Travel Diaries – lifeofacitygal

Hello 2020

As we begin a new year with such ambition and limitless opportunities, I would like to reflect on one of my favorite memories from 2019. That being a girl’s trip which celebrated my sissy’s 30^th birthday in Montego Bay, Jamaica. I could not have asked for a better group of girls to travel with for this special occasion. I was traveling from LA and was the first of the party to arrive. We had the pleasure of staying at the all-inclusive Jewel Grande Montego Bay Resort & Spa with butler service included. I mean could it get any better than this? (Cues Fancy by Drake) I was welcomed by the friendliest staff with a nice rum punch. You cannot come to Jamaica and not indulge in a few good rum punches. While waiting for the girls to arrive, I decided to have lunch poolside with an infamous Bob Marley daiquiri. I knew from that moment alone this trip would be one for the books.

We had a few things on the itinerary for our trip. On our first night, the hotel hosted a silent headphone party. This was my introduction to this type of party and I had a blast. The multiple channel options of different music provided different vibes which was pretty cool. I would definitely want to attend another one of these. The following day we decided to be more adventurous and joined Jam West Motorsports & Adventure Park for a day filled with a slew of activities including horseback riding and an ATV excursion. It was an all-day adventure but completely worth it for the experience.

For our last full day, we decided to hang out at the resort and enjoy what was being offered right there at our fingertips. Laying out catching a few sun rays, indulging in the full salon and spa service and the unlimited cocktails from the swim-up bar were all ultimately apart of this day of enjoyment and relaxation. There was also different water sports or beach activities being hosted by the resort as well. A nice volleyball match in the pool or banana boat ride were just a few things that you could participate in. Not to mention the mini-bars cooking classic Jamaican dishes fresh to order to satisfy your mid-day cravings. This was by far the best day spent at the resort.

For the finale, the birthday girl planned an all-white dinner which we decided to have at the steakhouse at the resort. To make matters even better, one of the butlers made a special request to the chef to prepare oxtails for our party as well. I’m still craving these oxtails to this day. We finished the night with a champagne toast to more life, success, many continued blessings and endless laughs. I still remember the sounds of the ocean as I sat on the balcony and reflected on the great memories this trip had given me. From the start, I knew this trip would be special and the group of ladies that traveled to celebrate my sissy’s milestone birthday made it that much more special and memorable to me. Yea mon! I wanted to start the year off by sharing a great memory with my readers. For this year, there’s so much I would like to do and have come into fruition for Lifeofacitygal. Hence, I am making this a year of action. Here’s to creating more memories and continued growth. Stay tuned.

Palm Springs

Memorial Weekend was approaching rather quickly and my hubby and I still didn’t have travel plans. Rule of thumb in our household, if you’re off from work this equals vacation time 🙂 I believe that Tuesday or Wednesday before the holiday weekend I found a deal you couldn’t pass up on Hotels.com better known as Old Faithful. I am the BEST person to find a good deal on hotels if I do say so myself. Saturday we hit the road a little after 8am and headed for our first adventure in Palm Springs.

During our stay, we stayed at Musicland Hotel. It was absolutely perfect. We had a nicely renovated room which reminded me of a nice studio apartment in NYC for some reason. Possibly the layout instantly put me back into NYC circa 2014. The feature that got me the most was the cute swimming pool. This is what sold me in the first place. Needless to say, upon arrival we changed into swim gear and had a real pool day. I think I stayed on the watermelon float for at least 2 hours. The weather was perfect. We even had chilled wine poolside which was also an instant hit with the other guests staying at the hotel. During the day, my mother-in-law mentioned a site by Food Network (my fav) that lists places Guy Fieri suggests trying. You just type the location where you are and his food recommendations appear. How genius! One of the recommendations included Frankinbuns which was perfect for a midday snack. I went with the Chicago-style hot dog and it did not disappoint. For future reference, I will be using this website all the time because sometimes it does become difficult to make a solid restaurant choice. Thank you mom and Guy Fieri!

For the nightcap, we found a burger spot called Johnny’s located downtown. This was a cute place which was reminiscent of like Johnny Rocket’s. We decided to stop by Ace Hotel before heading in; this was a great decision by the way. They have a quaint bar called Amigo Bar with about 3 booth seating areas and standing room only for everyone else. I did not catch the DJ’s name but he definitely was in tune with music and the flow of the crowd. What a perfect nightcap.

For this particular trip, we did not plan one single thing which worked in our favor. Just a “go with the flow” vibe this time around. For brunch on Sunday, I yelped a few places and decided to try Broken Egg Café. I’ve gotten kind of hooked on bloody Mary’s as of lately so I started with that and ordered the country chicken steak for my meal. Neither one let me down. Did I also mention they had $6 mimosa flights and there were like 20 flavors to choose from? We also tried this and I think the strawberry flavor was my favorite.

