“Spring Break” trip to Aruba with Barb and Allie.
Barb always likes to have a winter/spring break in the sun but we’ve had a hard time finding a favorite place (other than Hawaii) that we all like. Over the years we’ve tried a number of spots in the Dominican Republic, Bahamas, Aruba, Florida, and going back further to Jamaica, Puerto Rico, St. Croix, and St. Kitts. This year, Barb was interested in bringing Allie to have a beach buddy and I was interested in coming for the sake of a warm weather break myself. We decided on Aruba for the sake of my 60th birthday and because I figured we could get a deal that was at least comparable to one of the all-inclusive resorts in the Dominican Republic. I shopped Costco Travel, TripAdvisor and direct hotel sites before choosing a package from Southwest Vacations.
I lived in Aruba for two years when I was 6-7 years old, in 1964-66. Barb and I had been back twice in recent decades, once with Allie. Barb had been back two years earlier with Allie, Sara and Kristen. My friend Jenny has been coming to Aruba for Christmas for several years and enjoys it greatly. As she says, it’s one of her happy places.
Friday, Mar. 2
Allie arrived Thursday night from Boston and we got ourselves ready for the relatively early 9am flight to Aruba on Friday. That meant leaving the house by 7am which was later than I’d planned but it all worked out OK. The headache of the day was a nor’easter that brought very high winds to the mid-Atlantic. Sustained winds of 60 mph were expected all day Friday, and much worse weather was headed toward NYC and Boston. That led Barb to worry a lot about power outages and trees down at home. Fortunately it didn’t really impede our flight, though it made for a bumpy takeoff.
Arrival in Aruba was very easy. The airport is modern and immigration line was automated because I’d filled out our forms online ahead of time. The plane landed at 2:30, we got through the lines, retrieved luggage, caught a taxi to our Hilton Caribbean hotel, checked in and were in our room by 4pm. We spent a little while in the room catching up on emails and such, then walked around the grounds to orient ourselves and the girls caught a few minutes by the pool while I had a rum punch at the pool bar. Then we headed over to an early dinner at Fishes and More in a cluster of tourist restaurants and shops across the street. We hadn’t had lunch so the early bird made sense, though it meant missing the first sunset. Allie and I had snapper while Barb had a steak. It was a serviceable meal — nothing real special but at least we didn’t feel badly ripped off. After a short walk around to check out other places and get some soft drinks, we were back in the room by 8pm and happy to head toward bed. I was able to sit on our little balcony with a comfortably pleasant breeze, full moon and vodka tonic to write this. Can’t complain much about that.
The Hilton is definitely the old Aruba Caribbean Hotel that was the original high rise hotel on the island. It had just opened when we lived here, and I have memories of dinners and nightclub shows in their ballroom. The original tower is still part of the Hilton, flanked by two additional towers (we’re in the newer Curacao Tower), and now sandwiched between lots of other resorts up and down Eagle Beach. This part of Aruba has the ambiance of slightly funky Florida beach town, not quite Riviera Beach or Key West, but maybe Daytona or Cocoa Beach. Judging by the drive from the airport and our first evening here, Aruba doesn’t really feel like other Caribbean islands. It’s definitely touristy, but very Americanized. If I came upon it fresh, I think I’d be more offended by the shabby clutter of tourist-oriented suburbia. But having lived here 50 years ago, I can attest that Aruba then was a pretty barren little rock. There wasn’t a lot of idyllic native culture or natural paradise to replace. The tourist clutter is nothing to be real proud of, but there are certainly a lot more homes and a larger permanent population than when I lived here. And a lot more money rattling around. Is that a good thing? Not entirely, to be sure, but I’ve seen worse examples of exploitation, lack of safety, unfriendly attitudes and generally unpleasant places to be. Punta Cana comes to mind, and what I’ve seen of Cancun and Cozumel, for example. And Jamaica. And parts of the Bahamas. And Puerto Rico.
