Best Vacation Ever

A few days ago we came back from our best vacation ever. We went to the island of Providenciales in the Turks & Caicos, which is borderline Atlantic / Caribbean. August is the low season there, so the island wasn't busy. Heidi booked us an apartment at Point Grace and that was the best choice of all. It looked better in real life than in the pictures.

Point Grace has about 30 apartments on a half-mile of perfect beach. This being the low season, only five or six apartments were in use - so we rarely had to share the beach. In fact, the busiest we ever saw the beach was when a group of six people from a different resort walked by. Combine this with excellent service and you end up with an amazing and relaxing vacation. We saw other hotels a few miles down the beach, and while some were nice, others packed too many people (and kids) in too little space - loud and crowded. I'll take peace and quiet over screaming kids any day.

Our apartment was normal for Point Grace, but large by New York standards - 1500 square foot with two bedrooms, two and a half bathrooms, kitchen, dining room and living room - and a terrace opening up on the beach. We even saw the kitchen used one evening - the chef from the resort's restaurant came and cooked dinner for us in the apartment. That's the kind of luxury I could get used to.

For six days, we did little except sleep in, relax on the beach, read, go out for nice meals, get massages, and snorkel (we saw three different reefs). That makes it our best vacation ever - even better than our honeymoon to Mexico. The only thing we'd do different is to stay for longer, and maybe bring friends. Let's see what we can do next year.

Coming Home

Coming home after a great vacation isn't always fun. Apart from the shock of adjusting to having too many people around, we've had two issues so far:

• Somebody used Heidi's credit card to order a $500 financial newsletter. We contested the charge and AmEx is sending us a new card, but it's a hassle. Heidi contacted the publisher and they confirmed her card was used but wouldn't tell us the name or address used. How does a credit card transaction get approved if the name, address and ZIP code are all wrong?


• Our dishwasher overflowed the kitchen on its first run after we returned (not good if you're on the fifth floor). It seems to be the drain. So we'll have to get a plumber in, who may have to take apart several kitchen cabinets. And one of us will have to stay home for a day or two in what promises to be a very busy week.
  

Ah well - enough complaining. Life is good overall, I just have to adjust to life after vacation.