The Savvy Villa Traveller

Ideally you would have chosen a villa with equal or fairly equal bedrooms that way no one feels short- changed. The reality is that that might not be the case. What to do? Here is how we handle it. Our rooms are more or less equal with the exception of the master bedroom, which is sensational. The group leader who is usually the person who plans the trip, pays for the trip and or signs the rental agreement usually gets the master bedroom as their treat for planning the experience. For us, that usually that takes care of the issue because all the bedrooms are nicely decorated and spacious.

If you are staying at a villa where the rooms are clearly not equal and group members are all contributing to the trip, you’ll need some way to keep everyone happy. You might want to consider “setting a price” for the different rooms where people staying in the better rooms pay more than those staying in the smaller and less luxurious rooms. Hopefully, your villa will have a floor plan as well as pictures of the rooms so that you can have a rough idea of the size and quality of the rooms ahead of time. Any price breakdown of that nature should really happen before you start vacation so that money talk doesn’t make anyone uncomfortable. Remember no one wants the short end of the stick. At the end of the day, everyone should be happy. The last thing you want is for someone in your group to feel that he or she was treated unfairly and may not want to vacation with you again. The bottom line is that people simply want to feel that they got a fair deal – especially if they are contributing to the cost.

Jamaican saying: When dog have money so ‘im buy cheese.

English translation: When a dog has money he buys cheese.

Meaning:
Dogs don’t have money and neither do they eat cheese – well not Jamaican dogs, anyway. When a dog gets things to which he is not accustomed he does foolish things. In the same way, people do foolish things when they come into money. If you doubt me, just turn on your TV!

Eight Questions to Ask to Help You Choose the Perfect Jamaica Villa Rental for Your Needs

With the wide variety of villas in Jamaica from which to choose, selecting the right villa can seem like a mind-boggling experience. Finding the Jamaica vacation home that is just right for you depends on what you want and expect from your vacation. You must know what you want from a Jamaica villa vacation before you begin the selection process.

Here are 8 questions to ask help you pin point your needs.

Does the idea of renting a villa in Jamaica sound like an option only for the rich and famous? Well, the villa alternative is probably the best-kept secret in Jamaican travel today - and you don’t have to be rich or famous to enjoy the experience. Find out why a Jamaica villa rental is an option that you should not overlook if you want more value for money, more privacy, more personal attention and perhaps even more luxury for your vacation.

Click here to read the entire article - Seven Reasons Why Renting A Jamaica Villa May Provide the Perfect Vacation Escape.

In one of the old issues of our ezine, we talked about entry requirements. At that time, you didn’t need a passport to travel. It isn’t the Jamaican government that insists on passports. In fact, US citizens can enter Jamaica with either a passport or a driver’s license and original birth certificate. The problem is in returning to the US. Since January of this year, everyone needs a passport to re-enter the US – even babies.

With the new requirement, there was an apparently unexpected huge demand for passports which ultimately caused lengthy delays in processing passports which in turn caused many Americans to postpone or cancel their trips. A friend of mine had to cancel her family’s vacation to Mexico because everyone except her husband got their passports back on time – even though they used the express service. A well-deserved vacation was cancelled at the very last minute. I’m so glad I wasn’t the one to break it to the kids. I hope she doesn’t read this blog post because she is going to be even more irritated when she learns what I just learned.

Well it turns out that on June 8th, 2007, the U.S. Departments of State and Homeland Security announced that up until September 30th, 2007, U.S. citizens traveling to Canada, Mexico, Bermuda or the Caribbean by air, who have applied for, but not yet received passports, can re-enter the United States by presenting a government issued photo ID and Department of State official proof of passport application. You should still check with the embassy of the country you plan to visit just the same to make sure that they don’t require a passport and also to find out what their entry requirements are. Here is the link for the Jamaican Embassy.

Why will my friend be miffed now? Well, she cancelled her trip after June 8th! Had she known about the provisions, they could have gone and enjoyed themselves.