Day 1: Attempting a daily log — Anxious morning in DC — Jerk Chicken with Didi in Kingston

by Ted · Published January 7, 2019 · Updated January 11, 2019

Note: This is a test! Margaret and I are experimenting sharing writing duties on a daily recap blog post. I’m sure the format will evolve over time. And some days will be far more extensive than others. This is all if we don’t give up after 3 days.

Writing this from: DCA airport; then flight to Miami; then in bed at the hotel in Kingston next to a snoozing James.

What did we do today?

Early wake up at my parents’ home in DC, 6am ride to DCA from my dad.
Some check-in issues related to our not having a return flight; but otherwise seamless travel: American Airlines through Miami to Kingston.
Kids were good — really giddy. Wore their backpacks without (much) complaining and happily wheeled their rollers into the airport.
Seamless flights to Miami and Kingston. Kids locked into their iPad mini’s and fresh Netflix downloads.
We hired a taxi at the Kingston airport and got our own not-so-mini bus to the Hotel. Kids loved it.
Settled in the hotel (one room, two double beds) then hit the pool. Grownups drank Red Stripes. We chatted with a pilot from Cayman Airways who gave us a few local recommendations.
Didi joined us at the hotel with her sister Michelle, granddaughter, and driver. We all walked to Sweetwood Jerk Joint near the hotel for jerk chicken, jerk pork, and roasted sweet potato. Really authentic, fun experience.
Read to the kids then once they zonked I turned on the College Football Championship on a standard def ESPN. Beggars can’t be choosers.

My thoughts and feelings:

Nervous, anxious, excited. Just a whole lot of “WTF is about to happen?”
I can’t believe this date has arrived. “January 7th” has been this fictional day and oft-repeated answer to the FAQ “So when do you leave?” Now it is here. Crazy.
Strange feeling having absolutely no idea what to expect for the next 12 months. While sitting at DCA, Margaret and I both agreed that our brains can’t comprehend the full extent of this trip. How do we even think about everything that is to come? Day to day feels too unplanned. I’m thinking a week at a time makes sense — and the fact that we’re leaving on on Monday feels good to my type-A brain (GameChanger peeps are rolling their eyes). This week we’re in Kingston, Jamaica and Bogota, Colombia. We fly to Cartagena a week from today.

Quotes of the day:

On the way to DCA we could see the Washington Monument, lit up in the predawn darkness. Willa asked why there was a monument for George Washington. Margaret explained. Willa paused, then said, “I hope Donald Trump doesn’t knock that thing over.”
We somehow didn’t take an “Official Departure Picture” with all our luggage as we left the house this morning. An hour later Margaret said: “The Jim Bensfield in me is dying right now.” Her dad would never forget to take the Official Departure Picture. It was too early, dark and you don’t eff around when my dad is in Airport Mode. But we did get one on the plane…

Sorry Jim, this is the best we could do.

Packing Update:

We actually checked our bags. Even though we’ve packed carry-on only, we’ll likely check our roller bags often so we don’t have to fight for overhead space.
The actual final final zip up of the bags made us realize we have too much stuff. This was the most efficiently all of our stuff will be packed and we still could barely zip them up. It’s all too tight to fit the inflatable car seats which we’re carrying by hand with the kids actually pitching in. We’ll need to purge some stuff soon, just not sure what.

Travel lesson:

4 passports, 8 printed tickets (connecting flight) and 4 immigration forms is a pain for one person to manage, as evidenced by my hilarious juggling act at our very first (of countless) security checks in DC. From now on each adult will be responsible for one kid’s docs.

More pics from the day:

Plan for Tomorrow: Touring Kingston with Didi!