Lucia, a windward island north of St. Vincent and there are three resorts on this lush island known for the Pitons twin mountains on the south end of the island. We are at Grande St. Lucian in the far north of the island near the town of Gros Islet.

The other two Sandals resorts are La Toc and Halcyon and all three are on the Caribbean Sea or the western side of the island. Sandals offers free shuttles to the other resorts where visitors can enjoy all the amenities there. Visitors from La Toc and Halcyon have said our Grande St. Lucian was the “nicest” resort on St. Lucia.

WELCOME HOME

This is our 7^th trip to a Sandals resort since our honeymoon in Antigua in 2018 and when we travel to St. Vincent’s next year, we will have been on all 8 islands that have a Sandals resort. The other islands that we have visited, in chronological order after Antiqua are: The Bahamas, Jamaica (South Coast), Grenada, Curacao, Barbados and now St. Lucia. So far that’s 52 days in total with Sandals. When we hit 70 days we get a free week. That alone is an incentive to return. Currently we’re at something called “Emerald” status, which means we got to prance up to the dais in front of the returning guest’s dinner to receive a trinket.

Next year we are going to Sandals’ newest resort on St. Vincent’s and two years from now we’re revisiting Sandals South Coast, and we will have earned our free week.

Every Sandals visit leaves us smiling, mirroring the smiles of the staff at every resort. Often workers stop what they are doing, like raking the beach or doing gardening or just passing by us to say hello, greeting us with wide smiles. The beach grooming or the gardening never suffers as the grounds are always impeccable. The beauty of traveling to a Sandals Resort is we know what to expect and their ad tagline of “Welcome Home” is very appropriate and heartfelt. It may all be part of the Sandals experience, but the one-on-one interactions are very welcoming.

GREAT EXPECTATIONS

Don’t kid yourself, staying at a Sandals is expensive, but with that cost comes the expectation of pampering and service and smiles, and Sandals never fails. The grounds are immaculate, the rooms are comfortable, there is a choice of several restaurants, there are swim up bars and pools everywhere and there is different entertainment each night. Every island is different, but every Sandals is unparalleled.

The main swim up bar
Sandals Grande St Lucian

To save some money though, we opt for the first week of December when the rates drop. When COVID hit our planned December week was pushed to the next May and for three years we continued with May, until 2023 when we went twice. In May of 2023 we went to Curacao, Sandals’ newest resort at the time, and we shifted back to our December time slot with Barbados.

SKIING

Spending the Kids Inheritance is what we’re doing, or SKIING. We aren’t foolish though and we’re trying to squeeze out as much experience for our buck.

Our walk-out room

For example, there are several different tiers of accommodation at a Sandals Resort: Luxury, Club and Butler. We usually go for the cheapest, Luxury. Club gives you some extra liquor in the room and Butler status has someone catering to your whims and getting optimum chairs at the pool and dinner reservations, etc. Each tier costs more money and the prevailing attitude here at VFH Central is to go cheaper and more often, rather than sinking everything into one trip. Remember there is a big world out there. Better to parcel out our monies to see more and more.

Our one concession to cost is opting for a “walk-out” ground level room rather than one with a balcony.

Other rooms with a higher cost are those with a swim-out pool. There are also stand-alone oval huts called Rondoval suites. And, here at St. Lucia there are the nightmarishly expensive “over the water” bungalows. A one night’s stay is $1,888 per person. If we took the cost of our current 8-day trip to Sandals Grande St. Lucian and applied it to a bungalow, our stay would be just 1 ½ days.

That ain’t happening for these traveling cheapskates.

GETTING OUR MONEY’S WORTH

There are plenty of other all-inclusive adults only resorts throughout the Caribbean that are a lot cheaper, and some reviews think they are even nicer than a Sandals Resort, but none have Scuba diving included. Over the years we have become PADI Open Water certified. Normally one would expect to pay $100 pp for gear and dive guide for a two-tank dive day. On this 8-day Sandals trip we managed to go on 9 dives, the most ever for a Sandals stay.

Kenny with Pitons in background

All the dive crews in every Sandals resort, but especially so here in St. Lucia are safety conscious and attentive. (A very special shout-out to our divemaster Kenny Evan.) We’re not “elite” divers, but we are always treated with respect not just here in St. Lucia, but throughout the family of Sandals resorts.

Depending on the diving site locations the sport can be a day long affair. Some dive sites are offshore. Here in St. Lucia, most of the dive sites are 45 minutes to an hour away by dive boat. It’s worth the time. On consecutive dives one day we saw eels, lobsters, crabs, and a Hawksbill Turtle and a stingray, all the while swimming in a pristine colorful fishbowl, with vibrant coral teeming with underwater life.

A Hawksbill Sea Turtle (not my pic)

The Pitons St Lucia

It's a beautiful world and there’s more to see.

Thanks for reading

Love Janet and greg

Wednesday, December 4, 2024

ST LUCIA FINALLY HERE

ROAD WARRIORS

If you are a sainted reader who follows VFH’s antics around the world you will know that we are seasoned travelers. We like adventure. We like new experiences. We realize that sometimes travel takes time. We haven’t perfected our teleportation device anyway, so we are at the mercy of this capricious world that likes to change logistics…moving the goalpost during the game as it were.

Well, we left our abode on Friday afternoon and on Monday evening we finally arrived in the island nation of St. Lucia.

We flew to Fiji in less time.

We flew to Vietnam in less time.

We stayed in three hotels over two days before finally getting on a plane that did not turn around or make an unscheduled landing somewhere along the way.

DELTA finally delivered us to our vacation. Better late than never?

We missed our pre-stay spot with the Bay Gardens Hotel in Rodney Bay and arrived at Sandals around 7:30 pm on Monday.

FUN TO SEE ISLAND FERRY

Once we finally got to St. Lucia things went rather smoothly. Janet had filled out our St. Lucia immigration forms THREE times as our itinerary changed and that saved us a lot of time fumbling with this once we arrived. Sandals alerted us to this necessity, but here’s the link: ST. LUCIA IMMIGRATION

We could have had Sandals pick us up at the airport, which is on the other side of the island, but we decided to take the ferry that travels up the Caribbean Sea past the Pitons and making two stops. The first one is at Castries and then Rodney Bay where our resort, Sandals Grand St. Lucian is located.

FUN TO SEE ISLAND FERRY

It was a great way to start our delayed vacation. At about $400 it’s not cheap (a taxi is about $100 and the Sandals van is free) but it’s a smooth ride on the Caribbean side with a beautiful late afternoon view of the Pitons, the twin ‘mountains’ that are St. Lucia’s most identifying feature. We paid extra for “fast track” for a representative to get us through immigration quicker and for seats upstairs rather than down. We ended up spending most of our time on the bow of the ship anyway so maybe that extra cost wasn’t necessary, but the most important cost we incurred was their travel insurance. Without it we would have lost our money and could not have delayed our ride for two days.