Since LA weather has been sort of weird and rather cool temperature wise, we hung out by the pool again for a bit. This time just to enjoy the sun rays and the book I brought along on the trip. Nothing like being poolside with a good read. I found a couple of rooftops that looked very promising and decided to check out High Bar at the Rimowa Hotel. The ambiance here was unmatched. They had mini booths, dozens of pool chairs and private cabanas for you to sit back and enjoy cocktails and small bites. There was also a pool on the roof so if you wanted to take a swim or just be cute and put your fee in like me, that was perfectly alright too J I watched the sunset and became mesmerized by the shades of pink and blue that lined the skies as the sun went down. I would highly recommend visiting this bar if you take a trip to Palm Springs. You have to experience this for yourself. The restaurant 4 Saints is also located in this hotel. I did not din here this trip but definitely will on the next. For Sunday’s nightcap, we decided on a good pizza from none other than Pizza Hut. We enjoyed this right in the comfort of our hotel room and watched TV until we passed out. I’m leaning everything does not always have to be planned or require an itinerary. Sometimes it’s just best to go with the flow. Palm Springs provided just what we needed. Pure relaxation and chill vibes. Until next time….

The Jamaica Edition

OMG! The day was finally here. May 5, 2018. No, I’m not referring to Cinco de Mayo. On this day my best friend of 24 years and counting graduated from college. I was so happy I was able to take part in this celebratory moment and be there for such a huge accomplishment. Congrats again bestie!!! So after the party, there’s an after party right? That after party for us was in Montego Bay, Jamaica. A group of 13 family members and friends all came together to help celebrate this special occasion.

We resided at the Royalton Blue Waters Resort during our stay. After my first experience with this property in Punta Cana, I was excited to be staying with another Royalton property again. Upon arrival, the host gave us cool, scented towels to help relieve some of the heat from the sun. I thought to myself, man this is going to be a great trip after such a great gesture because I was literally dying from the heat on the shuttle over to the resort 😊 After check-in and all the introductory hotel meetings, it was time for some fun.

On the first night of our trip we decided to chill out a bit since this was our travel day and just planned for a nice, late night dinner. For me, that meant time for a quick swim before dinner! The best part of the resort for me was the swim-out room we had. At any given moment I could just go out for swim, no matter the time of day. Vacations allow me to actually decompress and enjoy the things most people may take for granted on a typical day. Things such as the calming feeling you get from the sounds of the beach waves or the joy found in watching the pink tresses that line the sky before the sun sets. With all the things planned on our itinerary, the main thing I wanted to make sure I did was RELAX. A huge thank you to the lazy river too!

The following day we had an early start and was able to catch breakfast and spend some much needed time on the beach. It was then on the beach when I spotted a boat that said “Parasail”. At that moment, I decided I was finally going to do this. I have quite a few things on my bucket list and it was time to scratch this one off. Before the parasailing adventure, we enjoyed the many festivities the resort offered; one of my favorites being the swim-up bar. Bob Marley’s and mojitos became pretty popular drinks for our vacation crew. A couple of photo shoots later, it was time to concur my fear and take the ride in the air for lack of better words. I was so happy a group of us decided to do the parasailing together. It’s always more comforting when others join along and face a fear together. I watched my friends parasail first and thought oh man this is going to be a breeze (literally). It wasn’t until I was hooked on with my sister when I thought “okay are we really going through with this”. A few moments later, we were up in the air and thinking that’s it! While parasailing, it’s really just you and the wind. No noise, no fears, no worries. Man, I’m so glad I did this. Not to forget the jerk hut we found right before going. OMG, this place did not disappoint. Not sure of the sauce that they use but man oh man if only I had known about this gem sooner. Great for lunch and just overall some of the best jerk chicken I’ve had!

The day before we left we decided to visit Chukka Adventure Park. It offered a handful of activities such as ATVs, ziplining, kayaking, etc. Boy did we have our day cut out for us!! This day was definitely a workout. Another thing on my bucket list was ziplining. A lot of us had never done this before either so it was nice to see all of us conquer this together as well. We didn’t know that it was a zipline trail of like 5 ziplines. Whew! After the first two I could of called it quits on this adventure but we all made it through! Of course, we couldn’t come to this park and not partake in an ATV ride. This was so fun!! Not that I haven’t rode an ATV before but since it was such a big group I think it made it that much more fun to experience together. Lunch was provided as well so I was definitely excited about that. If you haven’t noticed, I love food. All of the Jamaican cuisine was a hit for me.

Overall, Jamaica was everything I imagined. I had only been here once as a teenager so it was nice to travel here as an adult. The resort gave me some of the best views, food and memories of a lifetime. I really enjoyed the fact that this resort was all-inclusive. All you can eat and drink sounds like a good combo to me. Oh and let me not forget to mention the other hidden gem we stumbled upon that had the braised oxtails. I doubled back twice because they were that good!!! We definitely made great memories and I’m so glad I was able to share this experience with my best friend and family. Here’s to more success and a bright future with endless opportunities. Until next time…..