FLIP + CHING

Arrival at the Resort

Posted on November 17, 2017 by Ching under Travel.

I know I kind of posted some photos backwards. Before our first meal at the resort, we completed our in-room check-in with our butler. It’s actually kind of interesting. Jay got a video of it but I don’t know if he ever posted it anywhere.

Here were are at the lobby, waiting for our butler to come get us.

Here’s a picture of us with one of our butlers, Garth. He was the one on duty when we arrived. He met me and Brian at the resort lobby and gave us a 50-cent tour on our way to our villa/home for the week.

This is the view that greeted us as we entered our beach-front walkout villa.

Here’s a standard letter explaining butler service.

You communicate with your butler via a special phone. This letter explains that if you lose or damage the phone, the resort will charge you $100.

Here’s a picture of our bed.

They also did awesome towel art, like on cruise ships, but better because they incorporate local flowers and plants in the designs. Brian told me that they actually pick these flowers fresh right from the bushes outside your villa. He knows because he saw one of the housekeeping staff doing it one day.

They also use the flowers to decorate the food. We had a plate of cheese and crackers everyday around 5 pm. This one was there when we arrived and so we enjoyed some snacks while we completed our in-room check-in.

We also enjoyed some champagne while we were checking in.

This is a picture of the full-sized bottles of liquor that they give you in your not-so-mini bar in your villa. The sad thing is except for a splash of gin and a bit of the rum, we didn’t even make a dent. That’s probably not uncommon, though, considering you can get far more delicious drinks at the many bars on property.

Besides the full-sized bottles of liquor, you also get full-sized toiletries. Which is fabulous because it’s good stuff and you never run out. They also give you additional ones before you even run out. The best part about these is the tubes are sealed with foil so, for those who want to them them home as mementos, you don’t have to worry about the liquids exploding all over your clothes on the trip home.

After checking in, our first order of business was lunch. That was at Barefoot by the Sea, which I already posted about previously.

Jay and Becca’s room came available by the time we finished lunch so we went to check on their digs. Here’s a picture of us testing the bed.

It was nice and comfy!

Come back soon for the next installment of our Great Exuma adventure.

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First Meal at the Resort

Posted on November 14, 2017 by Ching under Food and Drink, Travel.

The four of us were pretty hungry from our trip so lunch was the first order of business upon arriving at the resort.

Our first meal at the resort was at this restaurant on the beach called Barefoot by the Sea, where shoes are completely optional.

The restaurant is also open for dinner but the menu is completely different. Here’s their lunch menu.

Jay and I both had the fish tacos, which was delicious but not quite what we expected. We were expecting the fish to be breaded.

Brian went the safe route and just ordered chicken bites and fries.

These are the jerk chicken quesadillas, which I think were also Jay’s.

This is the fish sandwich, which I think is what Becca had.

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First Impressions of Sandals Emerald Bay

Posted on November 11, 2017 by Ching under Travel.

Here’s video of us arriving at the resort.

Resort entrance.

Here’s a picture of the fountain in front of the main building at the center of the circular drive/rotunda. It’s quite a dramatic entrance.

A view of the driveway from the fountain.

A picture of us at the lobby, waiting for our butler.

The view as you walk through the main lobby.

The main building/entrance.

The main pool.

The tower above the mail pool bar.

Beautiful grounds with gazebos with builtin lounger beds everywhere.

There were also hammocks everywhere.

Another picture of the beautiful grounds.

The bandstand.

The area in front of the Drunken Duck.

The Jerk Shack.

The path to the resort spa.

The reflection pool in the middle of the property.

The resort has a special home for resort cats.

Come back tomorrow for stories.

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Another Year, Another Birthday

Posted on November 5, 2017 by Ching under Food and Drink, Life.

Last month was a very festive month. We celebrated almost every single day. Then again, I guess that’s just kind of how we are. We love living life and celebrate every moment. Here are some of the things that happened leading up to our trip to Great Exuma, Bahamas.

First, there was our escape room adventure with Kate and Deanna. Remember how we tried to do it last month but couldn’t do it because Escapology changed their hours on me so they were closed on the day we went? Well, we finally made it happen. We did the Cuban Crisis room and we escaped!

We couldn’t have done it without Kate, though. She was whiz at the puzzles.

We also hit all of our favorite restaurants during my birthday month.

We really shouldn’t have been eating out but your birthday month is a good excuse to fall off the wagon. Anyway, I won’t post all of the food pictures. I’ll just post one picture from each place and let you guys figure out where we went.

Besides our favorite restaurants, we also had the opportunity to try a new place we’d never dined at before when we met a couple of my Leadership Wichita classmates (Teresa and Jason) for lunch a couple of weeks ago. I will post all of these food pics because it was a first for all of us.

We ate at the Rail at Union Station because Teresa wanted to try one of the restaurants in the area as she hadn’t tried any of them yet. I suggested the Rail since I’d already been to the Kitchen. I actually suggested Mumbai Rail, which confused the heck out of Teresa who got there first. Apparently, Mumbai Rail is no more and has been rebranded as the Rail Scratch Cocktails.

We were all very worried at first because there was no one else at the restaurant besides our group for lunch. You know how the really great places are always busy and the terrible places are dead? We were sort of thinking along those lines. But we were already there and it was too late to back out.

Anyway, the food was surprisingly fabulous. At least, my meal was very tasty and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The quality of the food was definitely not representative of the restaurants lack of patrons. I later found a news article (through my friend Alicia who told me that she thought the restaurant had closed for good) that said the restaurant would no longer be open for lunch. The article was written back in June. I’m guessing people still don’t know that they’re open for lunch.

Which was good for us because it meant great food and no wait. LOL. Probably not great business, though. I hope the restaurant survives because I really did enjoy our lunch. Of course, the great company had a lot to do with that but I really did like their food. I actually want to go back at some point.

This was on Thursday, October 26, final day before departure. We flew out of the Wichita airport very early the next day.

Anyway, I’m sure you’re really anxious to hear about our trip to the Bahamas. I’ve got a few other things that I need to catch up on and then I’ll be able to devote some attention to a full-fledged trip recap. I hoping to do that by the end of the week so check back soon.

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Best Zumba Surprise Ever

Posted on October 26, 2017 by Ching under Zumba.

Missy, Brynden, and Andrea totally got me last week. Apparently, Andrea knew that Missy and Brynden were coming to 5:15 AM Zumba but they kept it a secret so they could surprise me. Not only did they surprise me by showing up to my early morning class but all three of them wore matching outfits to boot!