The Bahamas

Last May when Laine switched gyms, she had the opportunity to attend a travel meet in The Bahamas. We just slipped in, as the registration fees were due the day after she joined. We decided to go for it, because why not?! At her last gym, she travelled to Phoenix and San Diego. But never internationally. I decided we’d make it a big kid trip, and have Blaise come. And Courtney ended up meeting us there. On paper it sounded fun. In reality, not so much. I’m never going back to The Bahamas. But I’d travel with the big kids and Courtney again in a heartbeat—that was the best part, all hanging out together.

The trip kicked off with an overnight flight Tuesday evening. Our plane left at 10:50pm, I think it was. We flew to Miami for a one-hour layover, before making the final 45-minute flight to Nassau and landing just after 9am. Both flights were packed. There were no direct flights to Nassau from Seattle. (Not yet at least.) This was Blaise and Laine’s first international trip, and they had to go through customs and show their passports, and all that fun stuff. Thankfully it went smoothly, as the airport wasn’t too busy when we landed. I think everyone in customs was from our flight. Through customs, we found a taxi to take us to Atlantis. Atlantis was where the meet was hosted.

Blaise will game anywhere.

Arriving at Atlantis, it’s impressive at first sight. On the taxi ride over, about a 30-minute drive, the taxi driver was telling us all about The Bahamas and offered up things to do. You could tell it was his schtick. Nice guy and all, but no way in hell am I eating sheep brains for breakfast. Or for any meal. The Atlantis resort is massive. There are several hotels on the property, and we were staying in the Reef. Back when it was time to book—they always offer a discounted block rate for gymnastics meets—I meant to book. I’m always so on top of things. But for some reason, I never booked the cheap room. I ended up having to book a fancier room, a room with a king and sleeper sofa. I kept checking back daily but no cheap room became available. I was able to switch the fancy room from a king and sleeper sofa to a two queen room. Which is what I wanted but it wasn’t available when I booked. I really dropped the ball on that. But it’s all good. The room was probably bigger than the cheaper rooms, and that was a nice (expensive) bonus.

Checking into the hotel, our room wasn’t ready. We were there early, like 10:30am. And check it was at 4pm. I took a chance and asked but had no expectations. I’m glad I started the process early though, they had me down for the king and sofa sleeper room. I’m not a Karan by any means, but I did have to pull an, “I’m a little disappointed the room I booked isn’t the room you have in the system,” when he wasn’t going to do anything about the mixup. It took a bit to get straightened out but it did. But the room still wasn’t ready. He told me to check back at 2pm, that it would probably be ready then.

We were all SO tired. The overnight flight caught up with us. We left our luggage with the bellman and set out to find some food. It was nearing lunch by now. There is an outdoor walk-up restaurant between the pools. That worked. We each ordered lunch and sodas each, we needed the sugar and caffeine. It was s bit more spendy than I had figured it would be, but I went ahead and tipped 20% despite not having an actual waiter. For chicken strips, a burger, salad, and three sodas, it was $64. You don’t get the receipt until after you pay, so I didn’t see the breakdown. And to be totally honest, I was so tired I just wanted the damn food and to sit down and eat.

Three sodas, $15. Complete with bees! And a bird looking unimpressed.

There are tables outside of the walk-up restaurant, between the pools. We settled into one and the kids went to fill their sodas. Bees! There were bees all up in each of the soda spouts. One of the women working asked us what we wanted, and she filled up our cups from behind the counter. Sodas, check. Time to eat. The food, it was literally a prepackaged salad and probably frozen nuggets they heated up, same for the burger patty. Eh, we were hungry. We ate and admired a cute stray cat who slithered by our legs. Little did we know, we would find several stray cats on the property.

At 2pm, I checked with the hotel desk to see if our room was ready. Nope. We had to wait longer. We ended up getting Starbucks, overpriced Starbucks (rather, even more overpriced), and hanging out in the lounge area of the hotel. By overpriced, I think my plain croissant was like $7. I could by a whole pack of croissants at Costco for almost the same amount. Insane. But, vacation. Tropical island and all. I suppose I expected the cost of things to be somewhere between Mexico and Hawaii prices. Not more expensive than Hawaii.

