Back To The Island – Day 2

Katie January 19, 2013 3 Comments

The second day we slept in until 11!  We also found out that our neighbor was Hanson’s backup player Dimitrius.  (Later we found out their bass player William was also our neighbor)  We took a tour outside of our back door and one of the water sports guys showed us where some fish hang out.  We also spotted the nude beach – complete with a guy on it. Of course.

We went to lunch at the Reggae Cafe near our room and there was a cat with no eyes that sacred Maribeth.  We were going to make a stop at the pool but there was some light rain going on.  We went back in the room and waited for the rain to pass and saw that 2 lounge chairs outside our door were open so we went to hang out there – immediately spotting a crab in the water!

At 3 it was time to make our way over to cooking with Taylor.  We found a table that also had wifi, so that was exciting as I could “live tweet” what was going on.  Taylor was taught by the chef how to make a couple of things while we all watched.  Honestly of the 3 events we did, this one was the most boring.  They first made Jerk Chicken, then some salt fish and finally Taylor asked them how to fry plantains because he likes eating them and wanted to learn.

After that it was time for mixing drinks with Isaac.  To get in the mood we got strawberry daiquiris.  Isaac was hilarious and had to watch the bartender make a drink and then try and copy it.  It seemed to be a lot more interactive than the first event and Isaac was joking around, enjoying himself and enjoying the drinks.

Then it was time for the acoustic show – which has been dubbed “the show no one remembers” – uhh yeah.  We started in the back and I had one of the drinks that had been named the Isaac Hanson… then Maribeth found us a spot on the side of the stage right by Zac where we remained for the rest of the show.

Zac did another new song – the shocking song with a swear word in it! (shit.)  After the show was over we went to the bonfire and then rested up to be ready for Tie Dye with Zac the next morning at 11!

Back To The Island – Day 1

Katie January 18, 2013 0 Comments

Day 1 of my vacation was off to an early start.  After getting home from Kris Allen at 11pm, I went to bed and got up at 3:30 AM to finish packing and head off to the airport.  My flight was at 7, but I wanted to make sure I got there in plenty of time.  And I did.  The shuttle at the valet parking got there immediately after I did, the security line was pretty quick and then I had an hour to spare before boarding.

Of course, that hour of waiting was not without excitement.  A police officer went down the jetway of the gate next to mine and looking out the window there was a fire truck.  A man ended up getting wheeled off the plane and EMTs with a stretcher went over to check him out.  I stopped watching at that point because I didn’t want to be rude.  Hopefully everything turned out ok!

The flight to Philly was quick and I was met by an attendant with a wheelchair who helped me get to my next gate.  My friend Maribeth met up with me at the gate and then we waited until it was time to board.  She had seats a row in front of me, but when we were ready to take off we realized the plane was nearly empty and we each had our own row! So she bounced back and forth to sit by me and play with our cameras a bit – AND we got free cake from first class.

We went through customs at the Montego Bay airport and then went to wait for our shuttle to the resort.  Our name wasn’t on the list but they told us we could get on the shuttle anyway and it would be leaving in 20 minutes.  Also on our shuttle was Kim and Christalyn and Jess and Val, which was nice!

The shuttle ride was 90 minutes and kind of bumpy.  When we got to the hotel they seemed to not know who we were, so we panicked a bit but quickly our reservations were found and we were escorted to our beachfront room.  We were very centrally located and the view from our room was amazing!

We ended up going to dinner at the Italian restaurant and then heard drums.  When we walked out of the restaurant we found that Hanson was doing soundcheck on the beach! We heard them do Thinking Bout Somethin and And I Waited.

Then we headed back to the room to nap a bit before the show that night at 9:30.  We also thought we would shower and were not so happy when we realized we had NO HOT WATER!

That night was the first electric show.  There wasn’t anything too out of the ordinary, but Zac did debut a new song to us – “Save Me From Myself” as his solo.  Then I was happy because concerts where I can add new songs to my list of songs heard live makes me very happy 🙂