...my RV rental! I'd reserved and paid for a much smaller 16' truck - but they didn't have any left in their fleet. So they "upgraded" me to this 24' monster!
We were supposed to fly back to New York, but our flight was indefinitely delayed by the aftermath of Hurricane Irene. So instead, we decided to keep our rental car for a few extra days and drive back to NYC from Cleveland. Since we had some extra time...
A few weeks prior I emailed Mike D to tell him that I'd be in town visiting with Gurj and Jared. He told me that he and Tanya were going to be out of town that week but said "Why don't you all stay at our new apartment? I'll mail you a set of keys!" And that's how we ended up with a parking spot...
After spending more than FOUR HOURS waiting by the side of the road, we finally managed to get a flatbed to come tow our rental. Unfortunately, the rental car company couldn't get us another car because all their locations for something like 40 miles were out of cars.
On the drive back home, we noticed THOUSANDS of smooshed carcasses all over the road - which we eventually identified as crabs! Some of them were FUCKING HUGE and you had to swerve to avoid them because they were definitely big enough and sharp enough to potentially pop your tire! I finally pulled over to get a closer look at one of them!
After making it through customs, we picked up the rental car we'd reserved and headed out to Compass Point, the diving resort that we'd booked a week at.
I'd found Compass Point while I was on TripAdvisor.com trying to figure out where we were going to stay. All of the reviews about Compass Point said it was a beautiful, remote resort with amazing accommodations and an awesome diving staff. The reviews for the place were so over-the-top positive, and their prices which included accommodations PLUS two SCUBA dives per day were so reasonable, that it sounded almost too good to be true (which had us a little worried).
And we're off! If I remember correctly, it was like a ninety-minute drive from the airport to the hotel where Tara and Greg's wedding was taking place.
After some sunnin' and swimmin', (and after I'd mentally prepared myself to face some more Jamaican drivers) we decided to hop in the car and explore some places on the northern shore of Jamaica east of Ocho Rios.
The place we'd booked to stay out was a gated-off resort-type place so we decided to rent a car because it would give us more freedom to explore the island. I'd driven on the left side of the road before and figured it would be no big deal. WRONG! Too bad no one told me that Jamaicans, who are reknowned around the world for getting high and being all friendly and "No problem, mon!" turn into crazy people as soon as they get behind the control on anything that has wheels a motor. Seriously, they are hands down the craziest drivers I've ever seen (and I grew up in NEW JERSEY!).
After lunch, we were walking back out to our car and a local guy pointed out that our front passenger side tire had a dangerously large bulge in the wall. Doh. (The edges of the road through all of Jamaica are crumbly and littered with potholes so you kind of have to drive towards the middle of them. Well, until some crazy nut tries to pass you and forces you over to the shoulder and into said crumbly potholes.)
...and drove to nearby New Milford, CT to pick up Vin at his parent's house and bring him back down to NYC (coincidentally, Vin and The Fatty both grew up in New Milford).
Despite only getting a few hours of sleep, we managed to pick up the van and be heading beachward before noon. Here's me, Meredith, Grant, Rachel and David and Miye in the back! Rented van, wooooooo!
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