Finally, about 3:30pm we had our room keys. I’m not that upset about it, 4pm check in and all, but it was a long morning and afternoon. We were on the seventh floor. Easy enough, straight up the elevator and not far from the seventh floor elevator lobby. The room was quite nice. The same type of room is also available to purchase. Not our room but exactly like our room. We had a view of the pools and ocean, thankfully not the parking lot like the rooms across the hall. We quickly settled in and the kids changed into their suits. It was beach time.

The beach! White sand and turquoise water. Beautiful. I love the ocean. I don’t want to be in the ocean but I love being near it, in any capacity. The kids quickly jumped into the waves, and swam out a bit to some floating trampoline-like things. The water had a rope indicating where it was safe to swim. Blaise and Laine are both competent swimmers but I still watch them like a hawk in water, especially open water.

They enjoyed the ocean for quite a bit before moving on to the pools. It was nearing closing time, before it was dark. I think they maybe swam 20 minutes before it was time to get out. We wanted to explore the resort. And it was close to dinner time; we needed to find food.

Beach and pool time! And storm clouds.

The Atlantis is quite large. We walked all around to see all the things, and to get a sense of where everything is located. We really wanted to find the ballroom where the gymnastics meet was being held. Laine had practice the next day and I wanted to know where she’d be. We didn’t cover all of Atlantis Wednesday night but enough to where we had a sense of things. During our exploration, we found a pizza joint and called that dinner. We sat outside along the harbor and enjoyed the overpriced pizza. Some of the boats in the harbor are massive. If I had to guess, it’s Americans docking their boat in The Bahamas because it’s cheaper to travel back-and-forth than it is to dock in Florida. Then again, looking at some of the boats—rather, yachts—docking money is probably not an issue.

Nosing about Wednesday evening.

It had been a full day. An exhausting day. It was time to call it a night. We were now three hours ahead but man, we were beat by 8pm. It was time to head back to the Reef. The Atlantis has shuttles between their hotels but I wanted to foot it, the kids were not thrilled. We set off on foot and ended up running into a waterway that wasn’t crossable unless we backtracked. Which we did. And it made the walk back even longer than it should have been. Not that walking is a bad thing. But after an exhausting day, all we wanted to to be in bed. It didn’t help that it was super humid. Finally back at the hotel, I showered quickly (ugh, humidity) and it was lights out at 9pm. I pulled the mom card, and there were no complaints.

That Wednesday night was the BEST night of sleep I’ve had in years. I slept hard—we all did. I don’t think I moved once. I’m a solid back sleeper, so not moving is normal. But not for 11 hours! I felt amazing the next morning. I did set an alarm for 9am because Courtney was arriving Thursday morning. But I woke up before the alarm went off anyway.

Turns out Courtney arrived earlier than I had expected, and she had knocked on the door just before I woke up. She figured we were still asleep and went down to Starbucks. I texted her when I woke up, and she was quick to arrive. I didn’t know she was already there. We caught up for a bit, and then the kids and I left for breakfast to give Courtney the room to rest. She had an overnight flight also.

Where to eat, that was the question the kids and I were trying to figure out. We ended up at Perch. It’s a short walk from the Reef, in the Cove. We were seated right away, and the entire experience reminded me of Hawaii. Except it isn’t open-air like in Hawaii. The menu looked good and we all ordered. A bit pricer than usual, but that was expected. We didn’t get anything crazy, standard breakfasts. Eggs, hash browns, pancakes, waffles, bacon. And I had a Coke, because I always do. It was a nice breakfast. We were all rested and enjoyed breakfast together.

