I went to the book store and purchased a travel guide. Fodor's Turks & Caicos Islands. Best $12.99 I spent! I also went on Trip Advisor's forum for the TCI. This forum had tons of info/advice from destination experts for the islands as well as from regular visitors to Provo.
Next was to settle the issue of where on Provo to stay. A no brainer for me. I wanted beach front right on Grace Bay beach. Since I had been researching VRBO for a future Europe trip I decided to check them out. What's nice is you go to the VRBO website, pick your destination, then narrow it down to location, amenities, etc. I had a list of favorites that met my criteria-on Grace Bay beach, 1 BR condo style with pool on premises. I tried to stay on budget of $400 or less per night. I soon found out that lots of places were already booked all the way into May! However, I lucked out with the one I found. It was a 1 BR 1 1/2 bath condo located in Ocean Club West. This resort sits on one of the best areas of Grace Bay beach. I contacted the owner through VRBO and received a response within hours. She had availability from 4/12-4/24/16. Her price was within our budget. Her unit was located in a building on the 2nd floor. No elevator. I was concerned about this as I have had issues with my knees. She took pictures of the stairs with explanation as to how many, etc. This helped allay my fears so we booked her condo. She took 1/2 payment at the time of the booking with the remainder due about 1 month before our arrival. You can cancel but there's a time limit-the info is on the VRBO listing for her unit #775306. I used a credit card so there is a small charge in addition to the 12% gov't tax. Luckily someone had to cancel their plans so the owner e-mailed me with some new dates available. Booked now from 4/7-4/21/16. 2 full weeks total cost $5076.00
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| Grace Bay beach |
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| Ocean Club West property was perfect for us |
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| This was the resort's lazy river pool |
Then I had to book our flights. Yikes, airfare more pricey than I thought but we were last down in the area-Bahamas-back in 2006. I placed alerts for airfare and soon was able to book a round trip flight on American Airlines. Cost $831.52 for the 2 of us. We would leave Buffalo on 4/7 at 8:19 am, arrive in Charlotte at 10:14 am, leave Charlotte at 11:35 am, and arrive on Provo at 2:29 pm. Coming home we'd leave Provo on 4/21 at 3:35 pm, arrive Charlotte at 6:40 pm, leave Charlotte at 8:15 pm, and arrive in Buffalo at 9:57 pm. Times were great and no lengthy layovers. I booked our flights on 1/28/16. I also purchased flight insurance in case we had to cancel (I have a 92 yr. old mom) for $60.28
Since I didn't want to have family picking us up so late on 4/21 I decided to just park our car for the 2 weeks. I found a great deal from Aloft for $86.56 which I booked.
From reading posts on TA forum I decided to rent a car while on Provo for the entire 2 weeks. I promised my husband that the driving situation would not be like what we encountered in Phuket, Thailand. I had read that taxi fare was pricey. I honed in on Grace Bay Car Rentals which got excellent reviews and it was a local company. For category of car requested I picked "character car" which is just an older model car. We ended up with a 2004 Nissan Sunny (like the Sentra) 4 door, automatic, decent A/C and ran like a dream. Steering wheel on the right. Driving is on the left. No problems with this sweetie the whole time we had her. Glad I chose an economy car as gas in Provo was $4.79 a gallon! Cost for the 2 weeks all inclusive $518.88 Drove 352 miles. Filled up with gas twice-$15 and $35.01 when returning it with a full tank as required. Also read up on rules of the road in Provo. Lots of roundabouts. I must report back that my husband had no problems navigating the roundabouts, even using turn signals while in the roundabout to let others know where he was going. He did put the windshield wipers on a few times-LOL!! We stayed in the slow or left lane as it only took 1 day to realize no one drives the posted speed limits of 10-20-or 40 and the worst offenders are the locals. I know this as their cars have different color license plates than the rental vehicles.
I also prebooked an excursion on 3/8/16 with Big Blue for 4/12/16-Heart of the Islands trip. Full day to North & Middle Caicos. I was told 4 needed to sign up for this trip. Cost would be $638.40 On 4/11 I received an e-mail from them canceling the trip due to no one else signing up for it. We ended up going to North & Middle on our own and saved $$$.
On 3/10/16 I booked a dinner reservation with Coco Bistro. This is supposed to be one of the best places to dine and is so popular than advance reservations are highly recommended Our dinner here would be on 4/10/16.
