Traveling to Jamaica- exactly what you need to know

Everything you need to know about traveling to Jamaica!!! The good and the bad!

Almost every person I have talked to that traveled to Jamaica has been at a resort. Which is fine! That’s actually more up my boyfriends alley. You work hard and you just want to lay on the beach, get unlimited drinks, maybe go on a tour and call it a day. Stress Free! But for me, I can not go to Jamaica and not see it. And I mean really see it!

The locals appreciate it too! And yes, of course the locals appreciate you staying at a resort as well. I guess it’s a good thing both kinds of people exist. People that want luxurious vacations (stay at one spot, have unlimited drinks, organized tours) and people that want to see the parts of the country that may not be so appealing to most. The real side. The side that’s not talked about much. That’s the side I’m going to talk about here!

Jamaica! Wow! Just Wow!!!!! Now I’m not going to sugar coat it. I’m going to tell you exactly how it is and give you some pointers. First, the people! They really are the kindest people you will ever meet! I’m from New York. Not New York City. You say New York and people always assume you’re from there. I’m from Buffalo (7 hours away) and I would say Buffalonians are amazing. We like to drink. We like to party and we love Food! We’re good people. But man, not like Jamaicans.

They are Incredibly Kind

They will completely stop their day and help you out and for Nothing in return. I’ve traveled to a few countries before and if someone helps you they DEMAND money! I’ve been to countries where I didn’t even ask for help and people “helped” me when I didn’t even ask and they DEMANDED money so I’m a little weary when someone wants to help me out. There were multiple times where Jamaicans stopped to help us and I ended up feeling like the jerk because all they truly wanted to do was to help us. So keep that in mind when traveling there. They are the sweetest, kindest people!

The roads are like No other than you’ve ever seen before!!!!

Now, when planning a trip, remember with this article you are NOT at a resort. You are either going to travel by Taxi or rent a car. If you just want to go to the main areas, the main towns, a taxi will suffice. If you are into the outdoors, into exploring, you’re going to want to rent a car. Now, with renting a car, you need to know you’re going to be put in uncomfortable driving situations. No offense Jamaicans’ but you drive like maniacs lol.

The island has pretty much 1 -2 main roads. 1 around the island and 1 that cuts across the middle of it. The main roads have potholes. Now leaving the main road YOU ARE GOING TO NEED A JEEP or some off-road more like vehicle! You can get by some roads with a car, but it’s going to be a really uncomfortable and SLOW experience. Basically anywhere in-land you want a jeep. If you’re just sticking by the ocean, a car will suffice.

There’s so many places to stay

You don’t need to stay in a resort. There’s hotels, hostels and Airbnb’s all over the place! You can pick one area and stay around there or stay at a place for a couple of days and then jump ship to another part of the island and explore there :). You make the rules when planning your own vacation!!!!

It takes FOREVER to drive anywhere!

Remember, the roads are horrid! And they are windy and sometimes the traffic can back up easily since there really is only 1 main road. Just driving a few miles took nearly twenty minutes so always plan extra time in your driving for traveling anywhere!!!!

The locals are nice, but not all of them!

Remember, you are in a developing country. And it doesn’t even matter if you are in a developing country or not. There’s A-hole’s everywhere! Make sure you take same safety precautions in any country you visit.

Most important:

-travel with small bills

-have your cash dispersed throughout your belongings

-look at the locals around you. See how much they are paying for this meal or this park or whatever

-make sure you have a GPS that works on airplane mode. Hint Hint: maps.me is the BEST!

-make sure you research where you’re going

How to not get ripped off!

Just like most developing countries, there are not listed prices. Only in the super touristy areas are there listed prices. So that means you’re going to have to hustle up a deal. If you have no concerns about money, you can pay the price they ask for. However, if you are concerned about money like most are, you will get ripped off hundreds or thousands if you don’t counteract what they ask for.

Most of the time they will treat you like a tourist and give you an outrageous price. All you do is say “no thank you. that’s too much” and they will give you a better deal.

Now…. with this said you shouldn’t be ripping them off either. Most of their money comes from tourism and they do work Very hard for their money. This is if you see an outrageous price. That’s why you want to LISTEN to what the locals are getting charged if there are locals around. Chances are, if you’re where the locals are at, you’re in the Right Place!

***Very Important- Never eat, drink, or go anywhere with out establishing the price First. EVER!!!!!

Is this your first solo international trip? Click here and you don’t have to travel solo to benefit from this article.

Food

The food is pretty much fantastic wherever you go. There is a lot of street food. My boyfriend has always been super hesitant on street food until I opened that up to him. NOW, he loves it! We were at a beach and there was “street food” on the beach. “Beach food?” lol I don’t know. But I mean it wasn’t in a shelter or anything like that. There was a guy and a grill and a beach. You would NEVER see something like that in America lol.

It was PIG. We saw the locals go up and we LISTENED to how much it cost them. Then we took out our SMALL bills. Remember, you never want to flash out crazy bills and we payed him the exact amount. We got our food and OH MY GOSH! It was the best Pig we’ve ever had. So we went up for seconds. Thirds. Even fourths. It was that good. The one bit we had was super course. I took the piece out of my mouth to see what was going on because every other bite was so tender. It was hair! Like the hair on the pig! That’s how fresh it was. It was like he just chopped it up and put it right on the grill. It was so good!

Make sure you have their Currency!

This is what you should do in any or most countries you visit in but it is a MUST! Unless if you want to get charged nearly double more for everything! Don’t do it at the airport either. Get your rental car or first taxi, go to an ATM and withdrawal your money.

Tip: make sure you look at the exchange rate to see how many zero’s you need to put into the screen lol

Double Tip: get a charles schwab card to get the best exchange rate and the fees refunded!!!!!

Sorrel

Thank God we went during Christmas time because there is a drink that they make during the holidays called Sorrel. We saw the plant/ flower sorrel everywhere but we had no idea what the locals did with it. Finally we asked. The local wrote down on paper for us step by step on what to do. We went back to our Airbnb and we made it and man oh man was that delicious!!!! We loved it so much we bought more to take all the ingredients back with us and we took it home and made it for our friends and families.

Kingston

This is where the Bob Marley Museum is. Just like every place you visit there are the safe places and the not so safe places. You’re going to want to stay away from Kingston unless if you go during the day, go to the museum and then get right back out.

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