The bill came, I wasn’t shocked. But it wasn’t until this moment that I realized they already include a 15% tip. And there’s a 10% fee of some sort, Value Added Tax Google tells me. I gather it’s like a sales tax for The Bahamas. I had been tipping 20%, at the walk-up restaurant and pizza place the day before. So I tipped on the tip and the VAT. From then on, I just added the difference between 15% and 20% for a tip. But man, I wish I had known this (my bad for not researching or asking for receipts the day before). Really, a few bucks here and there isn’t a big deal. But it was really starting to bother me when I realized how much of a money grab Atlantis is—it’s a much bigger money grab than I had expected. And I had expected a decent amount, being a resort and all.

After breakfast, we left Perch to drop off Laine at the ballroom for practice. Four hours of practice. After Blaise and I dropped off Laine, I texted Courtney that we were heading back to the room. This time, Blaise and I took a shuttle. Much better. Courtney was up when we arrived, and ready to head out. We explored the beach and pool areas, and eventually made our way to the ballroom to see Laine. Good thing we did, because they finished practice early. They posted on Facebook but I never look, nor did I think I needed to since practice was a set time. Eh, it all worked out. Opening ceremonies were in a few hours, and thankfully I made the right decision to buy our admission tickets when I dropped off Laine for practice. It was insane later.

The beach!

Between Laine’s practice and the opening ceremonies, we explored some more. We have no idea what the theme of Atlantis is supposed to be. In one area, the Cove, it’s all modern. Then mid-walkway, it’s lined with ornate pillars. Then they have Mayan-themed stuff, like the one waterslide. Then ocean-themed areas (I suppose what they think Atlantis would look like?), and then other themes elsewhere. Like Greek Gods. There is not one consistent them throughout. It’s really odd. We were joking that they took whatever leftovers Vegas had and put them all together.

We grabbed a late lunch at an open-air restaurant. The food at this resort is eh. It’s almost like they have everything premade and then just bring it out when ordered. Like a fancy fast food restaurant. Which explains why the menu was small. It was all good that we each found something to eat. Blaise was all about the banana puddling dessert. He really wanted that. We all ate and then the pouring rain hit. Sideways pouring rain. We were getting wet despite being under a large roof. Blaise sat there enjoying his banana pudding while the three of us—and others at their own tables—got up and went to the stairway for cover. Blaise ate and we paid, then escaped down the stairs to try and find a way back inside with full coverage. We managed to stay covered for a bit before needed to run in the pouring rain to get back inside.

Rainy lunch.

It was nearing open ceremony time. After stopping at the bar for a drink, the kids virgin drinks, we continued walking through the casino to the ballroom. Courtney put a few dollars in a slot machine since we had time to kill. There’s a casino there, because of course there is. Making our way to the ballroom, it was crowded. The sheer amount of people who where there was overwhelming. Courtney took one for the team, and went inside to save us seats. Blaise was in the bathroom as they opened the doors. Given the number of people there, it was good Courtney went ahead instead of us all waiting for Blaise (he was quick but crowds).

Thank goodness I had a drink. I’m not even a drinker, only on vacation. And not even every vacation. Alcohol was needed on this trip. To put my drinking in perspective, I hadn’t had a drink in well over 13 years until we went to Las Vegas as a family. Then I had maybe two more drinks the rest of that year. Before the Bahamas, I last had drinks in George. Total alcoholic, haha.

The opening ceremonies. That was an experience. Teams marched in, great. There were several kiddos who had travelled for this meet. That was kind of cool to see whom all was from where. I think our team had traveled the farthest. There were a few gymnasts from a Seattle gym. And a few California teams. But most were from states that nobody cares about. I say that as a Native Californian (and west coast for life resident, currently living in Coffee). This map is accurate.

After the teams marched in, there was a prayer. Why?! Everyone bowed their heads. Maybe not everyone, I didn’t look around. But the four of us did not do that nonsense. Quiet for respect, sure. But don’t involve me in anything religious. I used to have a bumper sticker—that I never actually put on my car—that said, “Don’t pray in my school and I won’t think in your church.” Maybe don’t pray at gymnastics meets either. I didn’t sign up to have religion tossed our way at a freaking gymnastics meet. I was put off after the prayer and mostly ignored the rest of the event. There were a few long chats from different people, followed by some dancing and singing from a local performance group. That was fun. Finally it was over and we skedaddled.