Last to prebook was my husband's diving. He is PADI advanced OW certified and has been diving all over the world. He wanted to dive with a 5* PADI outfit that had good reviews. Dive Provo fit the bill. He would bring his own gear. Cost for 4 full days of diving $528.64 In addition he would rent a dive computer (required) for $10 per day plus 12% gov't tax. All his dives would be wall dives.
We bought new luggage right around Xmas time. Lightweight hardside spinners in an iridescent purple/blue color. I loved the color! We would take one 29" and one 25". The larger one was for the scuba and snorkel gear. We'd also take a carry on-change of clothes in case bags get lost along with our medications and room for souvenirs! Also coming on this trip was my camera case which I have grown to hate. Carry handle or backpack. It's cumbersome and heavy. Took way too much gear. Could have left half behind. Used a newer Canon point & shoot with great zoom, SONY video camera, Sealife UW camera. Also took my Apple laptop which was added weight. Lesson learned-take less and buy a bag for gear with wheels!
Packing-clothes. Our condo had a washer & dryer so that meant we could do laundry and take fewer clothes. Only ended up with a few things that we never wore. Our list: me 3 bathing suits but I wore only the 1 that I thought looked best on me-husband took 2 which he wore; I took 3 pr. shorts but only wore 1-husband took 6 pr. and wore them mainly out to dinner; me capri pants 6 pr. but only needed 3 which I wore out to dinner; sleepware 3 for me/only used 2-husband had 2 pr. bottoms & tops which he wore; 1 skirt for me which I wore once to Coco Bistro for dinner; 2 pr. long pants for husband which he wore on the plane and to Coco Bistro; 2 pr. socks for each of us which we wore on the plane; husband took 1 hat and 2 belts which he used; husband had 3 T shirts from other trips that he wore and wished he had taken more; I had 2 3/4 length sleeve wraps but only wore 1; husband had 4 collar golf style shirts which he wore and 1 ss cotton dressier shirt which he did not wear; 1 week's worth of undergarments for us each which we wore; I brought 10 ss tops and could have left 4 of them home. Shoes-sometimes this can be the hardest decision. I hit it out of the ball park on this. We wore all that we brought. We each brought a pr. of waterproof sturdy Keens for the plane and some hiking; I brought nice sandals and nice slip ons for husband which we wore to dinners; water shoes for some of the stonier beaches; flip flops got the most usage. 4 pr. for each of us-only had to pack 3 as wore the heavier Keens on the plane. What I wished I had brought was something like bedroom slippers as the tile floors in the condo really made our feet dirty. And my husband mopped the floors twice!
In addition to the above list of clothing we took shaving kits, moisturizer (used this all the time) and some other items of make up which I could easily left at home needing only a lipstick, sunglasses, extra pr. of glasses, personal medications, hand sanitizer, first aid kit (neosporin and some band aids), Swiss army knife, back pack in my checked bag, sunscreen including Reef Safe, hats to protect heads from the sun, bug repellant, duct tape, 3 oz. bottle of stain remover, deodorant, sm. travel size perfume, dental gear like toothpaste/toothbrushes/mouthwash/dental floss.
I bought a folder to hold my printed copies of flight confirmations, condo info, car rental info, restaurant research and reservation confirmation, scuba diving info, excursion info. We had our passports and international health cards with us too. I also wrote facts about this trip such as flight info, condo info, etc. in a 7 x 5 notebook. I also backed up everything in dropbox on my computer.
Saw my 92 yr. old mother the day before we left. E-mailed my brother to check in on her. Left trip info with our daughter.
I think we are good to go! 😎
Since I didn't want to have family picking us up so late on 4/21 I decided to just park our car for the 2 weeks. I found a great deal from Aloft for $86.56 which I booked.
From reading posts on TA forum I decided to rent a car while on Provo for the entire 2 weeks. I promised my husband that the driving situation would not be like what we encountered in Phuket, Thailand. I had read that taxi fare was pricey. I honed in on Grace Bay Car Rentals which got excellent reviews and it was a local company. For category of car requested I picked "character car" which is just an older model car. We ended up with a 2004 Nissan Sunny (like the Sentra) 4 door, automatic, decent A/C and ran like a dream. Steering wheel on the right. Driving is on the left. No problems with this sweetie the whole time we had her. Glad I chose an economy car as gas in Provo was $4.79 a gallon! Cost for the 2 weeks all inclusive $518.88 Drove 352 miles. Filled up with gas twice-$15 and $35.01 when returning it with a full tank as required. Also read up on rules of the road in Provo. Lots of roundabouts. I must report back that my husband had no problems navigating the roundabouts, even using turn signals while in the roundabout to let others know where he was going. He did put the windshield wipers on a few times-LOL!! We stayed in the slow or left lane as it only took 1 day to realize no one drives the posted speed limits of 10-20-or 40 and the worst offenders are the locals. I know this as their cars have different color license plates than the rental vehicles.
