a sneak peek for this week's episode. And
if you get a good driver, he'll bring you to Bright Bakery, which has the best freaking food in the whole world.
Scott.
And I'm Alyssa.
And we are the Sunshine Travelers. Our passion is travel and sharing our experiences with those who enjoy it as much as we do. Or those who want to learn more about travel. Or even those who just want to live vicariously through our travel stories. or even those travel, who just want to live vicariously through our travel stories. No matter where you fall along that journey, get ready to hear about our first-hand experiences as we visit some of the most interesting and amazing places on earth. This week, we're going to discuss a part of our trip planning process, which is to talk to people who are already familiar with the location we want to visit. In the middle of March, we have planned a trip to Aruba and Curacao. And on this week's episode, we will be having a conversation with a friend who has visited Aruba several times and knows the place very well. She will give us recommendations on where to stay, the best places to eat, and the activities we can look forward to during our trip. So get ready with your swimming gear as we explore the crystal clear waters of Aruba. When we're
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into this interview. We've done a lot of individual research, but I can't wait to hear the insider perspective from Tammy to see what we might be missing. Welcome, Tammy, to our show. Tammy is a longtime friend of ours. Tammy and I used to work together many moons ago, and we've actually shared a lot of travel experiences together. Some of them very interesting, but we'll save that for another podcast episode. Tammy, thank you for joining us. And today we're going to talk a little bit about Aruba.
Aruba is one of my favorite places. I've been there more times than I can count. So whatever you want to hopefully I
things along the way. Why don't we just start with why do you like Aruba so much? What makes
As you know, I live on Kiew key wet so i live on a little island anyway but the uh but aruba the weather is always nice there's rainy seasons of course but it's outside the hurricane belt so it's always a good time to be able to uh to vacation there and there's so much to do and the food is amazing so win win win for me yeah i was
surprised when i actually pulled up the map and looked exactly where Aruba is. It's almost South America.
Yeah, it's right off the coast of Venezuela.
Yeah. I didn't know that until I was looking, you know, looking that up, you know, seeing where it was that we're planning to go. And that's sort of why we're interviewing Tammy today is Melissa and I have a trip coming up in a few weeks where we're planning to go to Aruba. And part of our process is that we want to talk to people who have been there and done that and can provide some recommendations. And so that's why we asked Tammy to join us. How many times have you actually
been to Aruba? 10, 12. i'm going back again in august so it'll be 12 or 13 if i we try so you mentioned
you mentioned you mentioned about the hurricane so so have you you've been different times of the year and do you have a favorite or just any time is
good you know my favorite time to go there for the ambience of the of it all is around Christmas and New Year's it's also the most expensive but it's also rainy season because it rains there like October through January is pretty much a rainy season in Aruba so if you don't mind rain you know the fireworks and all that stuff's super exciting it's like none other but my absolute favorite time to go is usually the last two weeks of August and maybe the first week of October those are usually my favorite times April's a great time to go as well but you're just coming off some potentially some thunderstorms because April can be thunderstormish
okay so our trip is sort of the middle i guess it's kind of the middle of march so yeah
so i mean you'll be coming out rainy season ends the end of january but like i said it's it's always windy there like it's always windy it's a desert island they consider it a desert island so you'll always get a lot of wind so you know storms will pass quickly. So one minute it might be pitch black pouring rain and within 10 minutes it's bright and sunny again. So just got to roll through it.
Awesome. So it's one of those places where you say if you don't like the weather, wait a few minutes.
Pretty much, pretty much. It's absolutely. But, you know, you can't go wrong. I mean, the temperature is pretty consistent all year round, like in the 80s. So it's not, you know, it gets hot, the sun's hot. So you got to make sure you have good sunscreen, preferably reef safe sunscreen, they really encourage that there. So it'll be harder for you to find non reef safe sunscreen there. So depending on bringing your bringing your favorite stuff with
you. Yeah. And you know, we've seen some of the effects of the reefs recently going to St. John and as we're snorkeling and some of the places that we used to just absolutely love. You know, there's reefs are no longer, you know, thriving and flourishing. So, you know, we have seen some of the effects of that. But the good news is that in other places we see it actually growing and, you know, regenerating. we see it actually growing and, you know, regenerating. So, but everything that we can do to, you know, impact that and from our control and to not have an impact on those reefs is obviously important.
So Tammy, once people, well, we do anyway, once people decide, okay, we're going to go to Aruba, they typically start with where to stay. So is there a particular area? Do you have particular hotel or accommodation recommendations
Well, from a hotel perspective, there's different beaches. You have Eagle Beach, Palm Beach. You know, you can stay in town, which I encourage people not to. A lot of people might like to stay down in Orchard Stop where the cruise ships come in and all that. It's just busy. If you want a really nice beachy feel, like I said, you'd go to Palm Beach or Eagle Beach. There's a lot of different hotel options. So we usually stay in the Marriott, which are Palm Beach, but there's the Ritz-Carlton, the Marriott Stellaris Resort and Casino. Then there's two timeshares right next to that, which are both Marriott. They have a surf club and ocean club. So they kind of fill up that whole beach. There'slars so you can lay under you know one of those during the day the beach is there beautiful and there's a lot of activities to do in restaurants if you go down towards Eagle Beach a little bit more there's a lot of different hotels like Rio Palace and Hill Inns and some things that are a little bit more financially affordable depending on where you are you have all different levels they're truly all different levels and there's also some all-inclusives so some people like to do all-inclusives i don't going to aruba i always say don't do all-inclusives because there's so much good food there just don't do it there's so much places to experience but the hotels are always different and it's also what you like to do you know scott knows me well enough i like to gamble a little bit there's casinos everywhere in aruba that's another reason why we like to go there because we like to like to play cards and play slot machines and stuff so there's all the hotels pretty much have a little casino in them okay good that's
awesome yeah's awesome. Yeah, I didn't know
Yeah, I didn't
know that.
