Around a month ago, my family took our first vacation out of the country to visit my mom’s home country of Jamaica after years of saving up to go. We were hella hyped. Like crazy hyped. Like we pronounced Jamaica as Jam-mick-ah for a month leading up to this trip. Like we pronounced it like that so much that when we finally arrived, my brother forgot how to pronounce it properly. And since everyone technically calls this my “last summer at home”, I was eager to make the most of this vacation. I brought a notebook and wrote down a detailed report of each day so I’d remember it after I got back home and possibly write it down here, but I have a feeling that you wouldn’t want to read a post that will take you a week to read so I’ll keep it short and maybe write a post about what to see and places to visit later.

So after spending a week in another country with no internet access or technology (besides a camera that ran out of space after 3 hours), I have compiled a list of life lessons that I learned along the way. Enjoy (and become educated).

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1.  Barefoot is Key

And by key, I mean major key (alert). Close-toed shoes? Those don’t even exist. Flip flops were the only shoes that I wore the whole week although most of the time I did go barefoot.  The only way to toughen up my soft, weak, inexperienced feet was by exposing them to the elements and it was rough. And by rough I literally mean rough because my feet were the roughest things I’ve seen since pictures of me from middle school (and they also felt rough). From peeling white nail polish to slicing my foot open on a rock from jumping off at the Blue Lagoon and bleeding everywhere to blisters to mosquito bites to jumping off cliffs to ant bites to just plain old walking on rocks in rivers or the side of the road to get the perfect picture, my feet were ROUGH…and I have never been happier. And the few times that I did wear water shoes while climbing up a waterfall, I got rocks stuck in them and every step was stabbing my foot so I was better off going barefoot like my mom. I would insert a picture of my feet here but no one wants to see feet resembling that of a hobbit so I’ll spare you.

2. EAT THE LOCAL FOOD.

Considering my mom’s side of the family is Jamaican, I had previously had Jamaican food and I was in love. But when eating the Jamaican food in Jamaica, it’s 1000 times better. I ate SO MUCH and gained so much weight but it was TOTALLY worth it because everything was delicious. I did get sick after I got home and threw up for two days and lost it all but hey it’s fine. The food was the absolute best and everyday was a new experience of trying new things.

Of course the island was riddled with KFCs and Little Caesars and Burger Kings and sure you could spend all your time in a resort and eat burgers or buffalo chicken wings but we didn’t do that. Mostly because we couldn’t afford that but I actually prefer eating the local food and experiencing the island because it allows you to immerse yourself in that culture and “really get away” as people try to do on vacations. From jerk chicken to jerk pork to Ting to cream soda to Ginger Beer to breadfruit to fish to avocados to lobster to Bammy to Festival to ox tail to ackee and saltfish to patties to curry goat to rice and peas to mangos and more, there was always so much food that it seemed never ending. The food was salty and the drinks were sweet. Plus in Jamaica you can find Devon House’s “I Scream” which was ranked by National Geographic as the 4th best ice cream place in the world. It was delicious. Check out my post on Local vs Chain restaurants here for more info. Also just as a pro tip if you ever go to Jamaica, the pineapple is the best in the world like Hawaii pineapple is nice but Jamaican pineapple, ahhh that’s that good kush.

3. Car Chats are Good Chats

At home, my siblings and I are usually at each other’s throats. But in Jamaica, we were fine. It was like magic. The fact that we didn’t have wifi most of the time and spent most of the time in a van that could fit 16 people, allowed us to sit in the back and have some good intelligent conversation. From life experience in high school to memes to relationship advice, the conversations were real, hilarious and actually quite enjoyable. Plus, my uncle joined us on vacation and drove us around as well as provided unlimited facts about everywhere we went. He pretty much acted like our tour guide the whole way and it was perfect.

Put down your phone in the car or at the table and enjoy the people around you while they’re there.

4. The People Make the Place

If you haven’t been living under a rock, you probably know that Jamaicans live by the saying “Don’t Worry Be Happy” and honestly I haven’t seen anything more true. Jamaicans are by far the nicest people I’ve met. They genuinely care about their customers or just everyone they meet and they really do want to help you whenever you need it. For example when we were going into different beaches, you have to pay per person. The equivalent to one US dollar is 128 Jamaican dollars and when you have 7 people, it gets to be quite a lot. Almost everywhere we went, the people at the gates charged us for 6 but let us in for 7 because they could relate to the large family struggle.

Plus, the people in Jamaica are geniuses when it comes to coming up with ways to use things for other purposes and building anything they need out of what they have. They’re incredibly skilled and very proud of what they create and it’s all very impressive. They made our stay even better by being very friendly and warm to all of the people they meet. As we drove all along the coast, we had over 34 people in one day wave to us as we waved back out the windows with smiles on their faces. We even had one woman salute us.

5. Enjoy the Sights (all of them)

Jamaica is a beautiful island. Everywhere you look, you can find lush plants and gorgeous flowers or amazing beaches, soft sand, and blue BLUE water or mountains covered in twinkling lights at night.

