Bermuda

Last week Kristian and I went on a fantastic vacation in Bermuda. We went with another couple, one of Kristian's best friends from childhood and one of my friends/coworkers who are now dating thanks to my wonderful matchmaking abilities.

I will admit Bermuda was never really on my radar as a place I wanted to travel too. Not for any particular reason other than it's not a place that I hear much about, but our friend Josh has been there several times and suggested it when we were trying to figure out where to go. What I didn't realize was that Bermuda is not in the Caribbean, it's actually just off the coast of South Carolina (geography is not my strong suit), making it only a 2 hour direct flight from DC.

My mother agreed to come and watch Hunter for the week so that we could have a nice relaxing trip and focus on being husband and wife rather than mommy and daddy. And let's face it, Hunter LOVES his time with nana.

We left on Saturday at 10:30am out of Reagan National. It was our first time flying first class which was pretty exciting. Since it was such a short flight we didn't have too much time to enjoy it however, in my opinion the best part was being some of the first people off the plane and in line getting through customs. 

 

 We were able to get two rooms next to each other with an ocean view at the Grotto Bay Beach Resort. It was only about a 5 minute drive from the airport and about a 20 minute drive from the city of Hamilton, so very conveniently located. 

The resort was great, there was a pool with a swim-up bar, private beach area, two indoor restaurants and an outdoor restaurant and the best part (and why we choose it) there are caves...that you can swim in...and get spa treatments in. It was pretty awesome. There were actually a lot of families there with young kids and a lot of Europeans. Everyone including the locals that we met and the other tourists were incredibly friendly.

Anytime we go anywhere tropical Kristian becomes obsessed with lizards and trying to catch them. Well he did end up catching one on the second day. The rest of them were a bit too quick for him.

We spent most days on the beach or by the pool. The first day the weather wasn't great, cloudy and rainy on and off but after that it was gorgeous and would just typically rain at night. It was warm without being super hot or humid and the water was great.

The caves were really cool, they were only open from 9am-5pm and you were allowed to go down and swim (at your own risk, no lifeguard). The water was REALLY cold, so I only got in once...briefly, but Kristian got in everyday and would swim around. He loved it.

 

Our view was pretty amazing everyday.

We ate dinner together as a group three nights and two of the nights we did our own thing to have private couple time. We got the all inclusive food/drink package at the resort which I HIGHLY recommend. The cost of food and drinks down there is VERY expensive. The all inclusive was $100/per person per day which was a bargain. For example had we not been on the package then one of our lunches, just the two of us, of chicken tenders/fries and a fish sandwich with two diet cokes would have cost $60. Yeah. 

The food was pretty good and they had a nice selection to choose from so overall we were very happy with that.

Our traveling buddies- Josh and Cathie. We all had a blast together. 

Spinach and lobster ravioli.

Some Duck dish (it was my husbands)

Definitely one of the highlights was getting a couples massage down in the caves. They have a separate section of the caves just for spa treatments and Kristian and I did two different couples massages down there. Very cool and relaxing. Cathie and I also got facials together but those were done in their spa room.

One of the nights the resort hosted a BBQ dinner out by the pool which included some Bermudian dancers and music. It was a great night. 

On our last full day we all went into the city of Hamilton together to get lunch and do some shopping. Bermuda is a very clean, safe and beautiful island. I always felt very comfortable off of the resort and just walking around the streets unlike some other overseas destinations (i.e. Jamaica). In fact I felt safer walking around Hamilton than I do certain parts of DC. 

There are many high end shops right by the water and this is where the cruise ships let off. After a couple of hours of shopping (including my husband buying me a GORGEOUS David Yurman ring) we headed back to the resort to change and relax a bit.

That night we headed back to Hamilton for dinner and drinks and to check out the Harbor Nights that they do every Wednesday. They shut down the main street and set up little booths where vendors sell various items. We had a blast and stayed out until the bar closed.

While we were out at the bar hanging out with one of the locals we made friends with we ended up meeting the guy below (I don't remember his name) but he's basically one of the most famous guys on the island. Back in the 70/80's he was a world famous Cricket player on the Bermuda team, from what I gathered he was sort of like the Michael Jordan of Bermuda Cricket. Nowadays he owns a lot of restaurants/bars and apparently is co-owner of the resort we stayed at. He was super nice and we talked to him for a while.

This is Jamie, one of the locals we met and became friends with. We hung out with him and his wife and they were both the sweetest people. Jamie seemed to know everyone, perks of living on a small island I guess.

We flew back on Thursday and had a very long travel day including a 5 hour layover in Philly, all so we could wait for a flight that took less than an hour back to DC. We seriously considered just renting a car and driving back from Philly but we would have had to sit in rush hour traffic shich none of us felt very motivated to do so we just hung around the airport and finally got home around midnight.

Overall, we loved Bermuda. Of the four places we've gone together - Jamaica, St. Lucia, Grand Cayman and Bermuda it was our second favorite with St. Lucia being our favorite because well...honeymoon. I highly recommend a trip there but just make sure to go in the summer months, since it's not in the Caribbean it can get a bit chilly and not very beach-like in the off season. We would definitely go back again.