Oh Get A Room! :: A Weekend Staycation at the True Blue Bay Resort in Grenada

It's the end of the school year and I'm exhausted. Being a small business owner while staying efficient at my full time job burned me out good and proper. I was barely hanging on by a thread of chill. I was flustered, pressured, worried about the many deadlines threatening overhead and dealing with personal health issues that had no mercy on my weary soul. When the True Blue Bay Resort and Villas suggested I try a weekend stay in one of their astonishing Waterfront rooms I, get this, I was hesitant. Yes, you read that right. A fantastic Caribbean hotel offered me the chance at an all inclusive stay-cation and my first thought was but my clients though...

As the week went on, it became ever more clear to me that I had a bigger problem than exhaustion, self negligence. That isn't easy for me to say. Anyone I told about my pending stay-cation was loosing their mind with envy. I, was thinking about the time I'd loose sitting around at a hotel when I could be writing...don't hurt me! 

I knew I had to make a bold decision to put myself in check. It is not enough to talk about showing yourself love and care but we must practice it. I've said before that I actively have changed the way I speak to myself. On the weekend after the closing of the school term, I dared to also take a bold step in how I treated myself. So, I took a deep breath, I bit my lip, I packed my bags plus a quarter of my work load against my better judgement and I got a room! 

The True Blue Bay Resort and Villas is located on the Southern coast of the island of Grenada, about a 5 minute drive from  our international airport. It was easy to get there from our city's main bus terminal because the hotel is near the most thriving part of the city capital. They are off the beaten path though, so it did coast me a gentle fee for the bus driver to go off his stipulated main route and give me a lift into the hotels front entrance with my heavy bags. I always expect the driver to act like this request is a hassle but on the few occasions I've gone down that off route coarse (at most 3 times for work) they have been really kind and accommodating and I appreciate it. 

As we got to the hotel I could feel the adrenaline starting to course through my veins. I have not stayed at many hotels in my life, a night at a small bed and breakfast when I was kid, on my way to secure travel documents and last year when I had my life changing experience in Pittsburgh for the NOAH conference sums it up. This was different. This was a hotel in the Caribbean. This was the tropics, a place to which people save their entire lives to see even if just once. A place where I was born and raised and loved. This was a hotel influenced by my culture, by which my economy is heavily influenced. I was about to be a part of something heavily marketed to an international crowd with local eyes and it almost felt voyeuristic. As locals we don't pay much mind to the hotel market outside of work and business. Hotels are structures we give little notice to when we pass them, they are not viewed by we locals as having personal significance. Yet, here I was going on stay-cation and being s tourist at home. 

As a person who enjoys travel I could feel my curiosity stretch with my grin.

I made my way to the front desk and let them know I had a reservation. Some of the staff remembered seeing me on the premises for work or a portion of the chocolate festival a while back and I was greeted with a hearty 'Hi again, welcome back!' it was nice! While I signed myself in I was asked if I needed help with my bags. I did, and two staff members escorted me to my room. The glorious waterfront 42! 

The Room: We entered and I was given a brief layout of the room, the location of all the amenities and instructions as to how to contact the front desk for any help I sought. They also directed me as to how I could order off of the room service menu, print out provided. I got a quick tour of my room and yes, I was paying attention. Since my first experience of a proper hotel was in the United States, I was secretly ready to see how my home state stacked up! The lovely staff member showed me where everything was including blow drier, iron and ironing board and the necessary remotes.

Even though their was a heavy dose of neutral colours there were little details that made me happy as they were atmospheric to the Caribbean. The room was decorated with vibrant Caribbean hues as accent walls. What looked to me as a water colour styling. Perfect for a room on the waterfront, I thought. It had that clean and sterile feeling you want from any hotel. I attributed this to it's white walls, comfy white linen, minimalistic wall décor and room furnishings. 

They made it so that you remember where you are, a beautiful island in the Caribbean, but you are not made to feel over come by it. I loved the accents walls in Caribbean colours, the décor of fish in the iron hangings, the tiny starfish on the drapes and the woven style of the chest of draw furniture.

I must admit when I saw the furniture I was a little moved. It made me think of Saturday mornings at our local market. So many locals make their living out of carpentry and weaving of natural materials and I felt good that our local hotel housed furniture that put that kind of work proudly on display because this too is a part of who we are as a people, innovative and colourful.

As the name implies, the room over looks the waterfront harbour scene at the edge of the dock upon which the hotel restaurant is housed. Perfect for sunset gazing over open water and lazy boat sails curtsying to Caribbean breezes. 

It is also wheel chair accessible. As a visually impaired traveller, accessibility is something very important to me and the comfort of my stay. My room was spacious and minimalistic in design even with it's furniture so there was little chance of bumping into edges or knocking things over, which I am known to do with my poor depth perception. Less clutter more safety, if you've got a disability can be extremely handy! Yay for beauty and functionality working together. 

I turned in early Sunday night but realised that if I left the balcony door near my bed open, the sound of the ocean lapping against the deck was just the right volume to lull me to sleep. My drapes were thick enough so that bugs couldn't get in and I basked in a peace I haven't had for a while.

Stay tuned for a little highlight of the grounds in a post to come! Or do you want to see more of the available rooms? If so click here!