Vacation | @ The Boardwalk Hotel, Aruba

What a crazy week! We are really excited to share with you some photos of our trip to Aruba! Warning, this is long but if you want a good review of Aruba, this is where you’ll find it!

We planned this trip about 9 months ago and after all the cold, nasty weather we have had here at home we were ready for it. We love traveling in the winter as the airports normally aren’t as busy, the flights are quieter, and it’s a nice break from the winter.

We stayed at the amazing Boardwalk Hotel Aruba which was ranked VERY high on trip advisor (and for good reason). It is a beautiful and relaxing property. Doug and I are not huge fans of all inclusives with large crowds, long buffet lines, and mediocre food. What we really enjoy is a quieter area with control over what we do and what we eat as well as being able to just venture out on our own. The Boardwalk Hotel is situated just across the street from the Marriott and the Ritz Carlton (literal STEPS to the exact same pristine beach both high rise hotels utilize). The owners, Stephanie and Kimberly are so knowledgeable and wonderful it made the entire trip that much better. They gave us directions and suggestions for local shopping, eating, and exploration. They also had an adorable little puppy Lola which I immediately fell in love with as I missed our Charlie very much! We also found their other staff to be amazing. Seriously, I have never stayed at a cleaner place. We had a larger patio and twice the room we would have had at a high rise. You can keep your overcrowded pools, adventure kid clubs, and tiny balconies we found a piece of heaven in the Boardwalk Hotel, we hope to go back there in the future! I only wish I had my lighting equipment at the hotel to photograph it and do it justice!

The hotel was spotless as were the grounds. Everything in our Casita was perfectly clean and wonderful. We observed the staff ALWAYS cleaning something.  We had a small kitchen complete with stove and fridge as well as large living room and large patio. Our bathroom had an awesome glass shower with ample space and closet. We sat out on the large patio deck every night which was complete with a grill and hammock. The detail in this small hotel was impeccable from the decorations to the deck chairs and plants. We loved the small intimate pool and general seating area. It was so quiet, peaceful, and perfect. And a bonus for me, because I love my technology it had WIFI 🙂

This hotel is located across the street from Palm Beach with crystal clear blue and turquoise waters as well as ample water sports. We shared the same beach as the Marriot and Ritz and were able to eat (twice) at beach side eatery Moomba Beach further down the beach. The sun was rough on us despite our vigilance and SPF 50 so thankfully the Aruba Aloe Company being on the island was very convenient. Sunburns are VERY hard to feel as you are getting them in Aruba because the wind is CONSTANTLY blowing. It was very, very windy!  We took the shuttle (close to the Boardwalk) to Eagle Beach several times that week to see the iconic Divi trees in front of Amsterdam Manor as well as enjoy the pristine sandy white beach. We even ran into a Westie dog there on the beach that looked just like Charlie Key! We spent every sunset on the beach as sunsets in Aruba shouldn’t be missed, they are spectacular.

On one of the days we rented a jeep and toured the Northeast side of the island (which requires a 4×4 as there are no paved roads, only dirt). We HIGHLY recommend doing this. Although it was very bumpy and probably not for families with small children, we LOVED it and it was one of our favorite parts of the trip. There were STUNNING Cliffside views of the crashing waves (very different from the other calm side of the island) as well as ruins, natural limestone bridges, and the California lighthouse. We drove almost the entire coastline with stunning views of the water and because of the lack of roads were able to get out at any location to take pictures or view the coastline. After about 2 hours of driving the coastline we finally reached the California sand dunes and lighthouse where we were able to take normal roads back into town. We saw almost all of the major landmarks of Aruba and it was a cool challenge driving off road with European street signs. We couldn’t have passed more than 10 other vehicles out on the dirt roads it was so peaceful and beautiful!

