I ♥ the beach by Kathy

{Palm Beach, Aruba}

Best resort. I have to say the Holiday Inn at Aruba. It was by no means a 5-star (maybe a 3.5star?) but it was the best because the rooms were spacious, clean and the whole vacation was just so awesome.

Worst resort. The one we stayed in mexico. although it was a 5-star resort and really nice, the fact that we had to stay IN the resort after hours sucked. we're a 'choose your own adventure' type people and didn't like being confined in the hotel.

Tropical cocktail of choice. strawberry daiquiri and/or pina coloda

Favorite sunblock. australian gold.  smells like orange popsicles!

Beach tunes. anything 80s and regular top 40 stuff.

One magazine to bring. anything trashy - people, OK!, US weekly

Best tour operator. damn, i forgot the name. It starts with an "S" and has the word "Sun" in it (I think).  When the airline lost our luggage in Antigua, the lady who was our tour operator main contact/person went above and beyond to track our luggage down so that we got them about 2 or 3 days into our vacation. The airline told us "it'll get here when it gets here".  She was so awesome I tipped her $100US for doing that because she would spend hours on the phone arguing with these people when she went home!

Go-to travel agent/company. don't have one. We always do our own booking and research.

Travel essentials. sun block, books, mags, music, water, face cream, vaseline.  i've also learned to carry an extra set of clothes and toothbrush with me in my carry-on.