Author Topic: Provo T&C  (Read 7366 times)

Offline mgoldhammer18

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Provo T&C
« on: August 26, 2016, 09:15:29 AM »
I took this trip in January 2015 and I can honestly say it was so unforgettable that I will not leave out any details though it was a long time ago.

Planning:
DW and I had a deal to LA with flights taken care of and free passes to Disney; the catch was to stay at a specific hotel averaging $150 a night; we were okay with that.  We were about to book when we realized we were too burned out to go to LA, we needed to go somewhere to just veg out.  DW was finishing up her first semester of nursing school that required her to do 12 hour clinical shifts (3rd semester of nursing school).  I was just finishing up my first semester of Grad school which was super intense, on top of working full time.  But where to go?
At this point we weren’t so rich in miles and points, but we had enough to go to some good places, but we had no hotel points at the time.  My first thought was to do the U.S.V.I, I was doing so much research, but then I stumbled upon St. Martin, looked so much nicer than U.S.V.I, plus the surrounding Islands of Anguilla and St. Bart’s looked stunning.  Time for planning.  All of a sudden I get an email from jetblue getaways, 60% off hotels in Curacao.  Now we are going to Curacao.  Finally I said enough is enough, I need to book something.  I looked up Turks and Caicos on a whim, saw that hotels.com was having a really good sale going on, so I booked a hotel and a minute later I logged into jetblue, used some points and booked a direct flight from NYC-Provo.
The hotel that I booked was not in Provodenciales, it was on Grand Turk, so I needed to book another flight.  There was a flight going to Grand Turk on intercaribbean airlines leaving shortly after we were supposed to arrive in Provo.  I chose the flight and I tried paying for it.  The website said that my flight was booked, but I need to pay at the check in counter before my flight.  Sounds strange, but alright.
Off to T&C…

Offline mgoldhammer18

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Re: Provo T&C
« Reply #1 on: August 29, 2016, 09:44:42 AM »
Day 1:
We got a ride to JFK.  Security was a breeze.  We waited in the airspace lounge until boarding.  The flight was uneventful until we started making our descent and we saw the breathtaking views, like nothing I have ever seen before (chalk sound).  We got off our plane and walked right onto the tarmac, first time I ever did that.  I tried taking a picture but security told me to put my phone/camera away while on the tarmac.  We went through customs, went very quickly, and then picked up our luggage by the outdoor carousel.  We asked where we can find the domestic flights area, and we were pointed in the right direction.  We showed up to the intercaribbean airlines desk to check in.  I gave them my print out of the confirmation in fear of not being able to access it on my phone.  They said that we were NOT on the flight.  I said “what?”  They said that I didn’t pay for it, so they dropped my reservation.  I told them I tried paying for it but upon check out I was told to pay at the counter.  They said they are sorry, the website has some issues.  I said whatever (thinking that no one flied these domestic airlines anyway) “can I please have 2 tickets for the flight?” “There’s only one seat available.”  I said “compensate one of the other passengers to take a later flight” (that’s what they do in America).  She responded “we can’t do that.” (me thinking it’s a third world country at this point, they’re very lax) I said “okay, have someone sit on someone else’s  lap or the aisle.  She said “we can’t do that.”  Me “Fine, can you put me on a later flight?”  Agent “all of our later flights are booked for the day, the next available flight is tomorrow afternoon.” Me “is there nothing you can do?” Agent “No.” I told her to give me some time to think.  At this point I wasn’t sure whether we should spend the night in Provo and just fly to Grand Turk the next day to which we will lose more vacation time traveling, or make a last minute booking on Provo, it’s supposed to be beautiful.  There was a restaurant right where we were with a sign that said free wifi.  DW and I went in to try to see what kind of cheap hotels we can get on the island of Provo.  We found some cheapish hotels but the wifi was so spotty that we weren’t able to make any bookings.  We decided we were going to stay on the island rather than shlep to another island the next day.  I asked someone in the restaurant if we can use the phone.  She said we can use her cell but try to limit the call because they only have limited amount of minutes (who has minutes any more these days?) I called the cheapest hotel (not the actual cheapest, the cheapest one that looked nice with a pool and beach) and made a reservation.  Okay, not everything on this trip was ruined.  We got into a cab and told him where we were staying.  He said, “you’re staying there?  That’s the only resort not in the main part of the island, you’re going to need a car otherwise you will be paying $50-60 one way each time you want to do something.”  Oh no, what did we do?  The hotel was a condo hotel, Northwest Point Resort.  The grounds were beautiful, the pool was nice, but the beach did not remind us of the Caribbean.  Sure it was nicer than anything in NYC, but it was no Caribbean beach. The room was very big; living dining area, full updated kitchen, huge bathroom, two terraces… We decided to take the rest of the day to just relax and figure out how to rent a car.  We made a reservation with Dollar using the chabad code being that I was technically too young to rent a car.  We went to check out the lame looking beach and just chilled the rest of the night.

