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Re: Trip Report - Ochi - Paul and Dolly's Saga Continues
The following week has got to go down as the longest in history. He calls on Thursday night and tells me he has a place at the Marine View (remember the place we played pool). I leave on Saturday and need to make the 3.5 hour drive from Raleigh to Charlotte right after work tomorrow (Friday). After the longest FRIDAY in history, I’m finally in my rental car and am on my way to Charlotte. First thing I do when I get in that car is pop my reggae CD in the player and drive off into the night.
At 10:30 I pull in to my hotel in Charlotte. I really should have put a night bag together so I didn’t have to take out the whole suitcase. I check-in and call Paul. “I made it to Charlotte” I say. We talk for about 15 minutes, he tells me to call his cell as soon as I get to the airport. I say “I’ll see you tomorrow”. That sounds SO strange. I still cannot believe I am going to see him in less than 24 hours. I eat dinner and get to sleep around midnight.
Saturday Morning:
Alarm goes off at 4:00 a.m. I need to be at the airport at 5:00. UGH. 4 hours of sleep does not feel nice, but I am excited to get going. Get ready, lug my baggage back into the rental and I am on my way to the airport. Drop off the rental, well try to anyway. The guy who scans the car tells me there is a problem with my payment and he can’t let me go until the manager gets there at 6:00. 6:00??? My flight leaves at 7:00. “No worries”. He says. “Plenty of time”. I’m thinking yeah, that’s probably what you say to everyone not knowing that half the people you say that to don’t make their flight. So I wait around for an hour. In the meantime I call Corporate American Express and they tell me there is no problem with the card, they will speak to Avis if they have to. I tell them unfortunately the manager is not around but I may need to call them later. The manager finally arrives around 10 minutes to 6:00. I get a big hassle because I kept the car 2 days longer than what the original rental agreement stated. “It’s not my fault” I say. “Our corporate travel agent must have booked the wrong date”. She says “Can we send you the bill in the mail”? “No” I say. “I don’t want to go through the reimbursement hassles at work when I get home”. She eyed me like I am the most annoying person that she ever had the misfortune to cross. She says. “I’ll guess we’ll just have to do up a whole brand new agreement to cover those last 2 days”. “That works for me”. I say. She huffs and puffs and 3 minutes later I am signing away and everything is hunky dory. I jump on Avis’ shuttle and get to the airport. I board shortly after and am on my way to Miami.
While waiting in Miami at the Montego Bay gate, I look up and see a young Jamaican man sitting across from me. He smiles and says “Hi”. I smile back but say nothing. I board, store my carry-on, and take my seat. A few minutes later guess who takes a seat beside me? Yep the smiling young Jamaican guy. As soon as he takes his seat he pulls out his cellphone. Beep. Beep. Beep. He dials his phone “Hi baby, I’m on my way. Can you pick me up at the airport? What. You don’t want to see me”? He hangs up. Dials again. “Hi Baby. I’ve been missing you. I’m on my way, can I see you today”? I feel just sick. He’s pretty smooth. Just like my Paul. A few scenarios run through my head and 10 minutes later I really hate Paul. I eventually come to the realization that I’m being silly.