The beach around the Hilton is honestly not as glorious as the brochures and commercials would have you believe. We rented a thatched palapa for each of our days here so we have someplace shady to sit, and enjoyed being there in the shade and taking some walks up and down the beach. But our first glance at the beach looked fairly congested, lined with lots of resorts and people. I can certainly understand why Jenny prefers her condo arrangement near Palm Beach. I’m hoping Barb and Allie have a good time soaking in the sun and reading. Those seem to be the main planned activities, and three days of it should be enough.
Saturday, Mar. 3
All of us had breakfast at Diana’s Pancake Place, featuring Dutch pancakes. These turn out to be crepe-like thin pancakes with either sweet/fruit or savory toppings. I went for apple-bacon. Barb had ham-cheese, and Allie tried the banana-peanut butter special. They were good enough that we made a point of going back on our final day.
After breakfast it was down to the beach. The girls spent most of the day in the sun, I spent it in the shade of the palapa. I cruised through about 50 pages of The Silk Roads while Barb and Allie each read 2 or 3 books each.
For lunch I strolled down the beach to find Scott’s Brats. It’s a little beachside shed at the Playa Linda resort. Had an Italian Beef sandwich that was messy and seemed moderately authentic (would have been better if the mozzarella cheese shreds melted). By the time Barb got hungry we went to Bugaloe Beach where she got ham and cheese and we shared a grouper ceviche appetizer.
Allie and I went down to the beach for sunset and we got a decent one for our trouble. We even saw the mountains of Venezuela once the sun went down, but they also looked like clouds on the horizon so maybe it was a mirage. I have many memories of sitting on the front porch of our Aruba house, having drinks and snacks and watching the sunsets. I’m sure this seeded my lifelong affection for sunsets.
For dinner we tried the Bavaria German Restaurant and were pleasantly surprised. The girls had Wienerschnitzel and I had Schnitzel a la Holstein, a pork schnitzel topped with eggs and anchovies. The restaurant had an extensive choice of beers; based on the waiter’s recommendations I had an Erdinger Dark Weizen while Allie had a Maisel Pale Ale, both of which were indeed very tasty.
Sunday, Mar. 4
Breakfast — took girls to Scott’s Brats but it was closed. Barb got Dunkin’ Donuts instead while Allie and I waited for lunch. Early lunch at Bugaloe Beach where Barb got another ham and cheese, Allie had grouper wrap and I had grouper sandwich.
We had an early dinner at Gianni’s featuring their spaghetti in parmesan bowl. Barb had fun watching it being made tableside. I had Pesto Orecchiette. Shared calamari appetizer. Gelato at Gelatissimo.
Back to hotel for Oscars, made a little tougher because Aruba is an hour ahead so they didn’t start until 9pm and ended well after midnight. I was the only one who really made it to the end.
Monday, Mar. 5
Breakfast at the Bread Basket near hotel. Shared some of Barb and Allie’s sandwiches. Barb at pool, mostly. Allie and I at beach, though I headed back to room after a walk down the beach. Lunch for all back at Scott’s Brat’s. I had a Chicago Dog, Barb had a brat, Allie got a smoothie at nearby stand.
Tried to go to Wacky Wahoo’s for dinner but it was too crowded and we hadn’t make reservations. The place looks like a decent somewhat local spot. Maybe another visit. We wandered instead down toward Playa Linda and the places Barb and Allie had tried with Sara and Kristen when they were in Aruba several years before. We ended up at Sweet Peppers. Barb had grouper fillet, I had shrimp in garlic sauce (augmented by pickled red onion salsa) and Allie had shrimp and scallop appetizer.
Tuesday, Mar. 6
Back to Diana’s for a getaway day breakfast. On last quick shot at the beach and pool for the girls, then checkout at noon to catch 3:30 flight. No nonstop flights on Tuesday so we changed planes in Orlando. Back in Baltimore by 9:30 and home 10:30.
In all, this was an uneventful little vacation but we had a good time together, the girls got sun, we got some reasonably decent food, and I had a couple of pleasantly low key days. I never did explore anything off the resort, for which I feel a little guilty, but I enjoyed the quiet time. Three days and four nights seems quick but is about enough time for us. It is a long way to go just to be in a little slice of Florida, but the weather is more reliably good, especially in February-March. I could see us doing this again.
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