Jamaica: Where you can find a husband in one week.
Being mostly a solo traveler, one would think that I’ve met plenty of people by sitting next to them on flights and chatting, but in fact, quite the opposite is true. I don’t really talk to people on flights. I have my headphones plugged into my ears, watch movies, sleep, and mind my own business, probably because I have nothing to share about “what resort are you staying at?”, which seems the be the most common topic among those flying to Jamaica.
But there was this ONE time I did chit-chat with a lady sitting next to me and it was enlightening to say the least.
I met her in August of 2012 while flying to the island for a quick one-week trip. I had given up my apartment in Ocho Rios a few months earlier and had some Jamaican friends pack up my stuff and hold onto it. The sole purpose of this trip was to collect some of my belongings and go back to Canada.
I don’t remember how I ended up striking up a conversation with this woman on the plane but through chatting I came to find out that she was also flying to Jamaica by herself, and she seemed more than comfortable telling me why.
This woman was probably in her late forties and it was her very first time visiting the island. She was flying there to meet a Jamaican man she had been talking to online for a couple of months. They had never physically met before and she had never been to Jamaica before. I distinctly remember thinking she had a lot of balls, but who am I to have an opinion on other people’s life choices? At the very least, she’d have a good few romps in some Jamaican sand. At the very most…well…she’d probably have a few good romps in some Jamaican sand.
As for my plans on this trip, I really had none beyond landing. I was there to pick up some things and wait a week for my flight back home. I didn’t even have transportation from the airport lined up, I was just going to wing it. Literally the only plan I had was that I’d be staying in the home of the friends who were holding onto my belongings, in Steertown, St Ann.
Through conversation with the lady I found out that “her man” was coming to pick her up at the airport and they were headed to Ocho Rios. She had sent him money to rent a vehicle for the week so I asked her if I could hitch a ride to Steertown since it was on the way, and she said absolutely I could. Perfect. Transportation problem solved.
We landed, cleared customs, and headed outside the airport. While we waited for her ride I downed a few rums at the airport bar. It felt so free to just sit and drink while someone else took care of my plans for me. I didn’t even know who we were watching for so I just sat there drinking.
When the guy finally arrived it was a little awkward watching them meet for the first time, and very awkward watching them make out in public knowing that they’d never met before. Eventually she introduced me to him and let him know that I would be joining them for half the ride to Ochi. When I told him I was getting out at Steertown he kind of gave me a side-eye because who gets dropped off in Steertown? But he was more than happy to take me.
During the drive I called the friends I would be staying with to let them know my timing. As it worked out they said my ride could just drop me on the highway at a gas station and they’d come down from the house and pick me up. I have to say, when this drop took place, it was the most Jamaican I ever felt. I literally just hitched a free ride from the airport, got dropped on the side of the road, and picked up by another free ride.
I thanked the lady and her man for the ride and wished them a wonderful time together, and that was it. They drove off into the sunset, so to speak.
That week went fairly quickly and turned out to be pretty eventful for me, the person with zero plans! I ended up renting a death trap on wheels which turned into a story all its own. You can read about it HERE, and that single event has made me forever grateful for my rental partnership with Budget Jamaica in subsequent years.
That death trap eventually got me to Montego Bay to get a tattoo from a friend. That story is HERE, and as it turns out it’s one of the highest traffic posts of all time on the blog.
Fast forward one week and I was headed back to the airport to fly home. While listlessly waiting in line to obtain my boarding pass, who do you think my eyes fell upon? It was the lady who dropped me in Steertown one week earlier. She was in the back of my line and was waiting for her boarding pass on the same flight as mine.
Once she saw me, she smiled and waved so I decided to wait for her and walk through security together. To be honest, I couldn’t wait to hear about her whirlwind romantic week with her online man.
As we waited in the security line she wasn’t very forthcoming so I prodded her a little.
Me: “Sooooooo………???”
Her (bursting into tears): “We got engaged. I miss him so much already”.
Me:
It took everything I had to compose myself and try to act sympathetic because she was obviously distraught to be leaving him. I mean, I know this was her first time to Jamaica but was this her first time to anywhere??
Regardless, I let her gush about it all the way through the line and onto the plane. Our seats on that flight home were nowhere near each other so we never did speak again after boarding.
I get a kick out of island romance stories. What is it about an island and a beach that makes women drop their guard (and their pants) so quickly and blindly? I get it though. We’ve all fallen victim to at least one hottie in our travels. By victim, I don’t necessarily mean you were taken advantage of (we’re sure that NEVER happens). I just mean you’ve dabbled in a little island romance because why not? No one has to know.
But in real life, who gets engaged to a man they met on an island seven days ago? Actually, that’s a dumb question. Those very engagements are the reasons why reality shows like 90 Day Fiance exist. I guess I had just never met one of these people in person until I met this lady in 2012.
I’m an eternal pessimist and very much a realist when it comes to vacation romances because let’s face it, statistics hardly ever work in favor of these relationships. Having said that, I have also seen quite the opposite on very rare occasions, so who can really say?
I have since seen it ALL over the course of doing Jamaica for fifteen years though, and it’s what keep life interesting. There’s always something to write about!
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