Yeah, I didn't know
know that either. And then as far as the beaches are, like, are they private beaches? So, like, you have to be the guest of the hotel? Or how do the beaches work on Aruba? Well,
by Aruba law, is all beaches should be public. However, as you know, because you guys travel, that even though they're public, the hotels kind of eat away at a large portion of those beaches to say that they're theirs and they know they might rent the palapas for you to lay under or something like that so uh yes they're public but they're controlled but there's some great public beaches to go to like baby beach which is probably the best beach to go to you have to travel to it you can take a taxi or your own car whatever but it's really more private and pristine and you can go way out into the water and snorkel so it's really nice you
you mentioned something and that's like that's a really good point is when someone travels to Aruba should they rent a car or is there enough transportation to to get around without it yeah
never rent a car there once I tried to rent a car there, but our plane was two hours late and all the cars were gone. So there's only so many cars on Aruba. So it comes and rents them. Now you can kind of rent a car for a day from your hotel. So I would suggest that. The island's relatively small. So I usually take taxis everywhere. It's usually like $7 one way or $14 one way. It's not so bad. And there's always taxis everywhere. It's usually like $7 one way or $14 one way. It's not so bad. And there's always taxis available. So it's easier to taxi around.
it comes
But like I said, if you want to just go explore, you can rent an ATV for the day too. They have the ones that are on-road ATVs. But don't drink and drive there at all. It's really bad. Don't drink and drive, especially on ATVs. Also, you have to be really alert on the roads there. A lot of tourists that don't understand which way to go. So are
driving on the opposite side of the road in Aruba?
No, you're driving on the right side of the road, I think. Hold on. No, maybe you are driving on the left side. I have to think about it. I never rent a car. I just don't. I'll have to think about that one. Not so sure.
that sounds like the taxis then are a lot more affordable because we were in the Cayman Islands. We were like, what? It's $30 just to go up the street.
If you're staying in Palm and you're going to go down to like the Flying Fishbone or something like that, which is all the way down the other island. It's a great restaurant. You can sit in the water. We're going to come
going to come back to that. Put a pin
a pin
that.
going all the way. But it's like a 20-minute drive. I mean, you're paying for the drive.
Okay, perfect. And then one more thing before we kind of switch gears. Say the main town. Pronounce that again for me. Orgenstad. Orgenstad. Okay. I'm terrible at pronunciations, so I try, though.
so that's
that. Orgenstad. Yeah, when you
Yeah, when you listen to these, I think we butcher so many location names and stuff like that because neither one of us are linguists. Okay.
Okay. And is it worth visiting then?
the city, absolutely. Go in there, there's shops, boutiques. There's a little few chain stores, clubs, bars. I mean, there's all stuff to do there, but it depends on what you want to do for your vacation. It's just busy there, right? And you get the cruise ships that come in there. So it gets busier depending on when cruise ships arrive. So it really depends on how much disruption you want in your day.
Okay. But just don't stay there. So stay.
Yeah. I would say that there's a place called the Renaissance is over that way that actually has some huts that are like off the shore that you can rent. They have like a flamingo beach over there. So there's places that you can, if you're going to stay in those little areas, it's fine, but it's still, it's just busier for lack of a better way of describing it okay all right
sounds like i need to take my camera
take your camera oh my gosh there's such great picture
there okay well you know sometimes it's worth carrying all that equipment and other times it's not so
well they have um they have butterfly farms there they have donkey farm there that They have ostrich farm there. There's all things all over. Like you would never expect it, but they do.
Wow. And so then there's also, so let's get into, so after typically people have their hotel booked, right? They're looking for, okay, now do we need to book some activities? And so we talked about the rental cars and ATV. Can
we ask a little bit about the Marriott? Because we are staying at the Marriott Surf Club. That's where we're staying. So, you know, just a little bit more about that area.
Well, the Marriott Surf Club, there's, like I said, if you're looking from the ocean up, right, you'll have the Ritz-Carlton, the Marriott Solaris Resort, the Surf Club and the Ocean Club are furthest to the right. So the thing about the marriott is that you can't use the other pools you can only use the pools that you're staying at so it's surf club they have a lazy river there which is nice so uh that's that depends
on where you are we did the lazy river at the atlantis in the bahamas it is not a lazy river. It is class five rapids.
