Where do I even start with my trip to Turks and Caicos?! It was most definitely one of my most favorite things I did this year. Theee most dreamiest vacation ever. I actually booked it and had so much stuff to do I did not over plan anything, but I did watch a lot of Youtube videos leading up to the trip. This was my first solo vacation. I definitely needed one after being cooped up in the house during the pandemic.
I was in Providenciales (Provo) the whole time and it literally felt like heaven on earth. I only really knew about TCI this year when my co-worker mentioned it! I booked a trip at a family friendly resort (Sandals). I was not really expecting anything but I loved the fact the country was deemed safe and that Sandals had 21 restaurants within the resort. I really just wanted to see the marvelous beaches with clear blue water and white sand and relax.
The plane ride there was alright (not too many nerves) which was good, the airport when I landed was a bit crowded I waited about an hour and 40 minutes to see an agent. I knew there would be a taxi once I got out from my resort (all inclusive including transport to and from the resort) but took a minute to find I just asked around and realized the resort taxi was where people were queued up.
I got in the taxi and there was about a 15-20 minute drive to the resort. On the way I saw all the local shops and during this time the kids were getting out of school and we had a few minutes of traffic. I got to the resort, the resort was huge and was beautifully decorated with palm trees everywhere, the landscaping was amazing, I was in awe. Upon getting to the village I was staying at (yes village there was 4 villages within the resort itself!) they greeted me by taking my luggage (they brought it up to my room for me) while they handed me a hot warm towel, sanitizer and a drink! I was very pleased. I got my room cards from the main lobby desk and a host showed me around the village and also showed me to my room. I was finally there!
It felt surreal. The room was bigger than my whole living room, there was a day bed, desks, tv, a bunch of dressers (that I never used btw), a huge canopy bed with the ceiling fans above, beautiful lamps and the best part was the private balcony overlooking the tall and majestic palm trees with Grace Bay Beach in the background. I felt like I was dreaming, like deadass.
I wanted to just take it all in. Just breathing in and out. I wanted slow my pace. Intake the beauty surrounding me. The crisp clear blue waters of Grace Bay just sparkling in the sun made me want to run to the beach that second. I wanted to understand the landscape of the resort so the first day I was just walking around, looking at the map, understanding which activities were going on, when restaurants opened etc. I got Dino’s Pizza (as a snack) the first day, it was actually closed but they had some pies left over lucky for me. It was super delicious! Later on for dinner I went to the Bombay Club which is the first sit down place I went to which was located right next to Dino’s. I was curious on how they’d make Indian food and just how it all worked (as we don’t have to pay). They gave small sized portions of a lot of different foods (which is great, so you can try a lot of stuff but not be wasteful). I especially loved the shrimp they gave. They also had dessert which was amazing. Only thing was none of it was spicy and the mango lassi had a cherry in it? Which was odd, but it was alright regardless. I figured I should try actual Caribbean food next time or at least something else lol can’t always have South Asian food.
For day two, I got some iced coffee at a Parisian Cafe and cruised around the beach, a random dude on the beach came over and asked if I wanted to parasail, I was def down and booked some parasailing for the afternoon. The beach itself was so goddamn beautiful. I quickly got a PCR test for going back to the US and then went over to The Jerk Shack for some jerk chicken, the jerk chicken was very good! While I finished up eating I saw a guy on the beach in the near distance selling iced cold coconuts, I basically ran over and as he was up ahead and got my hand on a cold one. It was sooo good in the blazing hot sun. Then I went back to the resort to relax for a bit and got ready for parasailing!
I don’t know why but I was not as scared as I thought I’d be? I’m usually afraid of heights. I got to the place where the boat was for parasailing on the beach like a two minute walk from my village. There was a group of us on the boat, everyone was friendly. I got to see an older married couple go up first. They looked so happy and I was excited myself. When it came time for me to go, I did have a slight worry about my phone so I handed it to the guy on the boat he mentioned he can take a video for me. Then there I was in the sky, up above hundreds of feet over the water. It was breath taking. The surrealism hit again, it was just me the clouds and the big blue. It looked so fake lol, I felt like this was a simulation for real for real. The big puffy clouds, the blue skies, in my head I felt like I was in a VR game. It was crazy then I got back down to the boat.
The rest of the afternoon around 4-5pm I was just in the water, or relaxing on the beach doing some introspection and still in awe of how clear the water was here and watched the beautiful sunset.
I made some reservations at Kimonos (Hibachi spot) for dinner. I met some lovely folk who were at the same table as me, they were super friendly and I loved chatting with them. Some of them even came from the same airport as me, and I realized we were going to be on the same flight back which was really cool. After this I went to a show (full of singing, dancing and even a fire breathing guy) by the Italian Village and then got some amazing dessert at Marios that was recommended to me.