"Firsts" of Many

I traveled quite a bit in 1988. After the May trip to Disney, I was invited along with Ronna to Hedonism in Jamaica, an adult only resort. At the time, she was working with a lot of travel agents at Home Lines and was offered a “fam” trip which is one of the main perks of being in the travel business. “Fam”, short for familiarization were free or heavily discounted trips to various locations given by tour operators or hotels so agents could see the property for themselves and then sell it. It was and is a great promotional tool.

The funny thing was I was an actual travel agent and she wasn’t but had to fake it. It was June and the weather was gorgeous when we landed in Montego Bay airport. The ride to the resort was another 2 hours to Negril. When we arrived, we were greeted with the Welcome rum punch. Hello!

Ronna and I laughed hysterically when we entered our room for the first time. There was a huge king sized bed and a mirror above it! We had plenty of room sharing the bed. It was all-inclusive and all the meals and drinks were included. I had some photos…especially of us in the bed with the mirror but I can’t find them and I’m tired of looking!

One of the first nights we were there, Ronna and I took a walk on the beach after dinner. The sun was setting and we were alone. As the light faded and we just stood quietly talking by the lapping surf, when suddenly without much noise, a native Jamaican came out of the water wearing snorkeling gear and asked us..”Manja?” We shook our heads and he dived back down! Hilarious.

This was my first taste of traveling as a “single” woman again and I started to wear contact lens for the first time on a regular basis. It was an interesting time and Ronna made many friends. A couple of the guys worked in Forest Hills and I actually saw them a few times after this trip.

In November, I took Nikki to St. Maarten. This was the first trip that was just the two of us so there were a lot of “firsts” in 1988. We stayed at the Great Bay Hotel and it was in walking distance to town. It was quiet since it was the off-season. The pool was relaxing and I remembered bringing my needlepoint with me to work on. I also remembered very clearly, a mother and adult daughter also being there. The mom was youthful looking and in great shape and they both attracted some gentlemen to buzz around them. I had thought to myself at the time…I would like to do that one day with Nikki but it seemed so far away! But now I don’t think Nikki would be up to doing that!