No, this is just a slow thing around the pool. It's not like rock and roll roller coaster or anything. It's very slow, but it's nice. What you do the day you get there, if you join the Facebook page for the surf club there, they always say, Hey, we have this. And what this is is is we have leftover booze we have left over our floats are out in the hallway in this tower whoever wants them so everybody leaves their timeshare stuff before they leave out in the hallway so people can come get them so it's always like first come first serve for the floats or first come first serve for you know i still have a half a case of beer i mean that's always out there so it's always a good way to get some free floats as i always say that's a great
idea yeah well we've done that in hawaii we you know the costco
done that
and bought chairs and stuff like that for hawaii because you you know take them to the beach and we found a family you know checking in so that's that's great and just post
that's that's great and just post it out there and people are there within heartbeat to grab them so that's that's the kind of the gist it out And there. people are there within heartbeat to grab them. So that's the kind of the gist of it there. They got some great food. They have a Mexican restaurant down in there that just opened. It's okay. But it's not like what they're known for there. So the food's a little bit just kind of boring. But it's great for late night eating. Another thing you have to be aware of, though, all of that area, a lot of the restaurants close super early, like around nine, 10 o'clock. So you got to make sure that you're eating, you know, plan your eating schedule accordingly, especially if you're not driving somewhere. There's a place next to called Moomba Beach, which has great food and they're open late, but it's also a bar at night. So they have music, you can dance on the beach, you can eat, but they have some good food. Then they serve food a food a little bit later i think about 11 o'clock i think is when they stop serving but that's all right there that's my first stop we go to we unpack we get situated and we go over to moomba beach and drink and eat that's the that's the first place we stop with it being
it being a timeshare like as far as like getting food then like if you just want to have some snacks in the room and go get your booze and your drinks and stuff like that where is the easiest place they have
they have little places inside obviously like the little kind of convenience stores and inside each one of the places you can go in all of them right you can go they have lobbies and little stores all throughout but if you want to go grocery shopping because you'll be in a timeshare there's a big superfoods place that right down the road. So you can call a taxi and have them bring you there and you can go shopping. So it's just literally like a quarter of a mile away. So people do that. And they also have some options where you can call and have concierge service. And they'll actually do the shopping for you and have it
room. That's
there's if you're going to buy booze, though, they do have a duty free in the airport when you arrive and you get like one or two bottles each it's the cheapest alcohol you'll be able to buy so if you want to get a bottle of vodka or something like that that's the place to do it okay well that's good
to know because it's not all you know that's not always the case sometimes you're like oh duty free and then you go into the you know the by far the cheapest okay well that's a great tip then okay perfect
the you know the by
earlier you were mentioning one of your favorite places to eat and you talked about that you go sit in the water and stuff like that so can you tell us more about that yeah
there's several places you can put your feet in the water just for the sake of eating. And Flying Fishbone has been around a long time. It's really nice. They have really good food. And they have some chairs where you can put your feet in the water. I always recommend, though, making sure you bring bug spray everywhere you go because you'll get beach gnats. Especially when you're closer to the water. Even when you're walking at the beach at night, I always spray at the of my legs with with some bug bug repellent but it's pretty it's like they have water lit up underneath and there's truly flying fish and you'll see them come out of water so they're you know it's just you always see the fish swimming it's nice food's good it's a little bit pricey but the ambiance is nice and it's an experience for sure there's another place down that way um uh that that you can go to as well. But there's a bunch of them. There's Wilhelmina's, there's all kinds of places that you can look at to put your feet in the water. But Flying Fishbone's a good
So Tuck, you're used to the same thing that we are living on an island. Food prices are a little bit more expensive and stuff like that. So we're kind of used to that being in vacation destination places, right? But for many of our people who might be traveling there, what's the price of restaurants comparatively? Like, is it more expensive there? You know, you find it to be actually less expensive?
find, well, comparative to Key West, which is very right, it's expensive, very comparable to Key West I prices. comparative find, well, to Key which West, is very right, expensive, it's very comparable to Key West prices. You know, dinner, you know, dinner, if you go to Flying Fishbone or something like that, it's not going to be a $100 dinner for two. I mean, you're going to be spending a couple hundred dollars easily. They take American dollars there. So, and yeah, I would say credit cards, but they do take American cash. So it's, it's expensive, especially if you have a couple of drinks, but there's other places that are really reasonable that you can go to. One of our other places we go to is Madam Jeanette's, but a lot of these places you have to make reservations before you go down. So make, because be aware of it, go online. A lot of them are on open table even, so you can make some reservations there, but the prices, the prices vary depending on where you go. There's like fine dining chef's tables. So where they serve like 12 to 14 people only, and you have multiple courses throughout the night with wine pairings. And those will be about, you know, anywhere from four to $500 a couple. So it's really, you know, Madame Jeunette, you might spend 150 with a bottle of wine. Whereas, you know, if you go to Royal Chef's Table or Two Fools in a Bowl and Senses, I think those are the three main chef's tables, you'll be spending between $400 or $500 with wine pairings. Okay, well, that's
know. That's not typically our, you know, we're usually pretty laid back and, you know, we like to eat, but we're not, you know, we tell people we're not super foodies, but that is good to know because a lot of people are and they enjoy those experiences. you and Yeah, your husband we're not super but foodies, that is good to know because a lot of people are and they enjoy those experiences. You
You and your husband, John are foodies, I would say.
Yeah, we are very good. Big, big foodies. But you know, you can go anywhere. There's a little place called Gianni's right. That makes like pasta and cheese wheel, right. So that big, big wheel of Romano cheese or Parmesan cheese and they put the pasta in and they scrape all the cheese on it. And
know,
seen rails, but I've never been to those places.
seen rails, but I've never been to those places. Yeah. And that's not, it's not an expensive place. It's nice. And there's a couple of little restaurants down there. So there's, again, there's all different levels, but, you know, even going out to something like, you know, one of the trip advisor pages, something like that and reading about people, what people have and looking at the food options, looking at menus. They're all available out there usually. So, you know, take a look and see what excites you.
definitely got a list of places that we need to go check out. You know, what should you do while you're in Aruba? So, you know, it's a beach destination. Obviously, you're going to want to spend some time on the beach. From what I can see, crystal clear waters, you know. But other than the beach, what are some things to do on the island?
