Jamaica
Independent travel,  North America,  Travel Blog

Almost Jamaica Time

November 20, 2022 /

As a major football (soccer) fan, I’ve always avidly watched each and every World Cup since the first one I remember, the great days of 1966. In fact, through all my years of working, I would watch every match which fitted in to my work schedule and rued having to miss any at all – dreaming of the days when I retired and could gorge every single match.

And guess what. Here it is, the first World Cup where I’ve had the opportunity to watch every moment, and I’m choosing to travel and so will miss nearly all of it! My first chance to make that particular wish come true and I’m going to see less of this one than any previous one. Now that’s going to feel a bit odd, even if it is the most breathtakingly ridiculous, bribe influenced, unbelievable, ignorant and arrogant choice of venue ever for such a great tournament.

Meanwhile, back in our world, here we are, seeing family again, seeing friends, a few last visits to the pub and some last bits of research on where to head in Jamaica, how to stay safe in Kingston, checking and double checking we’ve done everything we need to. This year, such things include COVID booster jab, flu jab and typhoid booster jab, as well as the usual dentist, optician and hairdresser visits.

Still, at least we’re lucky on the health front and there’s no doctor visits. None of those daft exchanges where they ask you how many units of alcohol you drink per week, you tell a lie, they assume you’ve told a lie, and write down a complete guess.

Actually, I never lie. I always tell the whole truth on such matters, based on the formula which my Dad told me was correct:-

1 trip to the pub = 1 unit of alcohol.

Outside the window the English weather has done its best to harden our desire to go sunseeking by the way, with a long run of grey, miserable days and copious quantities of rain. The garden is so sopping as to make even a tidy up job a pain in the ass, every trip to the waste bins an exercise in puddle splashing, even reaching the car enough to ruin Michaela’s hair do. It’s a good job we still have a hose pipe ban in place – imagine how much worse it would be without that…

Bob Marley The Legend

So here we go, in a few days time my arm’s length World Cup will be underway as we find our way around coffee plantations, rum bars and reggae, learning the histories of another new country and exploring new terrain. Jamaica will by the way be my 50th country; Michaela will be on 49.

The travel bug is biting hard, the feet are itching, the ants are doing what they do. It’s definitely time to be on our way again. Even if there is a World Cup.

Map of Jamaica

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