After waiting a little more than a month, I checked my mail after work one evening, and it was finally there. As soon as I walked in the house, I dropped everything on the kitchen table and eagerly opened the package. I ran my hands over the smooth blue and gold leather binding and made the first crease in its spine as I looked at my photo on the inside in front and the blank pages that followed. I had already imagined the stamps that would follow on the pages behind. I was so excited to finally have received my passport!
Now that I had finally gotten it, the question begged an answer to where could I go and how soon could I get there. Since it was the early part of summer, I immediately decided, of course, that I wanted to go somewhere warm. One of the first things I did was write a post on Facebook, “Who has a passport and is looking to go see the world? Serious inquiries only.” I decided to find travel partners in the most casual way, through a Facebook post, because I have a lot of friends that I would love to travel with. More importantly, in my post, I made it a point to mention that I only wanted to be contacted by friends that were seriously and almost immediately available to travel because I didn’t want to deal with the hassle of planning and investing in a trip up front, and then having a friend with other obligations or financial restrictions to back out at the last minute. I’m sure many of us know how that can be. That’s when Elle and Danny came into the picture as my reliable travel companions. I had met them some time ago from this point and had previously discussed international traveling with them in depth! When they started throwing out suggestions and making arrangements I knew they were serious, and I knew they were as available and eager to get away as I was.
We initially considered options like the Dominican Republic and Aruba because we knew those regions would be warm during this time of year. We finally decided on visiting Nassau, Bahamas for our first international trip. In review of our trip, I would say that the Bahamas is a pretty good place to start if you’re a passport newbie like I was and want to make a quick getaway, after all it is pretty close. We used Book-It to find a location to stay, Melia Nassau Beach. This is normally an all inclusive hotel, but we booked the non-inclusive options to have an opportunity to try the traditional island food. Of course we wanted to save as much money as possible, but we also wanted to take advantage of all of the authentic island experiences we could to feel like more than just tourists on the island.
Day one of my first international excursion was an explorer day. While walking around to check out some food vendors near our hotel, we encountered a lady who appeared to just be walking around as well, until she approached us to try and sell us tickets to a booze cruise for $85 per person! Initially, we were a little skeptical about purchasing something off the street, but after thirty minutes of conversation and proof, thanks to Google, we soon found out we had nothing to worry about, and we were quite intrigued. Upon completion of our order she provided us a bill of sale and a contact number for verification that the cruise was the next day. Also we only paid $25 up front and the other $60 when we arrived to the boat, so fortunately it would not have been that much of an L had things turned sour.
Day two was our booze cruise which turned out to be a great deal! The booze cruise is exactly what it sounds like: cruising the beautiful, blue Nassau Island waters, enjoying as many drinks as we could, and having a great time while doing it. About half way through the cruise, you have the opportunity to hop off the boat, and walked over to the pink sand beach, which we decided to do, even stopping to take a quick dip in the water while we were there. While the sand was not too pink in my opinion, it was still a very pretty location. Overall I would definitely recommend this excursion. In the spirit of inexpensive treats, when we got back to shore, we decided to walk around downtown Nassau to experience some of the free activities they have to offer, which were lots of fun. We were also offered the opportunity, by someone on the street, to take a tour of a new hotel and timeshare location with free breakfast as the “treat at the end.” We chose to sign up for the opportunity with hopes of a big breakfast to fill us up before we started our day three excursions.
We decided that day three would be our time to relax. We got up and went on the tour of the hotel, sat down for the “breakfast,” and soon found out that unfortunately, this was no treat because all they offered to us in the form of breakfast was bacon. It was even more of a disappointment for the others that agreed to take the tour but didn’t eat pork. Needless to say, we learned a tourist’s lesson about trusting street vendors, but overall, we didn’t really take much of a loss so we didn’t let that disappointment ruin our day. We found some real food from a nearby restaurant, Bamboo Shack, had some fun at Blue Lagoon for some kayaking, and then laid out in the sun until we enjoyed an all inclusive lunch. Since this was our last day of our first international vacation, after a full day of rest and relaxation, we decided to go back to the main island, and packed our things to get ready for the early flight back to the states.
In summary, here are some MUST DO activity suggestions to maximize the fun you will have when visiting Nassau, Bahamas, and the total est trip cost:
Excursions (click the links for details)
- Day Trip to Exuma for water sports activities,
- Booze & Cruise
Pink Sand Beach
Free things to do Downtown
- The Famous Straw Market
- Queen’s Staircase
- Historic Forts
- J&S Scooter and Buggy Rentals
Swimming pigs and Staniel Cay – If you have two days without planned adventures, take a day trip out here and stay the night! It is a bit too far and so much to do for just a day trip. While I have not been here it is on my bucket list for next time!
Tips/Lessons
- Tipping in the Bahamas – I only want to add a note on this because I get lots of questions about tipping in other countries. While it can differ from place to place, the Bahamas works on the same tipping system as North America… especially in the tourist areas. Outside of the tourist areas, no tip was expected, but it is always appreciated if the service is good.
- Taxis – All taxis cost the roughly the same even though they will make it seem like you will get a better deal riding with them. Taxis in the Bahamas operate on a fixed rate and was displayed in most of the taxes. In the case that the rate was not displayed we made sure to negotiate the price before we got th our location. .
- Street Vendors – Listen to what people on the street are trying to offer, and if it feels like a good idea, it might just be, while others… might not! If you have the time for it and your travel partners are up to it, you never know what other adventures you might have in the process.
Cost/ Budget Breakdown
- Southwest Airlines was having a $49.00 one-way flight special, which they are known for having pretty frequently.
- Melilla Hotel: $250 a night / 3 People = About $300 per person. (Incl. Taxes)
- While I did love this hotel, if you are looking to travel on a more “strict” budget there are some cheaper options out available. You could even try giving Airbnb a whirl!
- Food Total: $250
- Day 1: $35
- Day 2: $40
- Day 3: $50 (Airport food is expensive everywhere.)
- Excursions: $160
- Booze & Cruise – $70 (It was $85.00 but we talked them down.)
- Junkanoo Water Sports – $25.00
- Scooter Rental: – $55 for the first hour and about a 10 dollar increase for each additional hour. *Not recommended for the whole time because you can’t just walk off and leave it*
- Taxi Expenses: $52.00
- From Airport to downtown: $27
- Within Downtown $6 (Per taxi)
- Souvenirs: $25.00
- I recommend purchasing souvenirs while out and about in the town instead of the airport were they tend to be more expensive.
Total Trip Cost: $887.00
Since my first international trip I have learned so many things in order to help with enjoying myself throughout the trip all while saving money. Which, lets face it, everyone wants to do. One of the most valuable lesson I’ve learned is that once you find good travel buddies make sure you keep them around. And finally, you must be flexible, you never know when things might go wrong . Look out for my upcoming posts to walk you though some of them!