Offline mgoldhammer18

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Re: Provo T&C
« Reply #2 on: August 29, 2016, 10:01:25 AM »

Offline mgoldhammer18

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Re: Provo T&C
« Reply #3 on: August 29, 2016, 10:06:05 AM »
Day 2:
We walked to the front desk to call the cab driver from the day before so we can pick up our rental car.  The cab driver said he won’t be around for about an hour.  I asked if she can call any other cabs and they were all off duty.  (Apparently people in T&C don’t start working until flights start landing.)  So we walked around the deserted hotel and walked past an eating area.  There was a chef there and he asked us if he can make us anything.  We asked if they had any uncut fresh fruits and packaged food, indeed he did.  Uncut fruit, packaged kosher yogurt and those small cereal packs.  Finally our cab came and took us back to the airport to Dollar rental car.  Nobody was in the office.  After a few minutes an agent came in.  She said, “I didn’t think any flights were getting in until this afternoon.”  We explained to her that we got there the day before and we were coming back for a car to get around.  After a few minutes she said, “you can’t rent a car from us, you’re under 25.”  I told her that I put in the corporate code so just give me the car.  She said she can’t, but she can take me to the other rental car place, they rent to people who are 21 and up.  Did I have a choice at this point?  Things really weren’t going right for us.  She walked us over to grace bay rental cars.  The agent there was very nice.  He said because I’m under 25, he can only give me a compact car…All good.  Before we left he gave us a map of the island and showed us where we can find really nice private, secluded beaches away from all of the tourists.  After giving us a rundown of the island, he took us to our car, a Nissan Sunny-looked like a 1987 Altima.  I was afraid, it was going to be my first time driving on the opposite side.  To make matters worse, the seat didn’t move back and the steering wheel didn’t move up.  I had to make do.  It took me a few seconds of getting used to, but I figured out how to drive on the wrong side of the car, on the wrong side of the road, with a car that had a seat and steering wheel that didn’t adjust.  We took the car to Grace Bay and walked around the town for a little bit, it’s a very nice town.  After chilling in town for a bit, we decided to go to the supermarket to pick up some milk and cereal so we can just have breakfast in the room the next few days.  We then went back to the hotel, swam for a little, ate dinner, and then DW said she wants to go out again.  We drove back to grace bay to a sports bar and ordered some beer and just chilled there for a while.  Then we drove back to the hotel.  Being that the hotel is off the beaten path, literally, we had to drive down a dirt road without any light in order to get back to the hotel, not a fun experience.  We were hoping that the next day we can finally do some Islandy things.

Offline mgoldhammer18

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Re: Provo T&C
« Reply #4 on: August 29, 2016, 01:57:08 PM »
Day 3:
The next day we were planning on finding this private beach that we were told about.  We start driving through an industrial area and we thought there is no way there’s a nice beach here.  All of a sudden we turned a corner and our jaws dropped.  We have never seen anything like it in our lives.  It was chalk sound.  I got out of the car to get as close to the water as I could.  What I didn’t realize is that I was walking in quick sand (probably wasn’t quick sand, but my shoes were stuck in this wet variation of sand).  I fought to get out of there.  When I finally got out, I made it back to the car.  While driving we stopped every two seconds to get another picture of chalk sound, that’s how beautiful it is.  We finally arrived at the pile of rocks that the car rental agent told us to go to.  We parked the car, walked thorough a path and then we found the beach.  Again our jaws dropped.  We have never seen anything like it in our entire lives.  Crystal clear water, much nicer than anywhere else we have been to, soft sand, seclusion, stretching out hundreds of feet into the ocean.  We went into the water and literally stayed in the same spot for hours.  The water was so calm and shallow.  This place was unbelievable.  I can keep on talking about it, but when I post the pictures you can see for yourself how amazing this place, Taylor Bay, is.  After the beach, we drove down that road a little more to see more views of chalk sound and to see the beautiful houses that were there.  Afterwards, we went back to town to walk around a little more.  We then went back to the hotel.