Well, you can golf. There's golf courses on the island. Problem is, remember, it's a windy island. So if you're really, you know, if your game is your long game from your drive, your drive will not be as long as you think it's okay because that wind's coming especially if it's coming at you the ball goes up and you just kind of watch it and it comes straight down so you know your scores might be a little higher but golfing is always fun atv you know they have you can go out they have places where you can go sightsee and go out to the other side of the island and things like that. I advise you to bring clothes that are going to get absolutely disgustingly dirty and shoot. Like when you're done doing these ATV tours, you are black head to toe. I mean, or brown or whatever. And you're just covered in dirt. And so I would always say bring a handkerchief to cover your nose because it's just the dust is overpowering and then I would recommend maybe bringing if you're going to take those clothes back home with you and don't get a chance to wash them like you'll be in a time show so you can actually throw them in a washing machine but to bring like one of those large zipper bags or something and just squish it all in there so the rest of your clothes don't get disgusting by the time
great recommendation
yeah yeah we've learned that ourselves sailing snorkeling fishing those are great that horseback riding i personally when i bring new folks with us which we'll be doing when our when we go on our trip in august we're renting a car for the day a driver so you can actually ask your concierge say hey is there a local driver that can give us a tour of the island you know for a couple hundred bucks you can just they'll just drive around they'll pick you up the cooler beer soda whatever you want and they'll just show you around the caves there's some old like cave carvings and some of the caves that are cool they'll bring you to the there's a lighthouse that they're famous for one of the oldest churches in the in the islands that's over 1700 from early 1700. So they'll bring you to all of those places. So it makes a good day tour. And then if you get a good driver, he'll bring you to Bright Bakery, which has the best freaking food in the whole world. John, when we go there, John's like, we gotta go to Bright Bakery. Yes, we'll go to Bright Bakery.
Melissa is making notes furiously, right?
it's they have like the best empanadas and the best desserts I've ever had ever. They're a Dutch island. I don't know why people realize that it's a Dutch island, which is also a little bit different. So you'll have that Dutch flair, great waffles, pancake houses like that.
Nice. So you talked a little bit about the snorkeling what's this because we love the snorkel what's the snorkeling like in
it is crystal clear first of all you go out to like baby beach for the day then you can walk out really really far and some really nice snorkeling and it's easier on the body as i say so you're not like trying to tread water for hours right so it's like you can walk in get some some sun, and it's not overly crowded. So it's a great place to do snorkeling for sure. You can pretty much snorkel everywhere. You can see people just go right off the beach and kind of snorkel around. There's not a lot of reefs out there, but there's a whole ton of fish. So there's a lot of stuff to
know, have you ever visited any of the surrounding islands? They talk about the ABC, right? Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao.
been to all of them. Yeah. You know, Bonaire is beautiful. Great for snorkeling. It is really a diver island, as they call it. So people go there to dive and snorkel. There's not a lot of stuff to do on the island. Honestly, I always call it so it's people go there to dive and snorkel there's not a lot of stuff to do on on the island honestly i always call it's the relaxation island that we'll usually go there for like two days and literally just sit on the beach and do nothing and some of the beaches you can walk out forever it seems like and it's the water's crystal clear it's beautiful nice
shallow waters yeah
it's nice it's also. It feels more of a city flair. The beaches aren't beachy, but they have lots of good restaurants, nice bars, good nightlife. They have casinos. But to me, it's more of only we stayed there for three or four days. And after two days, I was ready to go do something different because I just don't want to hustle and bustle all the time. I just want to chill
than chill at a pool. So that was
was my feel with Curacao. Okay. But you can hop through them. Like I said, if you wanted to do like two days in Bonaire, two to two or three days in Curacao, and then go spend, you know, five days in Aruba, that would be the way to do
Yeah. There's a, there's a little, it'd be air. I think they, is there a little, it's almost like a little commuter, right? It goes between them several times a day and
a little, it's
you just book
flights and go. But they're great. We've experienced them on cruises as well. And that's kind of how John and I visit islands is we take a cruise and then we visit all the islands for the day. And then we determine which one we'd want to go back to stay And at. then we'll stay there for short stints. And then we visit all the islands for the And day. then we determine which one we'd want to go back to stay And at. then we'll stay there for short stints. And then we say, oh, I really like Aruba. Okay, we're going to stay there for a week. So that's kind of how we plan out our cruises and our vacations. I talk
about cruises often being the hop on, hop off bus, right? You hop off, you kind of see if there's anything that piques your interest. And if so, then plan a trip to go back and explore a little more deeply.
Yeah, but like I said, when I was talking earlier about that Flamingo Beach over in Aruba at Renaissance Island, that's a good day trip for you. You have to buy passes, but if you're staying there, it's free. But a day pass there, you'll get some great pictures.
So that is worth, that was going to be my question. So that is worth a visit then? it's worth
a visit for it yeah they have a day pass where you can have you know rent a little thing on their beach there for the day and it's good to do it for a day okay all
we we have like four days something like that that we're we're spending on aruba
so we're actually gonna do uh so delta from atlanta has a non-stop to curacao now so we're actually fly there we're so Delta from Atlanta has a nonstop to Curacao now. So we actually fly there or spend a couple of days there, then do the, you know, do the little short hop over to Aruba for, yeah, four or five days. And then we'll hop.
Yeah, we'll hop back. So that's kind of the plan. So we'll have a good amount of time.
Those are always fun. You'll have a blast. Like I said, there's a lot to do lots to see in curacao the nice thing about there is that the way that the buildings are it kind of really reminds you i know and you don't feel like you're on an island the way if you look at it and then they have this moving bridge that's kind of cool you'll experience it all when you're there i don't want to spoil it for you but it's it's very very there's great picture taking especially the buildings and the architecture they it's very, there's very, great picture taking, especially the buildings and the architecture. They're kind
there's, you know, something that we always like to end all of our interviews with are three questions, right? And we ask everybody the same question is number one, what is your favorite place that you've ever visited?
place I've ever visited would probably be, it'd have to be Italy, probably like up in Florence and Tuscany area.