No matter where you go, there is always something beautiful to see. From sunrises to sunsets to looking down on the city from where we were staying on the side of the hill to seeing family sitting around the table eating breakfast or dinner together, all the sights were beautiful. We saw so many beautiful sights on our journey and didn’t hesitate to jump out (barefoot), snap a few pics, and get back into the van to continue on. We didn’t stay at a resort at the beach but instead, we stayed at a big house with family and then we rented a small house when we went to explore the other side of the island. Instead of staying in one spot and enjoying all the tourist attractions, we went to experience the island.

The best way to experience Jamaica or any country is by experiencing the country! We drove along the coast along the whole island. We were constantly moving and seeing everything that we could and trying everything we could and it was beautiful.

No matter where you are, either at home or in another country, there are always beautiful sights to see. It’s all about your perspective.

6. Don’t Get Scammed

Another thing about Jamaicans, some of them really know how to scam tourists. One minute you’re walking to your car in the parking lot and the next you’re walking out carrying two carved wooden figures with your names on them.

True story.

I’m not going to go into depth but my father, looking like the epitome of a tourist, got scammed as the rest of my family walked ahead towards the parking lot and it was rough as 4 of us yelled “No!” as the man continued to carve and my father was forced to pay for it.

It seemed all nice and cute as the man said the two statues were of a king and a queen with my dad and mom’s name on them until we realized that the king had my mom’s name on it and the queen had my dad’s name on it, but hey it’s 2017 no judgement.

Plus on the one with my dad’s name on it, there were quite a few cross outs from other people who had seemed to worm their way out of the scam unlike my father. It went from “you don’t haf to pay me noting” to “come on mon you can give me more than that” in a heartbeat.

Know what you want and where you want to go. Name your price and stick with it. If someone is trying to sell you their work, compliment them on it and be nice but keep a firm no. Be able to walk past and hold your own and don’t end up buying things you don’t want. Make sure the gas pump is at $000.00 before they start. Don’t get scammed and have a good time. Good luck.

7. DO IT WHEN YOU CAN SO YOU DON’T REGRET IT WHEN YOU CAN’T

Is it possible for me to scream it louder for the people in the back???

Where did I get this quote from you ask? MYSELF. Yes I did come up with this myself and I’m actually quite proud of it. If you use this quote, you better give credit in your tweet or Instagram caption (@kasual_kook) (and the shameless promo continues). After slicing my foot open on a rock jumping into the water at the Blue Lagoon, I was nervous to jump off of the high cliffs into the ocean because they jutted out farther and I didn’t trust myself to jump out far enough and not get hurt.

So as my family went up to the top of the cliff and I sat at the bottom watching our stuff, I looked at the ocean waves coming in and thought of this. Will I regret this later? This is a trip of a lifetime and I might not be able to do this later or ever again. I’m going to regret it if I don’t. So when I finally got the courage to do it and was waiting for my family to come back so I could stop being the one to watch our stuff, my mother sent down one of the people working there to convince me to go.

This woman was THE WORST.

Like her motivational skills were at a -7. More like a -25 but that’s irrelevant to the story. Anyways, this woman comes up to me and explains that my mother called me a wimp and that she’s here to push me off the cliff because I’m too scared to jump off myself. And at this point I was READY. TO. GO. I wasn’t going to take anymore of this woman’s crap. And then she’s like “What’s your name anyways” and I say “Emily” (if you don’t know my name is Emily what are you doing with your life). And this woman comes out with “wow if that isn’t the most basic name I’ve ever heard. I bet your name was at the top of the average girls’ names in the year you were born.” And YES this woman was right and I’ve met so many Emily’s in my life it’s insane but that’s not what anyone wants to hear about themselves. So I immediately got up and walked over to the edge of the cliff and got ready to jump off. And looking into the greeny blue water, I could see the rocks jutting out from the side and my fears immediately returned. What if I went to jump off and I slip and hit a rock or my face, what if I don’t jump off the ledge far enough, what if I cut open my foot again and sharks come for me, what if the tide goes out and I just hit sand, what if everyone is watching me, what if I die?  But momma didn’t raise no wimp and I just looked at the water and I thought hey I was already there and I can’t just leave and I would regret it if I didn’t do it. Do it when you can so you don’t regret it when you can’t. So I jumped into the deep water and even though it burned my nose and I had to tread water for over a half an hour, I wouldn’t have it any other way and I’m happy I did it. Don’t let fear stop you from doing things you want to do. Don’t think oh I’ll do it tomorrow. Do it when you can so you don’t regret it when you can’t.

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And that’s it! Seven tips for life whether it be traveling or everyday life. I hope these help you at all or inspire you in anyway to live your best life. So whether you’re in another country or you’re at home and admiring the beauty around you, you’re jumping off cliffs or getting up and going to the gym, or you’re choosing between eating at a local restaurant where you live or a chain restaurant, remember these tips and make the choice to live your best and happiest life 🙂

“Do it when you can so you don’t regret it when you can’t”

Kasual kook xx