Offline mgoldhammer18

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Re: Provo T&C
« Reply #5 on: August 29, 2016, 02:04:44 PM »

Offline mgoldhammer18

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Re: Provo T&C
« Reply #6 on: August 29, 2016, 02:09:16 PM »

Offline BarryLincoln

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Re: Provo T&C
« Reply #7 on: August 29, 2016, 02:21:39 PM »
Great find... beach looks awesome...

Offline mgoldhammer18

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Re: Provo T&C
« Reply #8 on: August 31, 2016, 10:30:29 AM »
Day 4:
We had massages scheduled for the afternoon on this day.  We had no official plans besides for that.  We decided to go back to taylor bay to spend some time there.  When we returned there the water was “choppy” compared to the first time we were there; very tiny subtle current.  We left Taylor Bay to have some lunch.  We realized we had time to kill before our massages, so we decided to go to the main beach/attraction of the island, Grace Bay Beach.  When we got there we were so upset; we were so upset because the water and beach by Grace Bay was stunning and we were so upset that we didn’t check it out until the end of our trip.  We have to return to T&C very soon.  Our massages were scheduled to be by one of the resorts spas in the area.  We got an email the morning of saying that the spa is off of the resort’s premises.  We arrive at the spa; it is in a small strip mall, very weird.  Though the massage was good, I was able to hear cars driving by outside, it kind of took away from the whole spa experience.  After our massages we went back to the hotel and went for a swim.  We decided to go back to Taylor Bay to watch the sunset.  The sunset was so beautiful.  We were so sad that we were going to leave the next day. 

Offline mgoldhammer18

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Re: Provo T&C
« Reply #9 on: August 31, 2016, 10:36:23 AM »

Offline mgoldhammer18

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Re: Provo T&C
« Reply #10 on: August 31, 2016, 10:47:17 AM »

Offline mgoldhammer18

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Re: Provo T&C
« Reply #11 on: August 31, 2016, 10:52:24 AM »
Vacations 437 by mgoldhammer18, on Flickr

Vacations 430 by mgoldhammer18, on Flickr

Vacations 429 by mgoldhammer18, on Flickr
House for sale on Taylor Bay

Vacations 427 by mgoldhammer18, on Flickr

Vacations 426 by mgoldhammer18, on Flickr

Vacations 425 by mgoldhammer18, on Flickr


Offline mgoldhammer18

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Re: Provo T&C
« Reply #12 on: August 31, 2016, 02:04:14 PM »
Great find... beach looks awesome...

It was awesome, probably not comparable to the Maldives, but definitely the best in the Caribbean

Offline mgoldhammer18

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Re: Provo T&C
« Reply #13 on: August 31, 2016, 02:14:19 PM »
Day 5 (Final day):

This day we didn't really do much.  We spent the morning in the pool.  It was very nice that each time we went to the pool we had it to ourselves; that's one of the only pros to staying in an area that's off the beaten path.  We packed up, checked out and were on our way.  The policy of Grace Bay Rental Cars is to return the car with a full tank of gas.  I went to one of the gas stations in the main part of town and was ready to pay by credit card.  The gas stations in Turks and Caicos don't take credit card.  So I went into the gas station shop to use their ATM; they don't have an ATM, they advised me to go to Scotia Bank.  I went to the nearest Scotia Bank, and for some reason I was not able to get in.  I then found a money exchange place near the airport with a big sign that said ATM.  I went inside, ATM machine was broken.  Finally, after a long goose chase to take out some cash from an ATM, I found a Scotia bank that let me take out some cash without any problem.  I dropped my wife off by the check in counter which is all outside there, dropped off the car, walked the 30 seconds back to the airport and checked in.  The airport felt like a third world airport, they should really update it.

Overall, we didn't make it to Grand Turk like we originally planned and we wasted some time figuring out the trip while there, but we ended up having an unbelievable time despite all of the hiccups.  I plan on returning to Providenciales one day as well as to visit some of the other Islands of Turks & Caicos, perhaps even Grand Turk. 

Offline Luvtotravel

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Re: Provo T&C
« Reply #14 on: August 31, 2016, 05:25:27 PM »
awesome pics, awesome memory!
Don't wait for the perfect moment; take the moment and make it perfect.

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Re: Provo T&C
« Reply #15 on: January 12, 2022, 05:09:15 PM »
Thanks! Planning on a trip for next week to Provo and realize I considered staying at that condo/hotel!!!!

Decided not to in the end to be in a better location.