Gymnastics!

Ben and Jerry’s was our first stop post-opening ceremonies. It seemed several had the same idea, as the line was fairly long. Thankfully it went quickly. We each ordered and then went outside to find a table and enjoy the ice cream. There is an outdoor mall-like place, near the harbor with recognizable stores. A few one-off places, like the rum cake joint. Laine really wanted to try rum cake. They had samples at the store and Laine ran to a trash can so quickly, she was not a fan. I didn’t even try because I’m confident I’d feel the same way Laine does.

More nosing about.

We nosed around some more before calling it a night. The plan for Friday was to head into town, and then hit the beach and waterslides. There was no gymnastics anything for Laine on Friday.

Friday morning was lax. We slept in, and took our time getting up and moving. We eventually left the hotel room to grab brunch and then head into town. For a large resort, they don’t exactly have that many restaurants for all the visitors. We decided to try a sit down joint, kind of themed like an American diner. The wait took forever. But we were finally seated. The menu was decent, and we all figured out what we’d order by the time the waitress arrived. It was a casual brunch, and we enjoyed chatting with each other. It did feel like it took forever to get the check, because our waitress was stretched thin. She was working harder than she should have been if they were properly staffed.

Next up, a taxi into town. We had no plan other than to explore the main drag. Our taxi driver dropped us off and we set out on foot. It was uneventful. The stores were tailored to tourists, and I’m pretty sure like 90% of the merchandise was knock off stuff. The Nikes didn’t look right but it was hard to tell what was off. Yet they were priced at Nike rates, if not more. Basically and name brand was a knock off. It was interesting. It was more than a few stores, they all had the same vibe. Knock off and/or cheap touristy items, all priced high. And the staff, they follow you around like hawks. We went in and out of several stores, and bought a few things for the siblings and Brian back home.

The Straw Market was probably the best town experience. Granted, it was all overpriced stuff being presented as handmade, but the haggling was interesting. I’m not a haggler. Never have been. If something cost X amount, I pay X amount. I did get the ladies to drop the price a bit. They had their game down. When Laine said she was looking for something for Saige, they lady was like, “Saige would love this!” We ended up getting something for all the family back home.

Leaving the Straw Market, we continued on the sidewalk to see some more. There was a section of the sidewalk that had stores on one side and a large wooden wall structure between the sidewalk and road. It was darker walking through and my I’m a female senses were on alert. We were walking and there were two men kind of hanging out on the sidewalk. We passed them and one started to follow us. It wasn’t like he was a shopper who left a store and happened to end up walking behind us. It felt targeted. As soon as we were past the wooden wall and could see the street again, I stopped and called the kids to me. I pretended to look up something on my phone to see what the guy did. He hesitated but continued on. I was done with downtown at this point. We decided to walk down a street away from the random guys on the downtown sidewalks. We collectively decided we were all done, and it was time to get a taxi. Thankfully we found a taxi van on the corner, and he was free to take us back to Atlantis. Scared me at first, because as we sat inside, I didn’t see he had a kid in the front a first. Maybe a six-year-old boy, playing on a Nintendo Switch. This actually made me feel safer. Not that the taxi guy was questionable, but I had an icky feeling from being downtown.

Downtown.

The taxi guy drives. It’s like there are no rules for driving on the island. The taxi driver from the airport was telling us how people drive drunk all the time, and since nobody really drives fast, it’s all good. Hahaha. Dad taxi driver was making me laugh with his driving. Not that it was bad. But as we went over the bridge to Paradise Island, the line of cars was really long. He was like, screw this, and went around the long line. He just cut off a car right before the toll booth. I think I audibly laughed. It was amusing for sure.

