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  1. HighOccupancy

    HotelChatter Member
    July 2, 2008 at 5:28 PM




    Best Layover Ever: Welcome to Jamrock!

    Get some sun, listen to top-notch reggae, and have a sunset meal in just a few hours.

    1. Touch down at Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay, Jamaica - "The Gateway to the Caribbean." There's nothing like coming in on a big jet airplane out of the north, and seeing the mountains of Jamaica rise out of the clouds, and the turquoise waters right along the runway. Sangster is a big, clean , efficient airport, (for the Caribbean) with easy customs, and large terminals. Plus it's only 3 and a half hours from JFK.

    2. Skip over the hordes of pasty Americans being corralled like sheep into the all-inclusives, and hop in a Cessna with Tim at Tim Air. www.timair.net

    Tim will fly you and your honey along the coast, and touch down neatly at Negril Airstrip on the west end of Jamaica. The flight is beautiful, you can see Ralph Lauren's estate, and all the sorry tourists schlepping along the windy coast road in their tour busses. (With Tim Air it's only 9 minutes.)

    1. Catch some rays while you dance and listen to the world's best reggae artists live on Seven Mile Beach. If you're hungry, lunch on a spiny lobster or three from the dread-locked guys who hawk them along the beach, and wash it down with a few frosty rum punches.

    2. Head over to the Rock House Hotel, along the cliffs and on the far western tip of the island just before sunset. This stylish resort consists of only a couple dozen thatch-roofed villas on the rocks above an azure cove. Oh yeah, they also have the best restaurant in the country. Dine on deliciously roasted - and spicy - jerk chicken and cool your tongue off with a cold Red Stripe.

    3. As the sun dips below the horizon, Tim lifts the small plane off the Negril airstrip, and points the propeller towards the lights of Montego Bay. Your belly is full, you have a nice golden tan, and a reggae tune floats through your head. In ten minutes you'll be back at Sangster International, and onto your next leg of the trip.

    And you're sad to know that none of your next layovers will be even close to as cool as this one...

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