{"id":83973,"date":"2020-08-31T14:41:15","date_gmt":"2020-08-31T14:41:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sandbox.web.rcn.net\/rcntv\/?p=83973"},"modified":"2023-04-18T16:20:14","modified_gmt":"2023-04-18T16:20:14","slug":"virus-vacation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/virus-vacation\/","title":{"rendered":"Virus Vacation"},"content":{"rendered":"

The views expressed in this blog are<\/em> those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RCN or any other agency, organization, employer or company.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Here it is the start of September and my wife and I have yet to take a vacation.\u00a0 For us, that is unheard of and we would love to remedy the situation.\u00a0 I am going to take next week off, but, in all honesty, we have nowhere to go.\u00a0 Those words are very difficult to write.<\/p>\n

If you have read some of my blogs, you probably know we love cruising and we love the islands.\u00a0 The cruise industry has been devastated by the COVID virus and we are fearful about getting on a plane and flying in this environment.<\/p>\n

So, all I can do is reflect back on one of my very favorite vacation stories \u2013 our introduction to Antigua.<\/p>\n

I ran into one of my graduate school fellow students at a Lafayette<\/a> basketball game years ago.\u00a0 As we chatted, he mentioned that his family had a home in Antigua.\u00a0 I asked if he rented it out and he said they would be happy to rent it to me.\u00a0 I discussed it with my wife and friends whom we travel with and, after some research, we decided to go.\u00a0 It turned out to be quite the experience.<\/p>\n

Upon arrival in Antigua, we were met by a driver who had been recommended to us.\u00a0 Our desire was to rent a car for the week so he told us it would take a while for me to get a license.\u00a0 He recommended dropping us off at the vehicle office for the car and the license. \u00a0He would then take the wives to the home and unload the luggage.\u00a0 They could settle in before we arrived.\u00a0 That sounded like a good idea.\u00a0 It was not.<\/p>\n

The car rental and licensing process took about 90 minutes.\u00a0 The driver came back so we could follow him to the house.\u00a0 We walked up the driveway, entered the front door, only to be met by two women who appeared frozen in time.\u00a0 The suitcases had not been touched and both our wives had barely stepped inside the house.\u00a0 Something was, obviously, wrong!<\/p>\n

We were told that when they entered the house, hundreds of lizards ran up the curtains and the walls.\u00a0 They were petrified.\u00a0 Being men, we thought we could handle this dilemma.\u00a0 We, too, were wrong.\u00a0 Our friends were going to stay in the guest house, so we decided to check out their accommodations.\u00a0 As soon as we opened the door, hundreds of lizards scurried up the walls and the curtains.\u00a0 The ladies shrieked and we may have silently shrieked, too.<\/p>\n

I suggested that we go look for a place to eat and discuss the situation.\u00a0 That caused even more consternation.\u00a0 In Antigua, you drive on the left side of the road.\u00a0 No problem.\u00a0 I could certainly handle that.\u00a0 What I had trouble handling was avoiding the chickens, horses, and cows that were in the middle of the road.\u00a0 Adding to my displeasure was the backseat screams warning me to watch out for the chickens, horses, and cows.\u00a0 I pulled over and suggested that I was not going to spend all week being yelled at while driving.<\/p>\n

We found a place to eat and checked out the menu.\u00a0 The prices appeared to be outrageous.\u00a0 Almost every meal had a price in the 70\u2019s or higher.\u00a0 After each price, were the letters EC.\u00a0 We did not know at that time that American dollars were about one-third EC dollars.\u00a0 A $90 EC meal would cost about $30 in our money.\u00a0 Our initial thought was that we could never afford to eat here for a week.\u00a0 I know \u2013 we should have done some research.\u00a0 We did not eat there.<\/p>\n

In no uncertain terms, our wives told us they would not stay at the house.\u00a0 They insisted we find a resort.\u00a0 Luckily down the road from the house was the Rex Halcyon Resort.\u00a0 We walked onto the grounds just as they were having a welcoming party for the guests.\u00a0 Since we looked like guests, and they thought we were guests, we, of course, ate like guests (starving guests).\u00a0 Our plates of hors d\u2019oeuvres were certainly larger than anyone who was actually staying there.<\/p>\n

We went to the front office, asked to see a room, and decided to stay there for the week.\u00a0 We easily transferred the luggage, found a driver for the week, and returned our rental car.\u00a0 As the week progressed, we met a woman who wanted to sell her limited timeshare (12 years, not perpetuity) on the same property for $800 total.\u00a0 It had two bedrooms, two baths, two balconies, a living room, and a kitchen.\u00a0 Since we were having a wonderful week and despite my despising timeshares, we and our friends decided to buy 12 years of vacations for $400 apiece.\u00a0 It was a no-brainer.<\/p>\n

We used the timeshare every year after the purchase, bought another week two years later for $500 and spent the next ten years vacationing for two weeks in Antigua for only a $900 investment and yearly maintenance fees which we also split.\u00a0 We had the most wonderful yearly vacations!<\/p>\n

After we returned home that first year, I informed my classmate why we did not stay at his place.\u00a0 He informed me that had we opened the patio doors, moved around a little, all of the lizards would have left the place and we would have had a week of peace and serenity.<\/p>\n

But for the next 11 years, our friends, my wife, and I were very happy we did not know that.<\/p>\n

ABOVE THE EARS (SOME MUSINGS)<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Speaking of vacations, I noticed that the Tour de France<\/a> started this week. My wife and I were invited to dine with the captain on a cruise ship one year.\u00a0 I wondered why he chose us.\u00a0 He discovered I was a sports broadcaster and he wanted to discuss the bike race and, more specifically, America\u2019s top cyclist, Greg Lemond.\u00a0 I had virtually no knowledge of either, but I faked it and thoroughly enjoyed the escargots and lobster tail.\u00a0 I think I fooled the captain.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
      \n
    1. Isn\u2019t it perplexing when the Phillies<\/a> and the Flyers<\/a> games overlap one another? I want to watch both.\u00a0 Many of us do.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
        \n
      1. Can someone explain to me why some support only the police and some others support only Black Lives Matter? I support both \u2013 good police officers who do their job every day the right way and peaceful BLM participants who recognize we desperately need changes made.\u00a0 They are not mutually exclusive.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
          \n
        1. As of now, high school football will return to RCN TV Sports on October 2. It will be quite different.\u00a0 I have been informed that I will have to call the game from our studio, not at the stadium.\u00a0 I am very apprehensive about being able to do that.\u00a0 If you watch, be kind.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
            \n
          1. No blog next week \u2013 Have a safe, happy, and healthy Labor Day!!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

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             <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

            The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RCN or any other agency, organization, employer or company. Here it is the start of September and my wife and I have yet to take a vacation.\u00a0 For us, that is unheard of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-behind-the-mic"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nVirus Vacation - ATVN<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/virus-vacation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Virus Vacation - ATVN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RCN or any other agency, organization, employer or company. 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