Back at the Reef. The weather was not good for the beach or pools, but the kids and Courtney suited up just in case. We left the room for the waterslides. They really wanted to hit them all. It was so cold. Not temperature but windy-wise. We went to the Leap of Faith and they all went down. Then they grabbed a few tubes for whatever waterslide they were needed. I parked it on a lounge chair and watched. I’m not a big waterpark person, let alone in the cold. So I people watched and waterslide watched. I was so put off by this one family. Not to stereotype (although I’m about to) they had to have been from the midwest. They were large. Like how do people get that large large. Like folks I saw in Yellowstone. I was so taken aback at how large people are. Sure, there are large people in our bubble. But there are few large-large folks. Anyway, the wife and kids seemed nice but the husband, he was an absolutely disgusting human being. He had the biggest piece of chew in his bottom lip. Like I could see it from a distance. And then he’d just spit on the ground! Like, who chews anymore to being with, let alone spits on the ground?! The wife and daughter seemed unbothered by him. Hopefully the son doesn’t turn out like him.

It was nearing 5pm and they were about to close all the waterslides. And pools. Even though it was too dang cold to swim. It was dark quickly, and we needed to get back to the room for the watersliders to change. And we needed to eat. I cannot remember what the heck we did for dinner Friday night?! Must not be memorable, good or bad. I do remember the kids were tired after a full day, and they stayed in the hotel room on their devices while Courtney and I went to the bar for a few drinks. We were gone maybe an hour before we went back for bed. Laine’s meet was at 7:30am Saturday, and we needed to be there by 7:15am, which meant we had to get up about 6am to do all the things before the meet. Mostly, get her hair in a bun. I am NOT a hair person. I can do a ponytail and that’s about all. Turns out her hair was the least of our problems.

Friday night was a rough night. Sleep-wise. Laine was up several times, turning on the bright ass bathroom light that filtered through the opaque glass window over the bathtub. That great night of sleep our first night there was not happening again. When I woke up Laine at 6am, her eyes were crusted shut. She said they had been bothering her all night, and this is why she was up often. She was tired and moody, with painful eyes. Thankfully I had eye drops in my purse. This isn’t my first go with kid eyes on vacation. I don’t think it was pinkeye; there was no pink (or red). I think it was a reaction from the waterslides from the day before. Maybe too many chemicals in the water or maybe it was pink eye?! Whatever it was, the eye drops helped and she was no longer crusted shut. We managed to get ready and get her hair up, and leave to hit Starbucks before her meet.

Starbucks was taking forever. I ended up walking Laine to the meet, while Courtney and Blaise stayed at Starbucks to get our order. Laine was all checked in and ready for the early morning meet. Courtney and Blaise made their way to the ballroom and we all watched the meet. It wasn’t the best because I know Laine was tired and not feeling it with her eyes bothering her. But she did great and managed to complete all of the events. I’m glad the meet was early, we were finished with all things gymnastics meet before noon.

After the awards ceremony, we jetted to the Cove to catch breakfast at the Perch before they stopped serving brunch at noon. It was eh, and we’re pretty sure they totally forgot about Courtney’s order. They eventually brought it and we all finished. Now what?! The weather was awful. A tropical storm. All the beaches and pools were closed. It was WINDY. We went back to the hotel room to rest since it had been an early morning. And we were hoping the weather would improve so we could hit the beach. Spoiler: it never improved.

Maybe three hours into being lazy in the hotel room, we were trying to figure out something to do given all the outdoor stuff was closed. They have an arcade on the property. But nothing else really fun. It’s mostly eating and drinking, and gambling that they have indoors. We all decided we needed to get out. Not before there was a knock at the door. I had Laine answer because I didn’t want to deal with anyone. It was housekeeping. She had Laine get me, ugh. She asked if we needed anything. I said no. Then she said you need towels. I said no thank you, we’re good. Then she said she’d be right back. With freaking towels we didn’t need. She comes back, with towels and more linens that we DID NOT need. I told her as much, but she forced them into my arms. I thanked her and tried to close the door. She pushed it back open. Clearly wanting a tip. For things I didn’t want or need. Ugh. This place is the worst. I was already over Atlantis by this point, and then she kind of sealed the deal of my dislike. It’s all a money grab. But not quietly like other resorts, they throw it in your face at Atlantis. And, come to find out, they charge $5/day per person over 12, a mandatory housekeeping gratuity. And that’s just the standard rate. Their terms say it can be more depending on the room/hotel you’re booked.