What we liked most about the Boardwalk Hotel was that we were able to save money (by not paying triple the price to be at an all-inclusive) by eating breakfast and most lunches at our hotel. With a grill and a stove we were able to have local produce and food but were able to enjoy it in on our quiet patio and not wait in line for it. The SuperFoods store provided us with all essentials we needed and we could stock up on local beer (without paying double for it), meat, snacks, and fresh pastries. In the evenings, we would go out for dinner at a local spot. Being able to grill out was awesome and really convenient. Food is VERY expensive in Aruba as everything is imported so eating out can be costly especially if you are traveling with children. We liked the flexibility of being able to eat a local spots AND still save costs by eating some meals at the casita. We actually enjoyed shopping at the Super Foods as well because it was cool to see things in a different currency (Florin) as well as seeing things written in Papiamento. We didn’t jam pack our vacation with too many activities; we essentially saw the entire island and spent A LOT of time in the water. We didn’t do hardly any shopping or any adventurous clubbing we really just enjoyed the water the most (and those of you that know us know we aren’t really the nightlife kind of people). Of course it was perfect weather but always VERY windy (30mph almost always). We also got to see the wreck of the Antilles which was very close to the shoreline of where we stayed. The island is very beautiful and very much worth a visit! We didn’t take very many shots of ourselves as we were pretty burnt after the first day (lesson learned, in Aruba no matter how many times you put in SPF 50 you should still NOT stay outside all day, the cool breeze is VERY deceiving).

Coming back we did something a bit crazy. After going through customs twice and security twice we flew back to Miami for a few hours and then hopped a plane to Phoenix, AZ where we headed to shoot the wedding of Chelsea and Dave. Upon our arrival we managed to score a sweet Mustang Convertible as a rental and cruised around Scottsdale with the top down enjoying In N Out Burger, the Yard House, and of course having fun at the wedding. There will be more to come on their wedding soon! Stay tuned to the blog. After ten days of travel, 3 airlines, 5 airports, 4 trips through security, and 3 hotels later we were ready to be home and see our puppy!

What we did learn this week is people get pretty silly in airports (we knew this already but we just saw more of this bad behavior). If you plan on flying let me pass along the following information to you:

When you go through security remove ALL your metal. It’s not optional for you just because your earrings are pretty or your belt is really comfortable. You hold the the line up for everyone else doing that. Remove it or don’t wear it. Security has signs everywhere telling you what to do, pay attention.

They board planes NUMERICALLY. Zone 1 is NOT Zone 4. They won’t seat you. Cool your jets and wait to be called. Crowding the gate won’t make it faster.

Nothing delays a plane more than not sitting in your assigned seat. Follow your ticket, and again, this is by letters and numbers (you know kindergarten stuff). Put your stuff in the overhead bin, sit down in YOUR seat, buckle up and follow instructions.

Crew members are not waitresses in the sky. They have to follow federal law and give you safety instructions as well as assist in saving your life should there be issues. They can and should have you arrested for not following safety instructions. Turn off your devices when told and stay in your seat. They are to be commended for putting up with some of the people I experienced this week.

Flying takes time. Be prepared, go early and be prepared to wait in security lines and at check in. Most airlines thankfully will just take off even if you are not there yet (as they should) but you running late can make an entire plane full of people late.

If they issued stupid tickets for every time someone tried to board when it wasn’t their turn, sat in the wrong seat (on purpose cause gee I Think a window would be great even though I’m assigned an aisle), or did something stupid to delay a plane we could probably pay off the national debt in a week. Try not to be THAT guy.

Despite inconsiderate people and a small luggage hiccup our trip was a huge success and we really LOVED Aruba. We also enjoyed Phoenix! Stay tuned to our blog as we will be sharing some wedding photos soon!

Have a great week!

-Kate

I waited a VERY Long time to photograph these trees. I wanted to go here since our honeymoon. This place is heaven. MIGHT be a little tree obsessed……….We had to bring ALL of our gear to Phoenix to shoot a wedding after our trip. This was only a 1/4 of it. We shipped the majority of it there. Our Patio, Casita 1. Lots of these little critters running around!Moomba Beach, dinner without shoes

Sunburnt of COURSEDoug grabbed the above shot at Eagle Beach during sunset!Our perfect patioAloe! LOLA! Our favorite little Aruba dog! We miss her, she was just lovely as were the hotel owners and staff!Our jeep adventureYeah we drove the jeep to the TOP of the rocks. BOOM.
From our shopping trip to Superfoods!