I also prebooked an excursion on 3/8/16 with Big Blue for 4/12/16-Heart of the Islands trip. Full day to North & Middle Caicos. I was told 4 needed to sign up for this trip. Cost would be $638.40 On 4/11 I received an e-mail from them canceling the trip due to no one else signing up for it. We ended up going to North & Middle on our own and saved $$$.
On 3/10/16 I booked a dinner reservation with Coco Bistro. This is supposed to be one of the best places to dine and is so popular than advance reservations are highly recommended Our dinner here would be on 4/10/16.
Last to prebook was my husband's diving. He is PADI advanced OW certified and has been diving all over the world. He wanted to dive with a 5* PADI outfit that had good reviews. Dive Provo fit the bill. He would bring his own gear. Cost for 4 full days of diving $528.64 In addition he would rent a dive computer (required) for $10 per day plus 12% gov't tax. All his dives would be wall dives.
We bought new luggage right around Xmas time. Lightweight hardside spinners in an iridescent purple/blue color. I loved the color! We would take one 29" and one 25". The larger one was for the scuba and snorkel gear. We'd also take a carry on-change of clothes in case bags get lost along with our medications and room for souvenirs! Also coming on this trip was my camera case which I have grown to hate. Carry handle or backpack. It's cumbersome and heavy. Took way too much gear. Could have left half behind. Used a newer Canon point & shoot with great zoom, SONY video camera, Sealife UW camera. Also took my Apple laptop which was added weight. Lesson learned-take less and buy a bag for gear with wheels!
 |
| Carry on and camera/video gear bag |
 |
| Our new hard sided luggage |
Packing-clothes. Our condo had a washer & dryer so that meant we could do laundry and take fewer clothes. Only ended up with a few things that we never wore. Our list: me 3 bathing suits but I wore only the 1 that I thought looked best on me-husband took 2 which he wore; I took 3 pr. shorts but only wore 1-husband took 6 pr. and wore them mainly out to dinner; me capri pants 6 pr. but only needed 3 which I wore out to dinner; sleepware 3 for me/only used 2-husband had 2 pr. bottoms & tops which he wore; 1 skirt for me which I wore once to Coco Bistro for dinner; 2 pr. long pants for husband which he wore on the plane and to Coco Bistro; 2 pr. socks for each of us which we wore on the plane; husband took 1 hat and 2 belts which he used; husband had 3 T shirts from other trips that he wore and wished he had taken more; I had 2 3/4 length sleeve wraps but only wore 1; husband had 4 collar golf style shirts which he wore and 1 ss cotton dressier shirt which he did not wear; 1 week's worth of undergarments for us each which we wore; I brought 10 ss tops and could have left 4 of them home. Shoes-sometimes this can be the hardest decision. I hit it out of the ball park on this. We wore all that we brought. We each brought a pr. of waterproof sturdy Keens for the plane and some hiking; I brought nice sandals and nice slip ons for husband which we wore to dinners; water shoes for some of the stonier beaches; flip flops got the most usage. 4 pr. for each of us-only had to pack 3 as wore the heavier Keens on the plane. What I wished I had brought was something like bedroom slippers as the tile floors in the condo really made our feet dirty. And my husband mopped the floors twice!
In addition to the above list of clothing we took shaving kits, moisturizer (used this all the time) and some other items of make up which I could easily left at home needing only a lipstick, sunglasses, extra pr. of glasses, personal medications, hand sanitizer, first aid kit (neosporin and some band aids), Swiss army knife, back pack in my checked bag, sunscreen including Reef Safe, hats to protect heads from the sun, bug repellant, duct tape, 3 oz. bottle of stain remover, deodorant, sm. travel size perfume, dental gear like toothpaste/toothbrushes/mouthwash/dental floss.
I bought a folder to hold my printed copies of flight confirmations, condo info, car rental info, restaurant research and reservation confirmation, scuba diving info, excursion info. We had our passports and international health cards with us too. I also wrote facts about this trip such as flight info, condo info, etc. in a 7 x 5 notebook. I also backed up everything in dropbox on my computer.
Saw my 92 yr. old mother the day before we left. E-mailed my brother to check in on her. Left trip info with our daughter.
I think we are good to go! 😎
