Jaunted

Beaches

Dude, Where's My Beach? Five Hundred Truckloads of Sand Swiped from Jamaican Resort

October 19, 2008 at 2:29 PM | 1 Comment

You know your country has a little theft problem when people are stealing sand from beaches. Authorities are on the trail of a team of thieves who boosted about five hundred truckloads of pristine beach sand from a planned resort at Coral Springs Beach in northwest Jamaica's Trelawny Parish. A theft of this magnitude can be devastating to a beach resort, and the project has been put on hold until they can recover or replenish their most important asset.

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Travel Delays

Hurricane Dean Travel Report

August 20, 2007 at 8:42 AM | 1 Comment

Hurricane Dean and its 150 mile-per-hour winds are currently heading for Mexico's Yucatan after battering Jamaica this weekend. Dean swept through Jamaica yesterday, knocking out power, ripping off roofs, and flooding many streets. However, throughout the ordeal Flickr photographer Robert Birkenes was able to take plenty of shots, including the one above, which some have guessed is a shot of Jamaica's Prime Minister checking out hurricane damage. Throughout the storm, Robert's internet connection apparently held up, for the most part, which is truly amazing.

This past weekend the storm brushed past the eastern and southern areas of the region including Martinique, St. Kitts and St. Lucia on Friday and headed straight for Jamaica and the Cayman Islands yesterday. Dean's landfall in Cancun and the Yucatan Peninsula is expected today.

Both airports on Jamaica were closed, with Air Jamaica cancelling all flights and rearranging travel plans for tourists. Major tour operators like Funjet and Apple Vacations let customers rebook trips to affected and threatened destinations at no extra charge. Other airlines such as Delta and Northwest waived change penalties and added extra flights to get tourists out of Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cancun. Cruises already en route to the area changed course to avoid the storm and headed to further eastern ports of call. If you are headed to the area this week or had travel plans, contact your airline or travel provider directly before making any moves of course!.

Related Stories:
· Air travel, cruises altered to avoid Dean [USA Today]

[Photo: Robert Birkenes]

Relationships

All-Inclusive Package, Including Man

January 2, 2007 at 10:00 AM | 0 Comments

The holiday season can be a common time to end relationships. That's an especially big problem if you've also got an expensive holiday booked. And that's the problem facing 39-year-old "insurance expert" Adam in England, who was dumped shortly before his planned (and self-paid) expensive, 5-star romantic holiday in Jamaica.

But Adam's not one to lose out on the cash (he works in insurance, remember) and he decided to auction off his ex-girlfriend's half of the trip on eBay. His fine print says "The only catch is you have to come with me." Apparently some seventy bidders so far have thought that won't be a problem, and the auction doesn't even end until January 6. While he's really only looking for a way not to lose too much money, who knows what the end result will be: remember the Croatian who married the girl who fit best into his ex-fiance's wedding dress? Have fun in Jamaica, Adam and auction-winner!

[Photo: Dan65]

Related Stories:
· Sunny Holiday With Me For Sale [The Sun]
· If The Dress Fits, Marry Her [Jaunted]

Jaunted Giveaway

Jamaican Cab Drivers Have Nudie-dar

October 5, 2006 at 5:52 PM | 0 Comments

We asked you for your "first time" stories and you delivered. The only requirement was that your first time story involve travel, in one way or another. Even Scarlett Johansson told us about her first time, but we didn't let her enter the competition.

Please welcome to the stage, Liz, who is our second of our two winners.

Congrats to Liz, who wins her choice of three Rough Guides First Time books.

Yeah, mentioning nudity gets us every time as well. So apparently, we like nudity and priests. Oh my.

Winning story #2 post click

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Celeb Travel

Scarlett Johansson & Josh Hartnett Play James Bond

April 19, 2006 at 10:19 AM | 0 Comments

Manhattanites Scarlett Johansson and Josh Hartnett recently jetted off to Jamaica for a pre-tax slash holiday weekend getaway at Goldeneye, the spot where Ian Fleming jotted down all those James Bond books. Since her return to Manhattan, Scarlett has been spotted with a bull ring in her nose. So just what goes on in Jamaica that makes you don a bull ring?

Where To Stay:
Goldeneye. Island Records founder Chris Blackwell added Goldeneye to his collection of boho-luxe island resorts back in 1977. However, he didn't open the place to guests, other than himself and his model/actress/rock star friends, until 1997. So who stays in these posh villas nowadays? Models, actresses, rock stars, and anyone who can afford to pay upwards of $1000 a night, the going price for a villa. For that price you will be treated to plenty of privacy, well, err, unless Scarlett and Josh stay there, then you will have to deal with paparazzi snipers with long range lenses hiding in the hills. Privacy aside, one of the coolest Goldeneye features is the resorts habit of piping music from the villas down to the beach. Très decadent.

What To Do:
Plant A Tree. Aside from frolicking and sunning on the usually deserted Flemming beach, Goldeneye guests can explore the lush resort grounds, drink scotch by candlelight, and plant a tree. Yup that's right, various trees on the grounds have been planted by guests, both famous and not so famous guests have planted tress on the property. Why do we have this sneaking suspicion that Scarlett and Josh planted a tree--doesn't it just seem like something they would do?

[image via IDLYITW]

Related Stories:
·   Goldeneye Resort Reviews [TripAdvisor]
·   Goldeneye Film Festival at Fleming's House [HotelChatter]

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