I am filling out my tourist card and the man beside me leans in and says almost in a whisper “Can I borrow your pen”? I think to myself, I know all about that leaning in trick now, it’s not going to work buddy. I pass him the pen. He fills out his card and turns to me. “Are you visiting someone”? “Yep”. Silence. “A boyfriend maybe”? What exactly is he to me I think to myself. “Yeah” I say. “Is he working in Jamaica”? I tell him he lives in Jamaica. He gets a big grin “OOOOHHHHH”. He says. What is that supposed to mean? He says “I live in the States but I try to get home every 6 months or so. I’m staying in St.Elizabeth, there is a big concert tonight. You’d enjoy it”. Nice try. “That’s nice”. I say. We are about to land now and he gives me back my pen. I am situated in the middle aisle of the plane so I can’t see out the window too well but I strain. And there it is. I see the island and that beautiful blue-green water once more. The sky is a stunning blue, not a cloud in sight. It hits me now, my heart starts beating wildly. I will see the person I’ve been thinking and dreaming about non-stop over the last 2 months in a matter of hours. I get up out of my seat, collect my bag from the overhead compartment and stand in line to get down the plane steps. The captain and flight attendants are lined up near the door wishing everyone a good vacation. The flight attendant who served my drink stops me as I’m about to get to the stairs and says “I just wanted to let you know that I think you’re beautiful”. HA! That gush of Jamaican tropical air must have reached into the plane and made the man crazy. I laugh and head down the stairs. I can’t believe I am actually back!!! I hurry to customs and stand in line. There is a HUGE lineup. What a difference from the time I was there in November. I wait for about 30 minutes and reach the customs officer. Get through no problem and wait for my luggage. I watch the bags circulate, I wait about 30 minutes until almost everyone is gone. I panic. OH NO!!!! Do not tell me they lost my bag. The guy who was sitting beside me on the plane says he could not find his either but was told to look on the floor. Sure enough, there it is. I grab that bag and stand in yet another long line to declare if I’m bringing in anything. I tell them I don’t have anything and they let me through. Get to the JUTA desk and request a ride. They tell me to stand “over there” pointing to a group of people and wait until I’m called. I look around to see if I can spot a phone to call Paul but I don’t see one. I don’t want to go searching for one either since my bus would probably leave on me. Finally after what seems an eternity our bus is ready. It’s actually more of a van with maybe 5 people on it. And we are on our way.
I am hypnotized by the sights around me. This time I want to go home and be able to remember exactly what it all looked and felt like so I have vivid memories to daydream about.
It’s about an hour and a half into the bus ride and I can hardly wait any longer. I see a sign that says Ocho Rios – 10 kilometers. Not much longer now. I pull out my compact, fix my face, check the hair and try to breathe. Finally we pull onto Main Street in Ocho Rios. A couple is dropped off at the Grande. I strain to look into the lobby. Aaah…the memories. Next stop, we pull up a hill and drop a couple off at the Crane Ridge hotel. I’m the last one on the bus. The bus driver pulls onto James street and I look out the window. I see Jack Ruby’s on the right, we pass the barber shop on the left, pass the Roofe Club, across the street I see the rum shop where we hung out that one night. The bus pulls around the corner and we pull into the Marine View hotel. My heart is pumping a mile a minute. It is moments now and I’ll be able to look at his face again. As the driver is unloading my bags, an old and fat man peers over the pool balcony. He waves at me for some reason. “Is that who you are meeting”? The bus driver asks. I shake my head and look at him like ‘you must be out of your mind to think I came all this way to meet THAT’. I roll my two suitcases into the lobby (remember I’ve been away from home for awhile now and have 4 weeks of clothes with me). As I walk in the receptionist immediately says “Are you waiting for Paul”? “Yes” I say. I look around but don’t see him. She says he was waiting here for a couple of hours but just left to get something to eat. I ask if I can use her phone to call him on his cell. She passes me the phone. I dial his number. He answers “Hello”? “Hi it’s me. I’m here”. “Where are you?? At the airport still??” “NO, in the hotel lobby. I didn’t get a chance to call from the airport”. I can hear him smiling on the line as he says “I’ll be right there. I can’t wait to wrap my arms around my baby”. That makes me shiver. He says “Tell the girl to give you the key”. She already has it out and I take it from her. I pull out my bags and a female worker asks me something about Paul that I don’t quite understand. I ask her if she could repeat what she said. As she is asking her question again HE steps in the yard and I totally do not hear what the girl is saying to me. He walks with that slow saunter, biting on a beef patty and he’s got that familiar grin that I forgot all about. He’s got a cool new hairstyle now too. I melt all over again. He walks up to me, puts his arms around me and holds me