Apr 2012 - Babysitters & Bikeriding

I woke up early Saturday morning, much to my parents' frustration, but it was a beautiful April day so they couldn't really complain.  75 degrees, gentle breeze, a little overcast but not  enough clouds to block all the sunlight sneaking through.

Today was going to be a big day for my little 5 month old self.   I was going to have a babysitter.  Now my grandmother had watched me for a few hours before, but this time, it was going to be a complete stranger.

The plan was to hire a sitter from the hotel and then take 4 hours of baby-less freedom and rent some motor scooters to drive around Bermuda.  The island itself isn't all that big and since there's pretty much only 1 road going from one end to the other, pretty difficult to get lost.  Nevertheless, my father prepared by Google Mapping every turn and intersection.  They were going to drive from the resort (across the bay from Hamilton) and up to St. George (the other large town on the far north end of the island) and then drive back.


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My parents went to the hotel's front desk the night before and asked if they could find us a babysitter for a few hours.  They said that they could call around and ask local women in the area.  Soon thereafter, my father received a call confirming that someone would come at 11AM.  My parents seemed a bit too calm about the entire situation.  I mean, they were about to leave me (their only child) in the hands of a complete stranger that would obviously fall in love with me and try to abduct me.  Nevertheless, they really wanted some alone time and took their chances.

The woman that came was an elderly grandmother type.  She seemed very sweet and had babysat for the hotel before. She was a bit sneaky in that she asked what the rate was.  Since my father had previously agreed to the hotel's rate, he didn't use this opportunity to save a few bucks and quoted her the same amount.  She agreed and started to play with me.  Of course, I didn't immediately love her and expressed my concern by crying hysterically, but I gave into her charm as the day went on.

My parents, meanwhile, had booked it out the door to catch their ride to the Motor Scooter rental place down the road at Oldeander Cycles.  The rates were a little higher than what my father paid for in Vietnam, but this was his first time since 2008 driving one of these little scooters and he was looking forward to it.

I wasn't with them on their bike ride adventure around the island but here's a few pictures they showed me.

Apr 2012 - Newstead Belmont Review

Hotel Stay Details 
Hotel: Newstead Belmont Hills 
Dates: April 6-8, 2012 
Rate Paid: $276/night 
Regular Rate: $468/night 
Total $ Savings: $384
Points Earned:  0 pts 

As I mentioned last time, thanks to reading TripAdvisor, we found out that Newstead Belmont ran sales on Vacationist.com so we saved a few hundred dollars on a 2 night Easter weekend trip. I don't really understand the concept of money yet, but my mother tells me it means I can have more toys and clothes, so I'm all for it.

The shuttle from the airport was included so we found our ride (CEO Transportation) as soon as we walked outside the BDA Airport and waited for the rest of the group while I was getting strapped into my car seat. The ride only took about 20 minutes to the resort and went through all the lush forest and farmland on the island. Location wise, Newstead Belmont (B on the map) is located in the middle of Bermuda across the bay from the main town of Hamilton so ideally situated to access all the parts of the island.  Their golf course in located nearby (A on the map) but we didn't really go there.



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My father reserved a large 1 bedroom which was TONS of space for our family of 3 - especially when compared to our 1 bedroom apartment in Manhattan. The furniture was "island chic" but not in a gaudy way like you'd find in the Caribbean. I didn't get to enjoy the king sized bed, but my parents were pretty happy with all the space.  Luckily for me, the hotel had a crib available (with bumpers) - otherwise, I'ms sure I'd be sleeping on the floor or the bathtub.  Best of all we had a large balcony overlooking the bay from both the bedroom and the living room.

And how can I forget the spacious bathroom?  My mother loved that it came with a Jacuzzi and separate stand up shower.  Unlike some hotels my father takes us to, this bathroom was immaculately clean and very well kept.  The finishes were very modern and appropriate for a high end hotel.

And finally, since Newstead Belmont is more of a condo complex than a hotel, we had access to a full kitchen (stocked with plates, silverware, etc).  We ate out at restaurants half the time, but also stopped by the grocery store in Hamilton to pick up things to cook for lunch and breakfast on other days. We love eating out but my parents find it really hard to justify so much $ for basic breakfast eggs or lunch salads etc. But since I came along on their weekend getaway, having a kitchen available was a great benefit that a regular hotel room couldn't provide.