So we've been to Tuscany. We haven't spent much time in Florence. It's on our list. It's
my favorite places to go outside of Aruba because I go there all the time.
we agree with you. It's a great place to visit. Then what are the top spots on your bucket list? So places you haven't been yet.
We have, well, I've been to Norway and up through the Nordics. My husband has not, and I haven't experienced the Northern Lights. We were supposed to do a cruise this year, which we had to reschedchedule but we're still going to do Iceland and Norway on our own just a couple of days just to hopefully capture the northern light so that would be one of them the other part on the bucket list is to go to New Zealand been to Australia a bunch of times and never been to New Zealand so those are probably the two main ones that are probably there right i say
this year is supposed to be the year of the northern light so greatest opportunities but you know
what um we were going to go on a cruise but the cruise they having issues with one of the stops and then they said oh well the hot tubs can't get there's like all these things they were saying and we had we had gotten an owner suite and for the amount of money the owner suite was i i just couldn't justify all the things we wanted for our room the reason why we picked it weren't available because they weren't allowing you to use your own personal hot tub off the back of the boat they weren't allowing you to do like yeah never mind so we decided to chunk it into little trips
well you know sometimes those little trips can turn out to be pretty spectacular. But, you know, I hope for you guys that you'll be able to catch those northern lights because, you know, we've seen several people that we follow and people that we know that have been there. And they're like, once you once you see them, I think someone even said they like woke up their spouse in the middle of the night and was like, you've got to come see this. Which Melissa did to me at the Grand Canyon. Just being able to see the stars. But to go out and see those northern lights is really worth it. And maybe this is your next place, but where are you going next?
Well, we're going to aruba as you know but john and i like to do a lot of little jaunts so we're going we're going to vegas we're going to connecticut and we have a few other surprises planned for ourselves but he wants to go to portugal so i think i mentioned that to you before so we're gonna try to find out a long weekend to go to portugal as well those Those are kind of like to travel. It's the only way to experience life, right? You can't take your money with you, as I always say it. So you've got to make sure you make a lot of memories and you can, you know, at least you have them. So that's that's the way we look at it.
We love Portugal. I don't know if you caught our Portugal episode. One
One I got about it. I listened to it like four times already. Okay, perfect.
Okay, perfect. Yeah. So if you have any questions, because we could talk about Portugal for forever. So yeah, hit us up if you have any questions.
One more thing about Aruba, though, that I want to just remember that I think it's super important. Going into Aruba, when you land in Aruba, coming out is pretty easy to go to your luggage and things like that. But when you're leaving Aruba, you go through customs in Aruba. And the line can sometimes take over two hours for you to get. You'll be outside just checking in and then you've got to check your bag, recheck, get all your stuff again and then go back through customs. And it takes a long time. There's VIP first class service. You can order or go online i think it's called first class experience it's expensive it's like 250 a person but you get through very quickly they help you with your luggage they just pull you all the way through friday saturday sundays horrendous leaving i always leave friday and saturday out of there so i've experienced the horrendous lines that's's just a heads up that something super important, especially if you have to stand outside for an hour and a half in heat.
that was the reel that I sent you. Yeah,
you did. So I do have a question. I don't know if you know, so that we will be going back to just the way it worked out. Our round trip is from Curacao. So we will actually do in the Didier back to Curacao and then back. Is it different? is that in a different Like, location? Or is that in the Divi Air back to Curacao and then Is it different? back. Like, is that in a different location or is that in the main airport or how does that?
It's all in the main airport. It's just that you won't have to go through the secondary customs line. But the ticketing line, just to go through your ticketing, even though it's a special air, Divi's in the same airport. So it's going to, the lines are long, but I would suggest asking the concierge at the hotel to ask them how much quicker or give them a call ahead of time to see if, you know, see if the route's a little bit different. Like American and all those other lines are forever. I say forever, forever. So I always recommend three hours before your flight.
OK, wow. Because you hear that a lot. I mean, that's really great to know. You hear that a lot and you're just like, whatever, because we've had that experience in St. Thomas where they were like, they made us do that. And then literally we went straight through just because of the day of the week, right? They were like, oh yeah, that's really for Saturday. So that's good. So Friday, Saturday, Sunday, absolutely. They have a lot of turnover probably with that. That's
That's the one thing I forgot to tell you guys when we were talking about getting there. And I was like, I just thought about, oh my gosh, that's important, though, because I've seen so many people miss their flights.
Yeah. And that's real. So that's actually really good to know. Any other requirements as far as like, you know, visa things you need to know about or anything like that? No, just make sure
you claim anything that you take when they ask you because they do tend to pull people aside quite frequently. Don't take it. You can't even take a seashell the size of your fingernail off the island. So you can't take any rocks, shells, nothing. So that's, you know, they'll find you for it. So don't take them. That
is good to know, because sometimes I like to have a little bowl where I keep, you know, rocks and shells from, you know, places we've traveled all over the world. So that's a good thing. I can
know, places
thing. I can take a piece of sea glass because you'll find sea glass occasionally i'll put sea glass like any type of shell or anything or sand they won't let you take
mentioned uh you mentioned and that's super helpful you mentioned several things that we probably wouldn't have thought about you know like you know having bug spray having you know the net gator things to cover your face anything else that you you maybe wouldn't typically think of bringing on vacation that you can think of?
