Adventures in the West Indies

July 18/19/20/21st brought Reggae Sumfest to Montego Bay. 2007 was the 15th anniversary and with Mary J Blige on the line up, it looked fairly decent. Montego Bay is only a 20 minute flight from Kingston so it's an easy weekend destination. The hotel had transfers from the airport so I was whisked away to the Half Moon in no time. Upon checking in, I worked the whole "it's my first time in Jamaica thing" and got an upgrade to a royal suite which was a mini-villa right at the beach! It had it's own pool and a piano, yay! Michelle was staying with me so when she arrived we had Chopsticks all evening and of course we had to ring everyone and play the piano down the phone. The hotel was beautiful, it's on 400 ... read more

Miami is exactly like you’d picture it to be, all pastel coloured buildings, chic hotels and fancy restaurants. Where else could we stay but South Beach? Our hotel, the Whitelaw, was very cool, cerise pink curtains and black chandeliers all the way. It's over-the-top architecture and design was just perfect for the photo shoot that took place there the following morning. Miami was very busy that weekend as it was both the Film Festival and Spring Break (cringe). Do Spring Breakers ever stop shouting or stealing drinks? Jen & I arrived on Friday evening and, yay, the shops were open until 10pm!! We had a good browse and made a plan of everything we were to buy the next day. Advance justification makes the purchasing even easier. On Friday night, armed witht he TimeOut guide, we ... read more

I had originally decided not to do a travelblog, as really who wants to hear that I got up early and went to work everyday.. but it's surprisingly difficult to keep in touch with everyone and I get confused about who I've told what so a blog it is. So I am here in Kingston a week and a half now, and I'm really enjoying every minute. I'm still living in the Courtleigh hotel until my apartment is ready. The Courtleigh is great, the minute myself and Jen walk out to the pool bar, there's 2 Red Stripe beers on the table - my criteria for a good hotel are pretty simple. The HR team are great, there are six Irish in the department so you could actually be anywhere until you step outside the ... read more