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Originally Posted by Troy1220
Thanks for the link..."postive rep for you mon!" Curious, why the prejudice against the all inclusives? Does it cut down tourist dollars at local restaurants? What types of changes did you make for your honeymoon?
Thanks,
Troy
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Yeah, it pretty much has to do with the fact that they suck dollars out of the local businesses. It's sort of like the Jamaican version of Wal-mart bashing here in the States.
I certainly see the attraction of AI resorts, especially now that I don't have the travel time that I once did. Now if my wife and I can get away, it's for a short weekend or a few days, and that's what is great about AI resorts. You can get away quickly, have no hassles, and everything is taken care of for you. Pure relaxation.
We used to travel for 2-4 weeks at a time, though. When I did that I didn't like AI resorts, because they tend to keep you from really experiencing the culture of a particular place (in my opinion), which was my primary goal in travel. Back then travels weren't really about relaxation and could actually be pretty stressful and even dangerous. Now my primary goal in travel is to get away somewhere with my wife and relax, so I love the idea of AI resorts.
Anyway, we ended up finding a small community on the south side of the island called Treasure Beach. It's catered specifically to community-sponsored tourism. Some Peace Corps volunteers came in there and set them up a web site to help them attract people. It's since taken off, and they have a very active online community consisting both of visitors, ex-pats, and locals. It's pretty cool, because you can hang out and chat with these people on their message board before you ever get down there. You get a view of local politics, characters, and life before you ever get down there. Then when you get there, it's like you're already very knowledgeable of the community. Anyway, here's the site
www.treasurebeach.net
We stayed at a rastafarian-run place for a few days (Ital Rest), then moved to a place called Jake's which is a little more upscale. It was a very cool vacation experience, but it's certainly not for everyone. Probably turned out to be way more expensive than an AI would have been in the long run.