tight for a good minute. I catch the girl roll her eyes out of the corner of my eye and she walks away. Paul grabs the largest of my 2 bags and we look at the key number. #30 something. Gotta lug these bags up 3 flights of stairs. As we’re walking to the steps I catch him stealing glances at me and I do the same. He asks what the girl was saying to me. I told him I didn’t quite understand. I think he suspected that she was interrogating me with questions about him. She probably was. As we get to the stairs he picks up that bag and carries it up the stairs. I say “Uh, that bag is REAL heavy. Maybe it would be easier if you dragged it up”. “It’s OK” he says and continues to carry it up all 3 flights of stairs. Men. By the time we get to the top of the stairs he is huffing and says “That bag is REALLY heavy. What do you got in there”?? I had to laugh. We find the room, unlock it with the key and walk in. It’s got a full bathroom, double bed, a dresser with vanity and a verandah. Not the Grande, but it’s cozy. We drop the bags, go out to the verandah and sit on the chairs. He takes my hand and holds it. He pulls out his phone and a phone card and tells me to phone home that I am here. Who the heck am I going to call? Nobody knows I’m out here in the middle of the Caribbean on a secret rendezvous except Danielle. I leave a message on her cell voice mail that the plane didn’t crash, Paul hasn’t killed me and buried my body yet, and I’m in Ocho Rios. It’s about 4:30 now. I eye the remaining patty he’s holding in its white pocket and grab it from him. “I’m starving”. I say. All I had were peanuts and pretzels today. I pull the patty out of its pocket and devour half of it. Those things are sooo good. I manage to make a complete mess of myself with crumbs all over. He laughs, takes it from me and slides it back into its pocket with ½ of the patty sticking out so you can bite it. “This is how you eat a patty”. He says and hands it back to me. “Oh”. I say sheepishly.
I walk back in the room and tell him I have a picture of him and I that Danielle took when were at the Amnesia. He follows me in. I find it in my luggage sleeve and give it to him. He gets a really wide smile on his face and sticks the picture up in the corner of the dresser mirror. He then walks back up to me and kisses me. All of those memories of him and I flood back in my head. Those same intense feelings are still there and I get that weak feeling in the knees again. I didn’t want to rush into this so fast because I wanted to savor looking at him again, holding his hand, etc. I say to him “I’ve only been here 15 minutes….” And my words are lost because those darn kisses are so sweet. He murmurs “Uh-huh. And your shoes and clothes should have been flying 15 minutes ago……..”
The following week has got to go down as the longest in history. He calls on Thursday night and tells me he has a place at the Marine View (remember the place we played pool). I leave on Saturday and need to make the 3.5 hour drive from Raleigh to Charlotte right after work tomorrow (Friday). After the longest FRIDAY in history, I’m finally in my rental car and am on my way to Charlotte. First thing I do when I get in that car is pop my reggae CD in the player and drive off into the night.
At 10:30 I pull in to my hotel in Charlotte. I really should have put a night bag together so I didn’t have to take out the whole suitcase. I check-in and call Paul. “I made it to Charlotte” I say. We talk for about 15 minutes, he tells me to call his cell as soon as I get to the airport. I say “I’ll see you tomorrow”. That sounds SO strange. I still cannot believe I am going to see him in less than 24 hours. I eat dinner and get to sleep around midnight.
Saturday Morning:
Alarm goes off at 4:00 a.m. I need to be at the airport at 5:00. UGH. 4 hours of sleep does not feel nice, but I am excited to get going. Get ready, lug my baggage back into the rental and I am on my way to the airport. Drop off the rental, well try to anyway. The guy who scans the car tells me there is a problem with my payment and he can’t let me go until the manager gets there at 6:00. 6:00??? My flight leaves at 7:00. “No worries”. He says. “Plenty of time”. I’m thinking yeah, that’s probably what you say to everyone not knowing that half the people you say that to don’t make their flight. So I wait around for an hour. In the meantime I call Corporate American Express and they tell me there is no problem with the card, they will speak to Avis if they have to. I tell them unfortunately the manager is not around but I may need to call them later. The manager finally arrives around 10 minutes to 6:00. I get a big hassle because I kept the car 2 days longer than what the original rental agreement stated. “It’s not my fault” I say. “Our corporate travel agent must have booked the wrong date”. She says “Can we send you the bill in the mail”? “No” I say. “I don’t want to go through the reimbursement hassles at work when I get home”. She eyed me like I am the most annoying person that she ever had the misfortune to cross. She says. “I’ll guess we’ll just have to do up a whole brand new agreement to cover those last 2 days”. “That works for me”. I say. She huffs and puffs and 3 minutes later I am signing away and everything is hunky dory. I jump on Avis’ shuttle and get to the airport. I board shortly after and am on my way to Miami.
