Jamaica

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Jan 30, 2012. I booked a flight from Trinidad to Toronto and my ticket had a stopover in Jamaica. I didn't look carefully but my stopover was actually a layover, which one must avoid at all cost. When I checked in at Piarco airport, the agent said she couldn't find my ticket from Jamaica to Toronto, only the one from Trinidad to Jamaica so I have to get my other boarding pass in Kingston but she said my bags will go to Toronto. I thought, that doesn't sound right, and sure enough, my bags came off the carousel in Kingston. The flight to Jamaica stopped at Barbados briefly which means an extra take off and landing for me. I said that after this trip, I never want to fly again because by then, I had developed a phobia for being in a plane about to land. I think 6 bad landings in 2 days will do it to anybody.

In the Kingston airport, I told the staff that my bags are tagged for Toronto and why did they come off the carousel? They said that they don't know but they do not have storage facilities at the airport so I have to take them. I asked security and they said the same thing. I didn't want to argue or force the airline to take my bags since god knows what they'll do to them so I took them and left. When I was on the plane, the air stewardess said to put “in transit” when they ask for an address in Jamaica. When I got to immigration at the airport, they said because my flight is the next day, I have to have an address and there was a counter beside immigration for booking accommodation (I see how they've arranged everything nicely). I said I didn't want accommodation and she called another security officer who told her to let me through but he warned me, what happens to me outside is not their responsibility. That didn't sound good but I knew nothing about Jamaica and had to find out the hard way.

As soon as I came out of immigration, I was outside outside, literally outside the airport and in the city. There was nowhere to stay in the airport overnight. They wouldn't even take luggage, let alone people. I quickly learned that it was a dangerous place. Everybody was behind heavy security. The Scotiabank machine was not working. There was an exchange counter, car rental and a taxi dispatch and nothing else. I went to the information booth. You can hardly see the woman inside and she will only talk to you through a intercom. She booked me a hotel for $40 US and the taxi to get there was $19 each way. I liked the taxi driver so I asked him to come back tomorrow morning to take me to back to the airport. It was a really dingy hotel. I found it sad that all the TV channels were American. On the way back to the airport, the driver told me that the road we were on was built by the Chinese. The Chinese government gave the Jamaican government money so that they can send Chinese workers to Jamaica to build roads, and Chinese merchants to open up stores on a contract basis. I told him that I saw the same thing everywhere, in the Canaries, in Cape Verde, and in Guadeloupe. It's how the Chinese is insidiously taking over the world and he agreed.

At the line up to check in at the airport, I complained about my luggage to a Caribbean Airlines staff and she told me that she has heard of my situation before and that they do store luggage overnight. I told her that everybody yesterday was saying the opposite and asked her sarcastically do they all work for the same airline. She went away to ask about it and came back saying that they only store luggage sometimes. Sometimes!? OK.

In general, there were a lot more scary looking people in Jamaica than in Trinidad. I was told that the main crime in Trinidad was drugs and that Jamaica has more serious types of crime. I don't really know the stats but I was so much more afraid in Jamaica than in Trinidad.

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Comments

[toofarnorth]

Research before you travel.
After having been to Jamaica more than 15 times and loving Jamaica, I think that a little more research on the country would have been to your benefit. The area around Montego Bay hotel area is not dangerous and u can meet many nice people. Going blindly to any country would be scary but a little research is helpful.