going to Aruba, the only other thing that is there's a place called Sergeant Pepper's Rescue. They have these dogs called Canuckus. They've been around forever and ever and ever. They have a whole, you can adopt them there, or you can take one home with you and deliver it to somebody that has adopted it. So if you're flying back to Boston, they'll give you a Canucko and a carrier and you can take them back. But they're always looking for donations. So leashes, collars, dog food, just go there and pet the dogs. They just love, love, love. It's called Sergeant Pepper, Sergeant Pepper Friends. But yes. But that's the only other thing is like if you want to be a sponsor or take a dog home that'd be a great place to
seen recently there was somewhere else and i don't remember where where you could like go take the dog for the day and like go do activities and stuff like that but that's yeah that's good to know that you can go yeah go like give them some love and stuff like that that's awesome so i know
i diverted the end of your conversation into more stuff about aruba those are things i didn't want to forget so no i was actually
going to circle back around so like you read my mind that was perfect yeah i was just gonna say was there was there anything else so those
are really the big things you know but big but big things, just make sure you make sure you just book your restaurants in advance if you can. Like I said, enjoy the food is so good. I can't wait to go back.
excellent. Well, Tammy, thank you for joining us. Give us these great ideas. And, you know, we know that everybody who's thinking about Aruba is going to appreciate these suggestions.
are going to be super helpful for us, things that we wouldn't have thought about. So now we're super excited.
Well, enjoy your trip there.
Thank you.
Thank you.
right. Thanks, guys.
Bye-bye.
gosh, Scott, that was so helpful. I think that we are so much better prepared for our trip, mostly in making our dining reservations, because we really would have messed that up and become really hangry.
Without a doubt. So let's start on an overview of our upcoming trip, because, you know, the whole reason we're doing this episode is we have a trip planned for middle of March. And we're going to go first to Curacao. So we're going to fly to Curacao, spend a couple of days there, and then we're going to go to
Yeah. So this trip was a promotion from the Marriott Vacation Club. So a little bit of disclaimer there. We are actually members in what used to be Starwood, which became the Westin and the Sheraton. And so now they've merged with Marriott Vacation Club. And from time to time, they'll call you and say, we'll give you this special promotion and go to somewhere. And Scott was like, oh, well, if you'll send us to Aruba, we'll do it. And so that's really how we are going to do this part of the trip. And let's
let's back up for just a minute. They originally wanted to offer us a trip to Florida. We live in Florida. Why do we want to go somewhere in Florida, you know, for that? So that's how we came across the property that's in Aruba, somewhere we've never been before, somewhere that was kind of on our list of places to visit. And so we, you know, made a deal with them to go down to this Aruba property. And part of that was telling them, hey, we're travel podcasters. So send us somewhere really good, you know, that you're going to want us to talk about.
Yes. And so, I mean, there is, you have to pay a little bit, right? So there's a fee for this, and then you have to do the timeshare presentation. And we've done a million of those as well. But the other part of this was it's only like four nights. And so when you go somewhere and you're paying for airfare somewhere like the Caribbean, like we want to make the most of that. And what we ended up finding was that it was actually cheaper for us to fly to Curacao. There's a nonstop from Delta is a little bit less expensive. to add Curacao onto the trip instead of like flying to Aruba and then taking a flight over to Curacao, we decided to do the nonstop from Curacao and then take the Divi Air over to Aruba and back and that way. So that was just kind of how we organized that. So I don't, you know, just depends on, you know, time and stuff like that, what might be the best.
So Tammy gave us some great information, you know, that we can use on this trip. What is in your mind, what do you think we need to do with the information that she gave us? Well,
think we need to look at dining spots ahead of time, which is not something that we typically do. And we mentioned in the interview, right, they're foodies. We're not super big, you know, foodies to where it's like, oh, we have to go have this experience just unless it's something that we've heard of. But I think here we need to like do some research and go ahead and book some of those, number one. And then is there anything else that you would say?
Yeah, I think she gave us some information about exiting Aruba. So when we get ready to leave some things that we need to take into consideration that we hadn't planned for yet. I'd seen some reels about using VIP services, stuff like that before. But she really gave us some additional information. And we'll talk about that in just a minute.
Yes, that's true. And I think the other thing is probably like looking at and go ahead and book excursions. Now, we normally do that. But I think she gave us some information that maybe we wouldn't have thought about. Like, I'm interested now in the one where she was talking about with the ATVs probably, too.
Yeah, so we need to go and buy a tour, check that out, and see if we can get some of those booked.
Yeah, for sure.
So, let's do some high-level recap on the interview with her. Some things that you thought were particularly interesting.
Yeah, so the fact that, I guess it is a place for foodies and they have the chef's table restaurants, right? And so if that's what you're, you know, we're really into that they have that experience, which I mean, I do feel like that eating and experiencing local restaurants and local food is a big part of travel.
one of the things to know about that though is, and we've talked about this in other episodes like the Bahamas, is when you go to destinations like, you know, the Bahamas or Aruba or for even that matter here on Amelia Island, right? And go to some of these popular destinations, food is more expensive. And then add on top of that, if you're going to go to like a chef's table where they're doing custom pairing of food and drinks and things like that you should just expect that that's going to cost more
true and i've always had the impression i think that ruba is like more expensive right more expensive to get there and like i said it's it's more expensive to you know fly direct to aruba than like Curacao, for example. But yeah, just knowing that that is part of the experience of going to Aruba is that it is going to be a premium price.
one of the places that she did recommend that I think I'm interested in trying out is that Flying Fishbone restaurant. And she talked about one of the things they love to do is to go there, get their feet wet in the water, you know, hang out a little bit and then eat. And, you know, she talked about the food being really good. So that's definitely one of the places. And then there was the, I think it was called the Royal Bakery that she talked about that was on John's list of places that he absolutely has to go to when they go to Aruba. And so, you know, there's a few of those places now that, you know, we've been able to add to our list of here's something that we want to check out while we're there.
