My heart starts to race excitedly and the plane starts it's decent. We are here, finally, we are here. It has felt like an eternity before our ocean holiday eventually started. Before our trip, we made a turn at our doctor to ensure the area where we were going was safe.
My heart starts to race excitedly and the plane starts it's decent. We are here, finally, we are here. It has felt like an eternity before our ocean holiday eventually started.
When my husband and myself got married, we procured some holiday points. It helps a lot as all the places to go to on holiday is sooo expensive.
So, since then we have had a tradition to save up our points for 3 years and then go on one nice long holiday. And here we are again. The ocean is calling, beckoning us to its shores with 3 kids in tow now.
Before our trip, we made a turn at our doctor to ensure the area where we were going was safe. We asked about injections for malaria and other viruses that may be present in the area. Once everything was medically done and safe we were on our way.
Renting a car, first things first.
After getting our luggage we all followed Papa bear to the car rental service at the airport. While walking, the kids are having an argument about what color the car should be. Child no 1 wants a Pink car, really, can’t see that one happening, no 2 wants a blue car and no 3, well, she’s just looking at them as if a ball is being passed.
Papa bear winks at me when we get to the front desk of the rental car company, then he puts on an extremely serious face as he continues to ask – “Hi, there, please sir, my daughter wants a pink car, any in stock?”
I feel a giggle rising up at the pit of my stomach but manage to keep a straight face. No 1 is looking with so much expectation at the rental guy that I’m sure his squirming under the intensity of her stare.
To Mr rentals credit, he smiles and very seriously replies – “I am so sorry sir, the last pink chariot has left the building prior to your arrival.” No 1’s face drops with disappointment. Papa bear turns and says “So sorry honey bun, no pink ones. Maybe next time.”
“So, what do you have in blue?” Mr rental guy smiles and starts to tell us all our options. We ended up deciding between 3.
Chrysler town got an immediate no from papa bear. I knew why he’s itching to test drive either the Nissan Frontier or Ford Escape. So, when the Rental guy did not mention either of those in blue, I knew it was coming.
“Do you have either Nissan Frontier or Ford Escape?”
I could see the pent-up excitement on his face. When Mr. Rental guy confirmed that they do in fact have a 2016 Ford Escape in red, I could see papa bear jumping up and down on the inside.
“So kids, what about a red car?” They were easily persuaded and Papa bear was ecstatic. I did not dare touch him due to fear of being shocked. Seriously, if I looked closer, I was sure I could see tiny static running all over his being.
Here we go
The bonus of flying is that there is not so much luggage. Thus, the luggage fitted in the Escape without any difficulty.
The nice thing about renting a car is that you get to properly test drive a car, in our case for two weeks. Papa bear was like a little boy as he was cruising down the highway. He was explaining to me about the 1.6L engine that delivers 178hp at 5700rpm. Additionally, the base model is front wheel drive and the one we are currently driving is an all-wheel-drive model. It also features a 15.5-gallon gas tank and delivers a fuel consumption of 22/29mpg.
He was carrying on like a dedicated car salesman. I smiled and made an hmm sound while I smiled and nodded at all the appropriate spaces. I knew this big boy was just like a little boy with a new toy. As they say right, boys and their toys…
Meeting the local seagulls
We went to a nice little roadhouse next to the beach for some lunch. We got our order and parked the Escape so that we were overlooking the ocean. We sat outside on the rocks. Such a nice view as the waves broke and the wind gently sprayed us with ocean mist.
No 2 was holding a fry out of the window as he stared across the ocean when suddenly something grabbed the fry out of his hand. He screamed like a little girl!
A seagull took advantage of the hypnotic effect of the ocean and before we knew it we were surrounded by fry-stealing seagulls coming from who knows where.
Suddenly, we knew what it felt like to be surrounded.
The kids freely gave up the last of their fries in fear of seagull stares going mafia on us or being bitten. This, we took as our queue to get moving again.
The Escape
The rest of our trip ran smoothly even though we had two nights of extreme mozzy (miskito, the insect kind) attacks, we knew all was fine. Everyone had their injections and no viruses were going to make us ill.
We enjoyed BBQ’s in the sunset overlooking the ocean and playing in the sand. We even got the opportunity to see some crabs and dolphins.
The thing I loved about the Escape, the SUV, is the large back seat, the kids had a ball, with plenty of space for themselves. The front seemed a bit smaller than with other SUV’s I’ve seen but the backseat and the luggage space makes up for it.
Some other small things that also made me like the Escape was the cruise control, backup camera and illuminating vanity mirrors. But the best is the overhead storage compartment, I could really get used to those. I can start to see why Papa Bear had his eye on the Escape. I just wonder does it come in pink?
Conclusion
The trip was amazing, we loved the Ford Escape and the escape from our busy lives’. The calming effect of the oceans draw refreshed us and we gained new strength to face our lives back home again. We were protected by our doctor, thus, we did not bring any bacteria home either.
How awesome was the fact that we need not drive all those miles back home. We got on an airplane with the refreshing effects of a 2-week ocean holiday still lingering all around us even as we got back home. On top of it all, we were protected by our doctor, thus, we did not bring any bacteria home either.