The Joys of Summertime: Curacao + A Half Marathon

Summertime is upon us! We've had some truly great weather recently, with temperatures generally peaking at or below 80 degrees. Really a blessing compared with years past when it wasn't uncommon to see several days in the 90's during May. I have been taking full advantage; keeping my windows open during the day and enjoying long walks with Barkley in the evening.

Mr. Barkley, out enjoying the nice weather

Meanwhile, my summer calendar is really filling up quick. We've gotten our summer vacation plans squared away - Curacao was the winner from my previous post, so looking forward to that in early July. We'll be staying on the western end of the island, in Westpunt, which is about 40 minutes away from the capital of Willemstad and considered the "quiet" side of the island. Apparently all the best beaches are located here, and it's supposed to have a very "small town" vibe, with only a hand-full of restaurants and limited lodging options, most of which are apartment-style vacation rentals. The place we're staying at, Marazul Dive Resort, was rated #1 on TripAdvisor for places to stay in Curacao. Marazul is a collection of individually owned seaside villas perched atop a small cliff, with stairs leading down to the ocean for easy access to snorkeling and diving. We rented ours through Vacation Rental By Owner (www.vrbo.com) - a website I had seen in passing while looking for a ski condo this past winter, but never really taken seriously. However, I must say I have been quite impressed with our rental experience thus far. I received a response to my initial inquiry from the owner within the hour, along with with a detailed description of the condo and pricing for our stay. I followed up with a phone call the following night, which resulted in a nice chat about the condo and logistics for our arrival. The owner then sent me a detailed "Arriving in Curacao" packet, with helpful information about All Things Curacao; on par with the advice you'd find in a guidebook, but much more personalized. Needless to say, I am a bit excited for our next adventure! 

Marazul Dive Resort (source: http://www.marazuldiveresort.an/)

In other news, I signed up for my first half marathon - the Woodrow Wilson Bridge Half Marathon on October 7th! The route follows the capital area greenway along the Potomac River near Washington, DC area,  starting at Mt. Vernon Estates in Virginia, and ending at National Harbor, Maryland. I still need to finalize my training plan, but am thinking I'll need to start training in early July after our vacation to Curacao. Not really looking forward to the 7am (6am?) wake-up calls that will be required to "beat the heat" for my long runs in July & August, but I am looking forward to having a goal to train towards, and to push myself to do something new. Unlike the 5k runs I've done in the past, I know I won't be able to "wing-it" for 13.1 miles, so it sounds like I will be spending quite a bit of my time in late summer running in the shade of Umstead Park. BRING IT!

[Source: http://www.runwashington.com]

Vacation Plotting

Lately I've been spending a lot of time plotting out my next vacation. For me, it is an all-consuming process, but I love it. I love researching the options, learning everything I possibly can about a place, finding the best deals, and selecting the perfect combination of location, hotel and flight to make for an unforgettable vacation.

Of course the first step in this process determining where in the world to go, and there are nearly always constraints involved. Time can be a consideration, but in this case I am planning to take a full week off from work (9 days total, including weekend), so plenty of time to go just about anywhere my budget allows. While not set in stone, I am thinking that the week of July 4th would be the optimal time to take this week off, mainly because July 4th falls on a Wednesday this year and I will already have that day off (thereby saving a vacation day). As I mentioned in a previous post, the places that initially topped my list were the Pacific Northwest (Vancouver/Seattle/Portland), and Northern Europe (Sweden, specifically); partly because I have good friends living in each of those locations and partly because those are two regions I have never visited before. However, a quick search on Kayak.com (my favorite flight search engine) reveals that airfare prices to Europe during the summer months are ridiculously expensive, and totally out of my budget. So, Pacific Northwest? 

Then there is the question who you will be traveling with and what their preferences are. While I like to think of myself as a fairly independent person and savvy traveler, I do not enjoy vacationing by myself.  I've done the solo-vacation a couple times before; back in college, before I owned a digital camera (hence no pictures here). Honestly I'm still surprised my parents agreed to let their 19-year-old daughter spend a week in southern Spain and Portugal, and then again as a 22-year-old traveling around Italy for a week. Don't get me wrong - these were both amazing trips! And because I was by myself I got to do exactly what I wanted each and every day. However, traveling alone gets lonely pretty quickly - especially at meal time. Been there. Done that. Conclusion:  I can be flexible about where/when/how to travel if it means I get to travel with people I care about. 

So I suggested the idea of a Vancouver/Seatte/Portland trip to my boyfriend-come-travel companion and got a lukewarm response - he wanted to go someplace TROPICAL. Okay, I get it...the Pacific Northwest isn't the most glamorous spot for a vacation. And we certainly wouldn't be coming home with a suntan. In contrast, the visual images conjured up by the prospect of a beach vacation are certainly tempting: a  piña colada on a white sand beach, gazing onto turquoise blue waters with the sun shining down overhead. But in July? Won't it be hot? What about the hurricanes? 

July is definitely the off-season for the Caribbean, but as I've learned from my research, that doesn't mean it's a bad time to visit. Temperatures are fairly consistent year-round, so it's only a few degrees warmer during the summer. Hurricanes can be a concern, but July is really only the start of the hurricane season, and any that do form this time of year are more likely to affect islands that fall within "the box". The U.S. and British Virgin Islands are inside the box, along with several other  islands in the Lesser Antilles, so those were quickly eliminated from our list of possibilities. The Dominican Republic and The Bahamas were also crossed off the list since I had visited those islands on previous trips. 

Accessibility has turned out to be a major factor in narrowing down our list of posiblities. Many islands in the Caribbean do not have direct flights from the U.S., which often means an extra day of travel (and added expense) to get to those places. If we were traveling on a larger budget, these remote options would be a very intriguing option. Several interesting places such as Tobago, The Grenadines, St. Vincent and Bonaire were eliminated from the list of possibilities for this reason. 

Still up for consideration: Curaçao, Jamaica and Barbados. Each of these destinations would be interesting in their own right. Now it comes down to deciding how much we value a unique adventure (Curaco) over a relaxing all-inclusive (Jamaica), or if possibly Barbados will win out with better flight connections and the promise of good weather. Lots of factors to consider, which hopefully we'll sort out over the next few weeks. The adventurer in me is routing for Curacao. The lazy vacationer in me is routing for Jamaica. The budget traveling in me is telling me to just run the number and pick the cheapest one. But it's not that simple :). Thankfully I have the community of reviewers on TripAdvisor to provide helpful tips and photos on a level of detail I wasn't aware existed (really an amazing resource for planning any trip). And of course my handy library-issue guide books: Frommer's Caribbean 2011 and Fodor's Caribbean 2012 (I couldn't imagine planning a vacation without one!). 

Willemstad - Capital City of Curacao (Source: Wikipedia)

Montego Bay, Jamaica (Source: Wikipedia)

Chirst Church, Barbados (Source: Wikipedia)