First Afternoon in Bermuda

Teena had a great idea. This year instead of doing the usual thing, let's go to Bermuda. So here we are!

We were up bright and early at 5AM and caught the 8:15 AM flight out of Toronto. There were a few hitches. Turns out when you book a trip through Air Canada travel, they do not reserve a seat on their own Air Canada planes. We had the hotel booked, the shuttle to and from the hotel booked but not our seats on the plane.

We were going STANDBY!!

It was a nervous hour but once we were confirmed for our seats we felt better. Air Canada Travel will hear about this!

We landed without incident and were taken by shuttle to the Grotto Bay Resort, just a short 5 minute drive across the causeway. The picture above is the view of our resort from the hotel. Funny as I still have not heard a plane. Casey, a chatty fellow, was the driver of our shuttle, was excellent on tips for the St George New Year celebrations and how best to get around the islands.
We checked in and because we would not get our rooms 'til 4, we headed for something to eat in the hotel. I had the buffet, which I enjoyed, and Teena had some great wings (I had one. It was fabulous!) and a huge burger. As we are in the islands, of course, we had some rum with our meal.

Teena had talked to a few people who said we had to hit the Swizzle Pub while we are here. It is a three minute walk away and as there was a drizzle, we decided to walk on over.
I know many people who would say, “why go someplace else when you can do everything on an all inclusive resort for free?” How else to get to know the island?

The Swizzle Pub was a hoot. On the patio, there were three Canadians from Winnipeg having a jug of Swizzle. What is a jug of swizzle! Look at the picture. It are 2 types of rum with fruit juices in a shaker and the shaker (a clean one) goes home with you.
We had to start with that.

The rain poured and the wind blew, and we didn’t care. There was a balcony over us so we were mostly dry, it was warm and we were someplace different and wonderful. Our server, Oxana, who is from Russia, looked after us very well.
Chickens are everywhere! They walk down the sidewalks, hang around in yards and are … well, they are everywhere, including the Swizzle Inn. Again, they were fun to watch.
The inside of the Swizzler Inn is interesting. Graffiti is everywhere, there are TVs around but is a nice warming place. I wish we had a place like this in our neighborhood!
After a couple of hours, it was time to check in to our hotel but not without buying one of their tee-shirts! The walk home is only a couple of minutes but scenic.
Now we are checked in. Our New Years is booked and we are relaxing in our room. Ahhh!

Teena's review and pix of the Swizzle Inn are here.