Westjet and Air Canada to Jamaica

It took seven trips for this to happen but finally my favorite Canadian airline, Westjet, started flying to Montego Bay last year. It was a welcome change to the monopoly that Air Canada had because now there could be price wars! YAAY! Air Canada’s airfares to Montego Bay NEVER fluctuated until now. They pretty much run neck in neck and that gives me more choices, since I frequently got stuck on USA based airlines who’s routes to Montego Bay were anything but direct!

I first flew Westjet to Jamaica for my birthday in 2008. The coolest part about it was the TV’s in all the seatbacks. If you didn’t want to watch anything on TV you automatically get to watch where your plane is in real time! My favorite part was falling asleep somewhere in the USA and waking up over Cuba. Its all on the screen in front of you. It makes the anticipation of getting there ridiculously fun!

Westjet Seatback Display

Both airlines travel the exact same route on the same schedules, which makes me wonder how they can possibly charge different fares.� Calgary to Toronto to Montego Bay, most flights are the red eye leaving at midnight-ish and arriving in Toronto at the crack of dawn.  Its a little bit painful if you can’t sleep well on planes.  But the BEST part of this flight schedule is you arrive in Jamaica around noon the same day you left….its like an extra day!

Both airlines do have direct flights but they’re rare and more expensive.  Only once out of all my trips I’ve been lucky enough to catch a direct, short 6 hour AC flight that was super cheap.  It was the trip I took my son on in 2004 and it was only $600 CAD per person.  Unheard of.   For the next 4 years I never got a good deal, paying as much as $1000 CAD for my flights.  Now that its recession time I’m cashing in big time!  4 months ago I went for $600 again on Westjet, and in two weeks I’m going on Air Canada for $530.

My favorite moment flying to Jamaica was this kid in the video below.  He was seated beside me on the plane and was really friendly.  His story was this:  He was 19 years old and moved to Toronto a while back.  This was his first time going back to Jamaica since he left and he was going to visit his mother in Clarendon.  She didn’t know he was coming.  I was excited for him.  Part way through the flight I got really tired so before I went to sleep I told him if he wanted to listen to my MP3 player he could.  It’s always loaded with plenty of reggae and dancehall music so he’d be happy with it.  About an hour later I awoke to this kid singing his heart out with my headphones in LOL!  And he was FAR from on key.  He was attempting to sing a Tessane Chin song.  Plug your ears.

This boy was so adorable though, as we approached Jamaica he was trying to look past me out the window.  He’d never flown into Jamaica before and asked me if you could see the outline of the island, like on a map.  I had to chuckle.  It was so cute.

Anyways, Westjet to Montego Bay went off without a hitch.  All flights were on time and no lost luggage…..UNLIKE any US based airline I’ve ever flown, and everything was smooth.

Oniel’s House

On my 2006 Sumfest trip I was all over the place. A few days in Ocho Rios, then Montego Bay, and I had considered hitting Negril for a few days too. As luck would have it I accidentally ran into a guy in Mobay that I knew from YEARS ago in Negril. As it turned out he and his cousin now owned a house up the hill in Negril and had a spare bedroom that he could rent to me for a few nights. Sold! He picked me up the next morning at my hotel in Mobay and off we went.

Verandah at Oniel's house

His house was up the hill in Negril with a similar view of Alice’s house, you can see in THIS POST. But they’re actually not that close together. Here’s Oniel’s view of 7 Mile Beach, and a house being built just below.

I caught these children always playing in between the houses being built. I frequently sat on the verandah writing in my jounal and sipping Rum and coke.

Picture of children in Negril

Oniel’s place was quite nice. 3 bedrooms and very spacious. He lives there with his cousins and apparently rents this spare room out to other international people he knows, when they visit Jamaica. This is the room I got. It was so nice sleeping right under the window because up in the hills there is a constant breeze.

Every day I had these little guys nipping at my heels! I adored his puppies! And they seemed to like to follow me around everywhere I went.

The coolest thing about up where the house is, something I never experienced before, were bike taxi’s. The roads coming up the hill are pretty bad for cars so you can’t catch a real taxi to come up here. But at the bottom of the hill there are guys on motorbikes who take people up and down the hill. I noticed the same thing up where Alice lives. I never had the opportunity to try one though, because my friends all have cars and pretty much drove us anytime we went somewhere. Next time I’ll try one on purpose.

And last but not least, this is where I spent the majority of my time at Oniel’s place. Sitting in this spot writing and enjoying the scenery and relaxation.

This was a popular spot on the veranda. I sat and watched his cousin get his hair twisted one day too. It was neat to watch and visit with the cousin who was doing it. Below you’ll see what she was doing to his hair, and the finished product was his whole head twisted.

Picture of Jamaican hair twists

Ocho Rios School

I couldn’t resist hanging around this school since it’s right beside Little Shaw Park guest house, where I’ve stayed a few times. Every morning at the guest house I wake up to the sound of singing or playing children. Unfortunately we weren’t allowed inside the gates to tour the inside of the school during class time so here are the shots I got of the school exterior.

Picture of Jamaica school sign

A lot of Jamaica’s history and culture is displayed on the outside of schools, which is great because it even teaches travelers as well as the children! This next picture shows the 3 counties of Jamaica; Surrey, Cornwall and Middlesex. The other areas on the map are the various parishes, which have evolved into these current ones over the decades.

Map of Jamaica parishes and counties

Jamaica also has several national symbols. I’m not going to explain them all….this will give you something to Google. My favorite is the coat of arms though, because it displays Jamaica’s national motto: Out Of Many, One People. If only everyone lived by that motto.

Picture of Jamaica's national symbols

And last in this post, but certainly not least are Jamaica’s national hero’s! If you’ve done any research at all on Jamaica you probably recognize at least Norman Manley since Kingston’s airport is named after him, and so is the longest road through Negril. To save you the Google for the rest of them, CLICK HEREfor a fabulous page of information about each of them.

Picture of Jamaica's national heroes

I promise to bring back more pictures of schools next month. I’m leaving for the island again in a couple weeks! Stay tuned………..