The rest of the resort was very clean and the multiple balconies were great for us to all sit outside at night where my parents drank the complimentary white wine they got at check in. It was too cold to swim in the pool (only 72 degrees in early April), but it looked beautiful. We took advantage of the free ferry to Hamilton on Saturday morning (it wasn't running on Good Friday or Easter Sunday).

The hotel service was very accommodating. They found me a babysitter within 1 morning's notice ($23 for the first hour, then $15/each additional hour). My parents took the hotel's recommendation for a place to rent a motor scooter and spent the afternoon driving up the scenic route to St. George and back while I hung back and chilled with my Bermudian sitter.  More about that in a future post.

Did I mention I loved the balconies?

Apr 2012 - Bermuda Flight

Flight #5 - United 1419 
Newark (EWR) – Bermuda (BDA) 
Friday, April 6, 2012 
Depart: 11:54AM / Arrive: 3:04AM 
Duration: 2hr 10min 
Aircraft: Boeing 737 
Seat: 8E and 8F (Economy Plus)
Miles Earned:  779 miles
Lifetime Miles: 13,629

After successfully demonstrating I could be trusted on a long flight, my parents started to get more aggressive with our travel schedule.  Good Friday was coming up in early April and my father never  met a long weekend he didn't like.

Upon our return from Israel, he started looking around different destinations for Fri April 6, returning Sun April 8.  He was ideally looking for something warmer than the early spring weather of New York, but flights to the Caribbean were excessively expensive that weekend.  

However, growing up in the 1980's he recalled a popular song by the Beach Boys where they would basically name different tropical getaway destinations.  Among the locations, there was one that didn't show up on the map next to all the others... Bermuda.

Bermuda is a very different "Caribbean" island.  First, it's located east of Virginia making it a much easier flight from New York (about a 2 hour flight).  Second, it's a much more posh, established island without the pockets of poverty and crime you might find in Jamaica or the Bahamas. And finally, the seasonal tourism schedule peaked (got expensive) in the Summer/Fall unlike it's island cousins to the south that peaked during the Winter/Spring.  Jackpot.

My father then booked the flights and started researching hotels.  The predominant chain was Fairmont Hotels, but they didn't strike him as ideal for our weekend trip (ie, too expensive).  Instead he found some pretty good reviews on TripAdvisor about a place called Newstead Belmont Hills Golf Resort & Spa.  The key selling point to my parents was that the rooms there were actually apartments, so they came with a full kitchen - ideal for families with children.  Sold!

The best part was that on TripAdvisor, one of the posts said they saved a lot of money by booking through a website called Vacationist.com which was kind of like a Gilt.com flash sale website but for nice hotels.  As it turned out Newstead was going to be on sale for 40%+ off in a few days, so my father patiently waited like a Manhattan mom stalking her favorite preschool.

Vacationist.com was also having a promotion where if you referred a new member, then you'd get a $25 credit for both people.  So of course, my sneaky SOB father signed up my mother and we got two $25 credits. Then my mother used it to book 2 nights at Newstead for $225/night (vs. $400+/night regular rates).

So we were all set and before I knew it, we were in April and headed to the airport.  Here's where my parents being United frequent flyers came into play yet again.  Another perk of having frequent flyer status is that you can sometimes get complimentary (free) seat upgrades on "domestic" flights (but including nearby international flights to Mexico, Canada, Caribbean, etc).  My mother was a United Silver (flew 25,000 miles prior year) and my father was a United Gold (flew 50,000 miles prior year).  I didn't go to school yet, but everyone knows Gold is better than Silver.

Now in April 2012, United had just merged with Continental and their IT systems were a bit screwy during the integration.  So the day before our trip, my mother (silver) was upgraded, but my father (gold) wasn't.  Now, could it be because my father had a lap child on his ticket and the airline didn't want babies up in first class?  Or was it because they were racist or sexist?  Who knows?  But my sweet mother declined the upgrade choosing to sit with her family instead.  That's some good parenting right there.

Helpful Links:

• TripAdvisor
• Vacationist (a Travel+Leisure website)