H3: Feb 11 - 16 2006
This was our 4th trip to H3 and best so far, and our second time as part of the Jamaican Runaways Yahoo group. The Runaways are a fantastic bunch of people from all over the world that visit H3 in the second week of February. They are not a lifestyle group (although there are lifestylers in the group), but simply a social group so that people have friends as soon as they get to H3 or bump into them at the airport.
Flights were pretty easy this year, and the MBJ airport has added more immigration workers and actually put dividers for people to stay in line. The problem was that there twice as many workers on the left side, so the poor souls in the right side line moved much much slower. Once we got through immigration we walked down the steps to baggage claim to find a chaotic sea of people. Welcome to Jamaica mon. Apparently a bunch of flights arrived at the same time.
Since we have done the whole bus ride thing, we hire a cab to get us to H3. This is always an adventure - we even had a cab race with another couple from the Runaways headed to H3. They won when the Jamaican police pulled our cab over! No worries mon - just a simple ID check for the driver and we were on our way. Cabs always save us 45 to 60 minutes on our trip back 'home'.
The resort was overbooked the week we were staying, so one of the early arriving Runaway moderators (Steve) sat down with H3 management and made sure that everyone in our group (100+) would get a room. When we arrived we found that they put us in a Garden View Suite (sweet!) even though we booked Run of House. The room was very clean, but we did have spotty hot water on 2 days of our trip. No problem mon. We quickly found our friends and partied hard the rest of the day.
J and I perfected the art of eliminating hangovers, and preached this gospel to anyone that would listen. No matter how late, tired, or drunk we were, we always grabbed a few French fries or pizza from the midnight to 3 AM buffet. I think I only had one morning where I had to consume an entire pot of coffee. This made the trip even better, as we actually got to do some morning water sports and use the gym a few times.
Our first full day at H3 was absolutely perfect. 85 degrees, bright sun, and a jamming nude pool party scene. The following two days were a total wash out! This was the first time we had seen such rain, but after assessing our fun - the bad rainy day was the most fun we have ever had at H3. Everyone just got hammered in the hot tub(s) and a lot of craziness happened. No problem mon. It was pretty clear that the staff at H3 was stressed because the resort was so full - service was a little slower than normal and the Entertainment Crews were not as visible. We later found out that Romeo got banged up in a car accident and was out for several days. Destiny (yes - she is back! ) stepped up as well as Blaze, Flex, and Sapphire.
The crowded state of the resort made for a very positive and fun crowd. The disco and piano bar were jam packed every night. Four of the Runaway hotties crashed the middle of the Pimp and Ho competition by running into the Disco naked and grinding on the contestants. Ahhh... precious memories. We even had our own 'Vinnie Buster' - a crazy tattooed Texan that ran around the Quad trying to get anyone wearing clothes to remove them. Vinnies were welcome to socialize with the group, but they had to be naked! There were a few creepy Wallies that were from Bulgaria and taking some strong drugs - since we were part of a big group we all watched out for each other and kept these guys in check.
Leaving the resort was so sad, but the remaining Runaways gave our bus a 20 bun salute as we passed by the fountain. We did receive our 'sunshine vounchers' for 2 free days with no problem. We can't wait to use them!
Being a part of the Jamaican Runaways increased the fun factor by at least 50%. Thanks to P&P from CA, S&A from Missouri, K&T from NY, J&A from Michigan, P&S from Western Canada, D&F from Missouri, C&B from the Motor City, G&D the Marines, C&C from Indy, AJ&L from TX, S&S from TX, T&C from Kansas, S&S from Maine, and many more. You guys are incredible and we will see you again in Feb 2007!