"Yeah Mon!" a Jamaica Travel Page by coopergirl2003

Jamaica...what images does that conjure up in your mind? Endless empty beaches, clear turquoise sea, tropical fish, freindly chilled out people, lots of colour, jerk chicken, reggae music???

Me too....until I went there for two weeks!

We went to Jamaica for a friend's wedding in May. It was never on our list of 'to see' places but we were looking forwards to it...who wouldn't. I'd read on another VT member's page on Montego Bay and it described great culture, fantastic shops, friendly and welcoming locals...hmm, that's certainly not been our experience of the same place!

We haven't been to many places in the world but have always been impressed...until now and it's such a shame to say that we went all that way and feel we know less about Jamaica than when we went. We felt trapped in our 'catered for American's' hotel and felt unable to explore the local area.

We stayed at The Wyndham Rose Hall hotel which was all inclusive. Unfortunately, our flight was delayed and we arrived at 12.30am...when everything had closed, we couldn't get food or drink until 7am, luckily, I'd put a bottle of water in my bag along with a piece of cake from the airport and a packet of peanuts from the plane..yummy, nutritious and delicious...shared between two!

It's fair to say that everyone from our flight were first in the queue for breakfast...which was of epic proportions! We've never been all inclusive before so felt we had to make the most of it and tried everything on the buffet...at every breakfast, lunch and evening meal...oops, see those pounds piling on!! The food was lovely and there was a good selection of vegetable based dishes (I'm vegetarian) but everything was either deep fried, covered in heaps of oil or sugar coated...not aimed at a British market really...even the cornflakes tasted more sugery than our frosties here in the UK. It took us two weeks at home to get over our constant sugar cravings!!

Food aside (although it is my favourite subject!), the hotel was very nice and there were a lot of exotic flower displays in strategic places. The lobby was clean as were all the outside areas (eg swimming pool/beach/basketball court etc). However the bedrooms left something to be desired...not what you would expect from the 4 or 5 star hotel. We were placed in a room with an adjoining door to another room (we didn't know our neighbours). This meant that everything the neighbours did...we could hear as if we were standing next to them...and I mean we could hear EVERYTHING - from the alarm clock/wakeup call at 6am every morning to sexual relations and going to the toilet. YUCK. It wasn't pleasant...and the view was of the hotel workers arriving and leaving every day...hmm inspiring!!

Please see my must see tips for the much more positive aspects of the holiday!!