While waiting in Miami at the Montego Bay gate, I look up and see a young Jamaican man sitting across from me. He smiles and says “Hi”. I smile back but say nothing. I board, store my carry-on, and take my seat. A few minutes later guess who takes a seat beside me? Yep the smiling young Jamaican guy. As soon as he takes his seat he pulls out his cellphone. Beep. Beep. Beep. He dials his phone “Hi baby, I’m on my way. Can you pick me up at the airport? What. You don’t want to see me”? He hangs up. Dials again. “Hi Baby. I’ve been missing you. I’m on my way, can I see you today”? I feel just sick. He’s pretty smooth. Just like my Paul. A few scenarios run through my head and 10 minutes later I really hate Paul. I eventually come to the realization that I’m being silly.
I am filling out my tourist card and the man beside me leans in and says almost in a whisper “Can I borrow your pen”? I think to myself, I know all about that leaning in trick now, it’s not going to work buddy. I pass him the pen. He fills out his card and turns to me. “Are you visiting someone”? “Yep”. Silence. “A boyfriend maybe”? What exactly is he to me I think to myself. “Yeah” I say. “Is he working in Jamaica”? I tell him he lives in Jamaica. He gets a big grin “OOOOHHHHH”. He says. What is that supposed to mean? He says “I live in the States but I try to get home every 6 months or so. I’m staying in St.Elizabeth, there is a big concert tonight. You’d enjoy it”. Nice try. “That’s nice”. I say. We are about to land now and he gives me back my pen. I am situated in the middle aisle of the plane so I can’t see out the window too well but I strain. And there it is. I see the island and that beautiful blue-green water once more. The sky is a stunning blue, not a cloud in sight. It hits me now, my heart starts beating wildly. I will see the person I’ve been thinking and dreaming about non-stop over the last 2 months in a matter of hours. I get up out of my seat, collect my bag from the overhead compartment and stand in line to get down the plane steps. The captain and flight attendants are lined up near the door wishing everyone a good vacation. The flight attendant who served my drink stops me as I’m about to get to the stairs and says “I just wanted to let you know that I think you’re beautiful”. HA! That gush of Jamaican tropical air must have reached into the plane and made the man crazy. I laugh and head down the stairs. I can’t believe I am actually back!!! I hurry to customs and stand in line. There is a HUGE lineup. What a difference from the time I was there in November. I wait for about 30 minutes and reach the customs officer. Get through no problem and wait for my luggage. I watch the bags circulate, I wait about 30 minutes until almost everyone is gone. I panic. OH NO!!!! Do not tell me they lost my bag. The guy who was sitting beside me on the plane says he could not find his either but was told to look on the floor. Sure enough, there it is. I grab that bag and stand in yet another long line to declare if I’m bringing in anything. I tell them I don’t have anything and they let me through. Get to the JUTA desk and request a ride. They tell me to stand “over there” pointing to a group of people and wait until I’m called. I look around to see if I can spot a phone to call Paul but I don’t see one. I don’t want to go searching for one either since my bus would probably leave on me. Finally after what seems an eternity our bus is ready. It’s actually more of a van with maybe 5 people on it. And we are on our way.
I am hypnotized by the sights around me. This time I want to go home and be able to remember exactly what it all looked and felt like so I have vivid memories to daydream about.
