So, early last week Eric got a call at work that from someone (somewhere?) very special, and they needed his help . And because he's very lucky to get to "work" in so many awesome places, he of course jumped at the chance to go help out this special somewhere. And, who, you ask, was the mystery client? Well, it was BERMUDA. Not even kidding.
But we're not to the best part yet.Eric decided right away that I should come help out Bermuda too (or, perhaps, lay on the beach while Eric "worked"--- he really does work, I just like to tease him because he's so fancy) and, as luck would have it, we had some frequent flier models/VERY cheap tickets on Jetblue that were be PERFECT for me AND Bermuda said we could stay for free all weekend!
The only problems were that A) I'm crazy-busy at work right now and taking time off is risky at best; B) I'm taking two days off next week to visit the Best State in the Union; and C) It's INSANE to just pick up and go to Bermuda for the weekend. I mean, who does that??
After much soul-searching, I decided I could, in fact, afford to take a day off work and exercising to go on a free trip to Bermuda, because, when all is said in done, you'd be insane NOT to take a free trip to Bermuda. I don't care how busy or important your job is. And, besides, as much as it pains me, I knew the orchestras would make it for a day or two without me.
And so, the fantasy begins...
Friday morning I escaped from New York and a mere two hours later landed in Paradise. Take a moment to imagine was Bermuda/Paradise might look like....well, I'm here to tell you that it looks exactly like that. It is pristine- endless turquoise water, fine white and pink sand, narrow roads weaving through rolling hills, sweet little houses in every imaginable color of the pastel rainbow, flowers everywhere, and a lot of chickens.Ha! I bet you didn't see that one coming! But seriously, there really are a lot of chickens, and I promise I wasn't even really afraid. Roosters have a lot to say though- they're always yelling about something.
When Eric had gotten to Fantasy Land the day before, he found out that the apartment we were supposed to stay in was under repair so we had to be re-located. The original apartment was, I'm sure, going to be perfectly lovely, but in the main city of Hamilton, so not right by the water. The buses in Bermuda are awesome (and also, incidentally, the most pleasant shade of pastel pink) so we would have been able to get anywhere we wanted, but we would definitely have spent more time on the bus.
So, Bermuda decided to rent us a condo on the beach.
And Bermuda said it was still ok if we stayed the whole weekend.
Done and done.
Our new condo was very close to the water, with marina views, in old St. George's Parrish, which was the old capital of Bermuda. It's a sweet little town, and it truly looks like the Bermuda of your imagination. We had a nice British pub lunch on the water and then hit the beach. It was nearly abandoned and just perfect. I know that's boring, but there's really no other way to describe it.
For dinner, we went to a local hangout for rum punch, fried fish, live Bermudian music, and an awesome view of the sunset.
Then we had a swim in our pool, which was heated even more than Grandma's pool and was just about the most awesome way ever to end your first day of your fantasy in Bermuda.On Saturday, our new friend Brian, who was the one who actually called Eric and made this whole dream life happen, took us on a driving tour to the other end of the islands. Reason #535,789 that I love Bermuda: Manners and Civility. These are my kind of people! Quiet, polite, well-behaved, and very properly dressed. And I mean everyone! They're all so nice! And they all seem to know each other- everyone's constantly honking and waving at each other as they drive along, as if the whole country is just happy little friends. And, they just might be, because what do they have to be sad or fight about? It's BERMUDA. They also have AWESOME accents. It's not quite British, not quite Caribbean, not quite African. It's impossible to place, but awesome nonetheless. Favorite words? Cewl (cool) and ookey (okay).
Ookey. Cewl. Our driving tour took me to one of the most famous beaches, Horseshoe Bay, and Eric to "work" a bit more. We spent the whole day soaking up the sun, and headed back to St. George's that evening before taking the bus to the boonies for dinner at a true Bermudian local hangout. 
This restaurant was in the middle of nowhere, right on the water (almost everything's on the water in Bermuda, so it's actually not that special, but I still think it's nice), and is famous for seafood (shark hash, anyone?), authentic Bermudian cooking (think seafood and black-eyed peas with rice), and very strong rum punch. 
Our rum punch of choice was the Bermuda Triangle, and I have to say it's lucky we found our bus back to St. George's. It was an awesome dinner, and of course, the Bermudian service and hospitality was impeccable.
On Sunday, we sadly did have to leave Paradise. Darn. We managed to fit in another visit to the beach, but sadly, no more rum punch.And just like that, as quickly as it had begun, it was over! I still can't really believe I went to Bermuda last weekend (even though work on Monday was a pretty substantial reality check. That is NOT fantasy-land, although it is surreal 99% of the time.)
My rock-star life didn't actually end there, though, because I had to fly back from Bermuda in time to get to a movie star party.
But that story's going to have to wait for another day...
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