One of my favorite things about our annual family vacation to Aruba is that everytime I arrive here, I feel like I never left. It's such a nice vacation filled with relaxing, eating, family and sunshine. I thought it would be fun to tell you exactly how our days play out 'round these parts.
6:00 AM: My alarm goes off. It's still dark out. I quickly get dressed, grab my beach bag and head down to the beach.
6:15 AM: I arrive on the beach to find my mom who has reserved and set up camp under 2 chickees (those palapa huts all over the beach) for our family. I quickly plop down and gaze at the darkened sky with the sun just starting to shine.
6:30 - 7:15 AM: I head over to a little hut on the beach that has free coffee. It's not just any coffee. It's served in tiny cups and the only dressing offered is evaporated milk and sweetener. It's heavenly. I sit with my mom and sister and chat. We read the Aruba Daily newspaper and try to briefly catch up with what's going on in the world. Brevity is a virtue here.
7:30 AM: I call up to the room to wake up Shaun. I am so sleepy, but I want to get to the gym and move on with sunning and swimming (and napping on a lounge chair)!
8:00 AM: We hit the gym.
9:00 AM: Back in the room, we get changed into our bathing suits. We sunscreen up. We gather our beach toys (float, towels, Kindles, snacks) and head out for the day.
9:15 AM: We grab breakfast, usually a breakfast sandwich from Dushi Bagels...
...or a donut and giant iced coffee from Dunkin' Donuts on the beach.
9:30 AM - 12:30 PM: We alternate laying on lounge chairs and reading books with dipping in the ocean and laying on floats for hours at a time. Occasionally I will reapply my sunscreen. This is what I like to call "Heaven".
1:00 PM: Possibly eat lunch. We eat when we are hungry. I did a little food shopping so that we could have lunch in the air conditioned room and get a break from the sun while saving some coin. Or, if we are so inclined, we hit up some cheeseburgers.
2:00 PM - 5:30 PM: Continue laying on lounge chairs, reading books, swimming in the ocean for hours at a time. We may also have a few ocean cocktails at this time (yesterday it was Absolut Pears + Sprite Zero).
5:30 - 7:00 PM: Head back to the room where I defunktify the many layers of sunscreen that have hardened and collected on my skin over the course of the day. My eyes are usually blood shot and I feel so tired that I could easily head to sleep for the remainder of the night. I might even shower, then curl up in our giant bed and watch Keeping Up With the Kardashians until Shaun tells me it's necessary to put my contacts back in and get dressed for dinner already.
7:30 - 9:00 PM: We eat a delicious dinner at one of the many amazing restaurants here on the island. Since we've been coming here for 7 or 8 years (we couldn't figure out which year this is), we definitely have our favorites! On Sunday, we ate at Smokey Joe's for ribs and last night we ate at Hostaria da Vittoria where I had a giant piece of lasagna. Bellissimo.
9:00 - ??: I like to immediately follow dinner with...what else?...dessert! This usually consists of gelato, a Nutella + banana crepe or my favorite red velvet cake.
We are then full and exhausted. We pretend to try and find something to do for the rest of the night, but truly, we are spent. And that 6:00 AM wake up call comes knocking mighty early. Last night, Shaun and I headed back to the room and watched the first episode of The Walking Dead. (No, we do not actually need another show to watch since we are still in the middle of Breaking Bad & Big Love). But it was SO. GOOD.! I know already that I will be a big fan of this show. Is anyone else watching? On tonight's agenda is a showing of Harry Potter at the local movie theater. I can't wait to see it!
And that's pretty much how we spend our days in Aruba. Not too shabby if you ask me.
Of course, we also throw in some kind of excursion, like a jeep tour of Aruba...
...or a sunset catamaran booze cruise.
So what do you think? What's your favorite way to spend a vacation? Are you a get up and go, sightseeing type? Or does endless hours of beach relaxation tickle your fancy?
Psst...Christine's talking about the perfect beach playlist over on The Peach & The Pit. Hope you'll check it out!