We needed to get out. We quickly left the hotel room with no plan. We wandered around aimlessly looking for something to do. Like everyone else. It was busy in all places indoors. People everywhere. We stopped by the arcade which is pathetic. It was small and, shocker, overpriced. The kids didn’t even seem interested anyway. Courtney and I decided it was time for drinks. We went to a bar and ordered alcoholic beverages for us, and virgin drinks for the kids. We parked at a table to chitchat and drink. Courtney had her wedding photos back and I was able to look through them. Such great pictures! And several of the kids. It was fun to see and remember back to the wedding.

Sitting at the table, Courtney mentioned a basket of fries sounded good. We weren’t really hungry for a full meal but hungry enough to go find food. There’s a Shake Shack on the property, and we went there. The kids ended up eating burgers and the fries were a great idea. We all had some, polishing of two baskets.

Aunt Courtney and the big kids.

It was late now, nearing bedtime. We all had flights in the morning. Not super early but we needed to leave for the airport around 7:30am. We called it a night and went back to the hotel room, where we shared TikToks and whatnot, and Laine had a game on her iPad we were playing. Trying to stump some genie, with thinking of a famous person and it asks yes or no questions. I was able to stump the thing with Rick Moranis and Simon Rex. Haha. Courtney didn’t even know who they were either. Eventually we called it a day after admiring all the wind outside, and then we all hit the hay.

Tropical winds.

Sunday morning was upon us. I could not wait to get home. I was over The Bahamas. Atlantis is a place I’ll never go back. And to be honest, I’ll probably never go back to The Bahamas. The people were nice but man, it sure felt like the island was taken over by white people and twisted into a tropical tourist trap. It sure felt odd being waited on by only Bahamian folks. Like, this is their island and they are catering to us?! The whole experience was kind of icky. Not the hanging with Courtney and the kids part, that was the best part of the trip. I’d go back only if it were to hang out with my people again.

The flight home was SMOOTH. And for someone who does not like flying, this was the best flight ever. My friend’s husband is a pilot with Alaska Airlines and when I was booking our flights, I always ask her if airlines are okay. Like he nixed Bahamasair Airlines. I listen. But the best part was my friend told me Alaska Airlines was starting direct flights to and from Nassau, starting in December. They didn’t start until the 16th I think it was, and we had flown out on the 12th. But flying back, we took a direct flight. So much better. It was the second ever Alaska Airlines direct flight from Nassau to Seattle, and it was so empty! They had to move the few people around to balance the weight. We ended up having the entire back of the plane to ourselves, and we each had our own row with nobody in front or behind us. The flight attendants had it easy, and kept checking on us over the seven-hour flight. I think Blaise ended up drinking three sodas, and Laine a few also. I asked for an extra package of snacks, and they gave me five packages. Haha. They were great. And the flight was so easy, minimal turbulence and a smooth take off and landing. It actually kind of made me enjoy flying. Although, I’ll now instruct the kids to keep their seatbelts on at ALL times.

The handy pocket for literature only sign amused me. Did it need to be labeled so specifically?

Back in Seattle Sunday afternoon, I was ready to get home. Brian and the three younger gals picked us up from the airport and we went straight home. It was winter break, and we were all ready for some down time. I swear vacations from vacations are always needed. Laine did surprise her coach and the teammates who didn’t travel to The Bahamas, when she showed up to practice Monday. I know some teammates who went to The Bahamas were extending their stay after the meet. And I don’t think many knew about the direct flights back, because I think everyone had booked their flights before Alaska released direct flights. I had only booked our flight there, and waited to book our return flight. And I’m so glad I did.

Winter break ended up being a bust, thanks to constant sickness spreading in our household. I’m really trying to not feel burned from expectations not becoming reality. It’s a hard thing for me to get over. I’m still trying.

Anyway, The Bahamas, check. Laine was supposed to travel to Nashville the first weekend of February for another gymnastics meet but she and I both noped out on that after The Bahamas. We both felt we needed a travel meet break.