I think, too, is maybe also being reminded that the fact that it is a cruise destination to so like avoiding the city, especially when it's going to be busy during the cruises and just knowing like you're going to find that cruise destination So too. like avoiding the city, especially when it's going to be busy during the cruises and just knowing like you're going to find that cruise stuff there and knowing that you might want to visit. But that's one thing I like about going to places that are cruise destinations is because then you get to experience, you know, what it's like, like beyond the cruise or outside, not even beyond the cruise, but outside of the cruise time that's there and just have it like a more relaxed feel. So knowing it's worth visiting and, you know, just maybe trying to avoid that during, you know, when there's like a bunch, a bunch of people.
And thankfully we didn't know this when we were booking our stay in Aruba. And that's mostly because we did that through the Marriott. But she did say, you really want to try to stay out at the beaches. So I think she said Eagle Beach and Palm Beach, right? Those were two of the beach areas that she recommended. And we just happened to be staying in the Palm Beach area. Right. And I don't
know if we, did we mention that? Like that's the Aruba Beach Club, Aruba Ocean Club, Aruba Surf Club like that's the area that we'll be in and it sounds like that that was what she was very familiar with and so that worked out you know really well for us
too. Yeah and then we've been on a lot of islands before and matter of fact we've been on some that experience a lot of wind. I think that was one of the things when we went to the Galapagos, they talked about that certain times of the year were much windier than others. But she did mention that because Aruba is a desert island, it is a very windy island as well. And she specifically talked about if you play golf, you're hitting into the wind and it may land behind you or something like that, right? I've played some of those golf courses before. They're very but they're
also challenging, very fun to see that element in your game. and I think a lot of times you just don't think about beach destinations like that. Yeah, Maybe being right? windy, Like when we were in like not knowing that. Greece, It was you when they had the big winds and stuff like that. like, oh, know, It's like, okay. oh, You it changes the experience. know, So just being you when they had the big winds and stuff like it's You it changes the So just being you for that as well. prepared, know, that, like, oh, okay. know, experience. prepared, know, And then I was also surprised about not thinking about the best time is visit during the holidays, right? Which is always true. Like people like to take vacations then obviously because of their climate as well. And that's always neat that you do get the factor of things being decorated for Christmas or you how, know, they would celebrate the holidays and then stuff too. So just keeping that in mind too, that's going to be a high season. I think
it's also, if you look at destinations that are along the equator, it's going to be, or near the equator, it's going to be kind of universally true that that, let's say December through May is going to be their high season. That that is the best time to visit any of these locations.
Right, that's true. Because they're going to have more, you know, more consistent weather, for sure. And especially since, like, you don't think about that this is being so close to South America as well.
had already rented a car for Aruba, but I was interested to hear Tammy's take is that she's actually never rented a car in all the times that they've been there before.
Yeah, that's true. So do you think we may relook at that or maybe we'll rent a car and then that way we can share our opinion. But the fact that, you know, taxis were $7 to $14 each direction because, for example, and we went in this when we did the cruise and went to the Cayman Islands, it was very expensive. We would go like not very far and it was like at least double that. So that being the taxis being a little more affordable. I think
for us, we like to get out and see and do. We're probably not. We'll spend some time there at the hotel and just relaxing and enjoying our time, but we're not going to spend all of our time there. And so for us, it's probably going to work out well to have that car, but you know, we'll have to come back and give you guys an update when we actually do the episode post traveling to Aruba. You know, this episode was really about opening up our planning process a little bit, or part of our planning process, which is talking to other people and getting information like this. But we also plan to come back and tell you guys about our experiences that we had while we were there.
Yeah, I also liked her tip about joining that Surf Club Facebook group. Because when you do stay at the timeshare type places, you have a way to connect with people and people have these boards and groups and stuff like So getting that. the timeshare type right? places, you People, have a way to connect with people and people have these boards and groups and stuff like that. So getting the beach chairs floats because sometimes you wonder like, oh, they have all this stuff and I wouldn't have even thought to bring all that. And like, you know, we said we had done that in Hawaii one time is that we had gone to Costco and bought some things. And then, you know, we were, as we were leaving, somebody was coming in. Hey, do you want these chairs? Do you want this umbrella? Because it was, it was something that we wanted, but obviously we're not going to bring them back from Hawaii. Not sure about the leftover booze. I don't know. Interesting.
Yeah. Maybe some unopened beers, maybe, but I'm not sure about the leftover booze part.
Yeah. But sometimes like we feel the same way when we leave Cancun and we have a lot of stuff left over. We just feel bad about throwing everything away. And so sometimes we will leave it in the fridge and who knows what happens. So that's great that they have a way to kind of connect people, especially with the big floats and stuff like that, because that's just plastic and you just hate to waste it. But they are nice to have when you're there enjoying
the beach. We need to keep in mind as we go there is that restaurants do close early. And historically, this has been a challenge for us, right? We're busy throughout the day. We're off out seeing everything that we can possibly see. And then when we come back, we want to take a shower and then go to dinner. And that's why Spain absolutely works for us, right? Because they don't start eating dinner till nine, 10 o'clock at night. But in this case, the restaurant's already gonna be closed by that time. Maybe we're a little bit more conditioned to that because that's true here where we live is that the restaurants do tend to close a little bit earlier. So maybe it's not gonna be as big of a problem for us, but it is something we need to pay attention to and watch.