It’s about an hour and a half into the bus ride and I can hardly wait any longer. I see a sign that says Ocho Rios – 10 kilometers. Not much longer now. I pull out my compact, fix my face, check the hair and try to breathe. Finally we pull onto Main Street in Ocho Rios. A couple is dropped off at the Grande. I strain to look into the lobby. Aaah…the memories. Next stop, we pull up a hill and drop a couple off at the Crane Ridge hotel. I’m the last one on the bus. The bus driver pulls onto James street and I look out the window. I see Jack Ruby’s on the right, we pass the barber shop on the left, pass the Roofe Club, across the street I see the rum shop where we hung out that one night. The bus pulls around the corner and we pull into the Marine View hotel. My heart is pumping a mile a minute. It is moments now and I’ll be able to look at his face again. As the driver is unloading my bags, an old and fat man peers over the pool balcony. He waves at me for some reason. “Is that who you are meeting”? The bus driver asks. I shake my head and look at him like ‘you must be out of your mind to think I came all this way to meet THAT’. I roll my two suitcases into the lobby (remember I’ve been away from home for awhile now and have 4 weeks of clothes with me). As I walk in the receptionist immediately says “Are you waiting for Paul”? “Yes” I say. I look around but don’t see him. She says he was waiting here for a couple of hours but just left to get something to eat. I ask if I can use her phone to call him on his cell. She passes me the phone. I dial his number. He answers “Hello”? “Hi it’s me. I’m here”. “Where are you?? At the airport still??” “NO, in the hotel lobby. I didn’t get a chance to call from the airport”. I can hear him smiling on the line as he says “I’ll be right there. I can’t wait to wrap my arms around my baby”. That makes me shiver. He says “Tell the girl to give you the key”. She already has it out and I take it from her. I pull out my bags and a female worker asks me something about Paul that I don’t quite understand. I ask her if she could repeat what she said. As she is asking her question again HE steps in the yard and I totally do not hear what the girl is saying to me. He walks with that slow saunter, biting on a beef patty and he’s got that familiar grin that I forgot all about. He’s got a cool new hairstyle now too. I melt all over again. He walks up to me, puts his arms around me and holds me tight for a good minute. I catch the girl roll her eyes out of the corner of my eye and she walks away. Paul grabs the largest of my 2 bags and we look at the key number. #30 something. Gotta lug these bags up 3 flights of stairs. As we’re walking to the steps I catch him stealing glances at me and I do the same. He asks what the girl was saying to me. I told him I didn’t quite understand. I think he suspected that she was interrogating me with questions about him. She probably was. As we get to the stairs he picks up that bag and carries it up the stairs. I say “Uh, that bag is REAL heavy. Maybe it would be easier if you dragged it up”. “It’s OK” he says and continues to carry it up all 3 flights of stairs. Men. By the time we get to the top of the stairs he is huffing and says “That bag is REALLY heavy. What do you got in there”?? I had to laugh. We find the room, unlock it with the key and walk in. It’s got a full bathroom, double bed, a dresser with vanity and a verandah. Not the Grande, but it’s cozy. We drop the bags, go out to the verandah and sit on the chairs. He takes my hand and holds it. He pulls out his phone and a phone card and tells me to phone home that I am here. Who the heck am I going to call? Nobody knows I’m out here in the middle of the Caribbean on a secret rendezvous except Danielle. I leave a message on her cell voice mail that the plane didn’t crash, Paul hasn’t killed me and buried my body yet, and I’m in Ocho Rios. It’s about 4:30 now. I eye the remaining patty he’s holding in its white pocket and grab it from him. “I’m starving”. I say. All I had were peanuts and pretzels today. I pull the patty out of its pocket and devour half of it. Those things are sooo good. I manage to make a complete mess of myself with crumbs all over. He laughs, takes it from me and slides it back into its pocket with ½ of the patty sticking out so you can bite it. “This is how you eat a patty”. He says and hands it back to me. “Oh”. I say sheepishly.
I walk back in the room and tell him I have a picture of him and I that Danielle took when were at the Amnesia. He follows me in. I find it in my luggage sleeve and give it to him. He gets a really wide smile on his face and sticks the picture up in the corner of the dresser mirror. He then walks back up to me and kisses me. All of those memories of him and I flood back in my head. Those same intense feelings are still there and I get that weak feeling in the knees again. I didn’t want to rush into this so fast because I wanted to savor looking at him again, holding his hand, etc. I say to him “I’ve only been here 15 minutes….” And my words are lost because those darn kisses are so sweet. He murmurs “Uh-huh. And your shoes and clothes should have been flying 15 minutes ago……..”
[img]/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] I'm wondering who Paul is...maybe he's related to my husband [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
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