Going to Aruba

We went to Aruba this April sort of 'spur of the moment'. We were originally going to Europe, but then the Icelandic volcano erupted and so did all of our carefully laid plans. After a day or two of freaking out and wondering what we were going to do, I started looking at other options. British Airways was offering us a full refund and Eurostar refunded our train tickets so we had our money and we still had all this time off work to do something. Anything. Suddenly, our possibilities were almost endless! Did we want to travel the US with rail passes? Did we want to go to Vancouver? Alaska? Hawaii? How about the Caribbean?

How about the Caribbean? Neither of us had ever been to a tropical island. It wasn't really even on our radar before this, but I remembered hearing good things about Aruba so I started to look into it. It turns out that Aruba is more of a desert so it is much drier than a lot of the other Caribbean islands. All of that hot humidity is what I didn't like about tropical islands, so that was a plus!  It is also just below the hurricane belt, so it doesn't get too much severe weather. The temperature is usually in the 80s and it is almost always sunny. It was in the 40s and rainy in Chicago at the time, so we both thought that sounded pretty good!

I looked at all of my usual travel sites to find a good, last minute deal to Aruba and wasn't really having much luck. It was very expensive - even more expensive than our two week vacation in Europe! I finally clicked on an ad for CheapCaribbean.com to see if they were any better. Much to my amazement, they were! We found a great deal at Manchebo Beach Resort and Spa that included roundtrip airfare for about $700 less than anywhere else I looked. I was very surprised! I booked it and two days later we were on a plane to Aruba.

Our flight went without a hitch and we landed in Aruba about eight hours after leaving our home in Chicago. We found the bus to the hotel (also reserved and paid for through cheapcaribbean) right in front of the airport and got right on it. Check-in was very easy and the staff at Manchebo were great. Very friendly and quick to recommend places for us to go! Our room was very air-conditioned and very pink which made us laugh. It was a nice enough room though and the beach was right outside!

I chose the Manchebo resort for a few reasons. One, it was cheaper than a lot of other resorts. It is a very small hotel and it is one of the older resorts on the island. To be honest, the look is more 'roadside motel' than 'fancy resort', but we didn't mind. They had free wifi, excellent restaurants, a refrigerator and a microwave in the room.  Also, it was easily the nicest beach in Aruba. Two, they didn't actively encourage families with children to stay there. They weren't prohibited, but there were no babysitting services or daycare or children activities like most of the other resorts on the island so it was a lot less likely to be overrun with noisy kids. (I was right!) Three, it was several miles away from the main tourist area. I didn't really relish the idea of laying on a beach a foot away from some stranger or having to fight for a space. We could always go visit the tourist spots if we wanted to be among the crowds.

Manchebo beach is amazing. After seeing the other beaches in Aruba, I can't believe more people don't know about this. It is huge and filled with beautiful white sand as far as you can see. There is nothing like vast amounts of white sand and turquoise water to make you feel like you are on vacation!

The biggest benefit by far was the lack of people.  There were so few people on that beach that we never had a problem getting a cabana, even when we didn't wander out until noon! Try that up the road on Palm Beach!    

Watching the sunsets at Manchebo Beach were an absolute delight. This was easily our favorite activity.  We had the beach almost entirely to ourselves every evening - talk about romantic! We would fill our room's ice bucket with ice and beer and just sit by the ocean to enjoy the view before finally heading out to dinner. It was quiet and peaceful - just us, the waves of the ocean, and the setting sun.  No screaming kids or drunk college students were there to distract us from the sheer beauty of nature in this wonderful place.  It was amazing!

There are some ways to save money while you're on the island. There is a bus that runs all over the island that costs $2.40 for a round trip ticket. We ended up taking it to downtown Oranjestad and to the tourist area in Palm Beach. It was easy and we got a nice little tour of the island as a bonus! On one trip we stopped at a grocery store and stocked up on beverages and sandwich fixings for quick lunches. This saved us quite a bit of money. We also found a bagel and coffee stand about a block from our hotel that was quite cheap and provided a good breakfast.

There is a happy hour (or two or three) at every bar that offers two for one drink specials.  Don't miss out on this deal!  Most hotels also have a manager's party where the drinks and appetizers are free for an hour. At Manchebo, that was on a Tuesday and you needed an invitation which was put in your room the night before. They also had live entertainment, which was a nice touch.  This blended right into happy hour quite seamlessly, so it was a fun (and cheap!) night overall.  It was also a great way to meet some of the other people staying in the area.

All of these things saved us some cash, but the grocery trip was the biggest saver! If you have a fridge in your room, I highly recommend stocking it for your visit.

In short, Aruba isn't free and it is a very popular vacation spot so expect to spend some money.  However, there are ways to get by without spending a fortune! Check out the discount travel sites for deals, buy your own food and beverages at the grocery, and keep an eye out for those manager's parties!  Have fun!