And knowing that going in, and then like if we do have to have the reservations, then we have to plan accordingly. So maybe we'll try to do a balance because sometimes I don't like rushing activities in the afternoon, always thinking about what's the next thing, right? And what we have to do and having a timeframe. So maybe we can kind of balance that on the trip. And a few minutes we talked about when you're exiting Aruba
we have ago, to do and having a time So maybe we can kind of airport, balance that on the trip. frame. Yeah. And a few minutes we talked about when you're exiting ago, Aruba at the airport, there is a VIP first class service that you can purchase. I think it's around $250. I'd seen some reels on this before. you they meet And, they know, take you to a lounge, you, they take all of your paperwork, they go off and handle all of that part of it. You go through a special, I think, like security checkpoint and stuff like that. And then you basically just hang out and wait until the flight comes while other people are going to be standing in the long queues waiting to get out. Now, this is going to be interesting to see for us. And we got to figure this out when we get there. Maybe we need to talk to some locals to find out. But since we're going back to Curacao and not flying directly back to the States from Aruba, is do we need to do this service or is that flight to Curacao going to be subject to the same long lines and stuff like that. So we need to pay close attention to that and figure that out.
Right. And when I mentioned that to Tammy, she actually, through text, she actually wrote back and was like, be aware of the baggage weight restrictions on that DVR as well. So we do need to take that into account. But the good thing is we will have a washer and dryer. And it is the beach destination. Yeah, it is a beach destination show, but just being aware of that too. And so one more thing, she also sent us this after the interview is that there is a website that you need to go to. And as part of the process that allows admission to Aruba, it's called the Aruba ED or the Aruba Embarkation Disembarkation Card, and it needs to be filled out and approved. It's a mandatory, it is a mandatory step for every passenger traveling to the island of Aruba, including infants and children. And so to access that official ED card page, there's a link, and I'm going to put that in the show notes. And so the online ED card, Aruba, helps verify that all necessary steps were taken in order to board an inbound plane to Aruba. And like I said, you can fill out the ED card online and you can do it as early as seven days before you travel to Aruba. And it gives you a green check that you need to have to fly there. And she also mentioned that there are services that will do this for you for a fee, but it's really simple. And so it's not really necessary to, you know, have paid to have that done.
that done. So, you know, we ran into this when we went to the Galapagos, right? But Delta had that as a part of their fly ready steps. So it took you to a site where you needed to fill out, I think, some health information, some legacy COVID protocol stuff, right? That you had to fill out for going into Ecuador. But it took you to that site. And once you completed it, it gave you the green check inside of Delta's FlyReady. But we're actually, our Delta ends at Curacao. And so we're taking Divier then from Curacao to Aruba. And I don't know that they have that same process. So this was really good information for us. We just got to remember to do it probably once we get to Curacao, just make a note to ourselves to fill that out because it says up to seven days in advance.
Right. And so you do want to make sure that you have plenty of time to have that process. So I'll visit that link ahead of time too and just to see. And so also noting that it was and is a Dutch island. Sorry, I guess it is a Dutch island, I should say, right? But they do take American dollars. And that we also found. Typically, any places where a lot of cruise destinations go, and we found that when we were in Jamaica and Cayman Islands and even in the Bahamas, too. It's just I think it's easy for them, right, to just take American dollars for a lot of things.
usually if you're not taking more than like 10,000 U.S. dollars, you don't have to declare those going into a country. That's not going to be a problem for us because we're not going to be taking 10,000 dollars worth of cash. But I do think that it's probably good for us to remember to take our cash ahead of time, just because I know that ATM fees in some of those countries are far more expensive than, you know, say if you went to Mexico or somewhere like that. So it's probably a good idea just to save a little money on ATM fees to have that cash taking with and take it with us.
Sure. And also, you know, obviously travel credit cards and ones that don't have foreign transaction fees and things like that. But a lot of times you need cash for, you know, tips and you don't know what. So it's good to be prepared and have that on hand. So that was a great tip, too. And then it's also as far as packing is just knowing like about the ReefSafe sunscreen, which we know. But then also her mentioning that gnat spray for beaches in the evenings. Sometimes we do need that here at home. But just not thinking about, okay, this is a destination where you will need that. So, that's helpful too. And
wonder if the dogs would like to send anything to Sergeant Pepper's friends, the dog rescuer.
yeah. That'd be neat. We could say from our Lottie and Rupert. The Dog that'd Yeah.
I believe Well, we're prepared for our upcoming trip next month. The supplementary information we received was very useful in addition to our own research. It's helpful to have real reviews from people who know to help us make decisions regarding our trip. Thanks to Tammy, we now have an insider's perspective on Aruba to ensure the success of our trip. Is there anything else that we should know before our trip? Please send me an email at scott at sunshinetravelers.com and provide me with all the details. We are always inspired by your travel stories. When
booking the Curacao portion of the trip, we used booking.com to find and book our accommodations. Because on Booking.com, you can choose from over a million properties worldwide, from cozy country homes to sleek city apartments. Find the best deals with their price match promise. Enjoy great stays at lower cost. And because flexibility matters, you can book with confidence knowing that you can cancel with ease. You can also make informed choices because there's millions of reviews from fellow travelers. You can also these. make informed choices because there's millions of reviews from fellow travelers. Start your adventure now and visit sunshinetravelers.com slash booking to book your perfect stay. Using these affiliate links to book your experiences and travel helps support our podcast and allows us to continue to provide new content on a weekly basis. Please consider using these links when booking your next travel. There's no extra cost to you and we are compensated through the affiliate.
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