our trip to paradise – part i

I have been pretty excited to write this series of posts. It’s been over five years since Mr PugRunner and I have had a serious, adults-only, pretty-much-completely-disconnected-from-reality vacation. Don’t get me wrong. Thanks to some amazing friends, we have been able to get away for a night or two (for which we are eternally grateful), but we were long overdue for four or five days of just us.

Mr PugRunner turned 40 on January 1. He loves to travel and he loves having a fuss made, so I approached him with some options. I could host a party for him, invite some close friends to a super fancy dinner out, or we could find a great deal on a trip and take a vacation. My mom and stepdad would be in town for a few weeks around the Christmas holiday, and they are forever encouraging us to take advantage and get away. Mr PugRunner chose Door 3, and I got a blessing on dates from my mom. We started the trip research.

While I know he would have loved a return trip to Maui (we had been for our honeymoon and we would love to go back), it was just too far and too expensive, so we looked closer to home. We checked out Vegas, Key West, Savannah, and on a whim, I went to Atlantis.com. Just to see. I fully expected to be priced out of anything they had to offer, due to the timing (right around the holidays and the new year), but, what to my wondering eyes did appear, but a travel deal to end all deals.

Wow. That was cheesy. Sorry. I won’t let that happen again.

Long story short, we were able to book four nights in the Royal Tower, with airfare, for a steal. The only glitch was that we had to fly out of airport two hours away instead of the closer one (huge difference in the cost of the flights), but we were willing to be inconvenienced for the chance to get out of the country for a peaceful, tropical vacation.

We decided to only book a few dinner reservations (Nobu and Casa D Angelo), and one excursion (the shallow water interaction at Dolphin Cay). That way, we could spend the majority of our time exploring and relaxing, something Mr PugRunner believes we don’t do often enough.

On the Wednesday before Christmas, we took a quick flight into Nassau. We secured a car and driver at the airport, who served us Kalik from his trunk, before embarking on the 30 minute drive to Paradise Island.

Atlantis was every bit as impressive in person as it appears on line: huge and grand, with fountains and sculptures and murals. It was like nothing we’ve ever seen.

I snapped a quick photo of the setting sun over the marina (full of breathtaking yachts) before we were escorted inside to the front desk. We were checked in quickly (Mr Pug Runner handled that while I admired all the Christmas decorations

and taken up to our room, on the 12th floor of the West Tower. It was a nice little walk.

And for this view? Absolutely worth it.

Is this not the most postcard-perfect view? This is what we saw. Every day and night. To the right, the beautiful ocean. To the left, the cruise ships and Dolphin Cay. That’s right. We could see the dolphins swimming from our room. Every. Single. Day.

It was enough to make me not want to leave.

We took a few minutes to settle in and shower away the grime of a day of traveling. Mr PugRunner had the start of a headache, but freshening up seemed to help. Having no plans, we decided to take a walk out to the marina and see what we could find for dinner.

The Atlantis marina boasts that it is trying to be the next Monte Carlo, and judging by the yachts in the slips, they’re doing a heck of a job. I’m not really a boat person, but even I was impressed by the luxurious crafts. Definitely made for some interesting people watching.

Wandering past jewelry stores and surf shops, we finally decided on Carmine’s, a New York based, family style restaurant. We managed to get seats at the bar and ordered a serving of penne a la vodka with a  side of sausage. The pasta came on what could only be described as a large platter, and we received four monstrously plump links to go with it. Everything was delicious, but the portions were obscene, especially for only two. We ate what we could, and were stuffed by the time we tabbed out. It was a good thing we had a nice, long walk back to the room.

I’m not embarrassed to say we were in bed early. Sleep is a hot commodity and the idea of a full night with no interruptions but the sound of the ocean breeze and waves through the open sliding door was too great of a temptation. It was so peaceful and even though I woke up around 6:30 (Darn you, body clock. Darn. You.), I felt so incredibly rested.

Rested enough to lace up my Mizunos and take off for a run (more on that later).

We spent the entire duration of our trip on property. There was so much to do and see, and enough of a variety of restaurants that we never got bored or felt the need to head into Nassau. Every time we went out, we discovered something new to do or see and there was never a shortage of interesting activities. Mr PugRunner had purchased an international plan for his phone that allowed us 15 minutes of call time, plus unlimited free incoming texts and a set amount of outgoing texts, so we were pretty disconnected. We were able to check in with little man on occasion but other than that, we were unplugged.

It was  a good thing.

Tomorrow I’ll share some of the activities we did and some of the fun places we visited. Needless to say, I was very impressed with the resort, the staff, the customer service and the offerings. I am kind of hoping we can find similar deals in years to come so we can make it a regular thing.

Stay tuned.

Have you ever been to Atlantis? 

What’s your favorite style of vacation (spending the day on the beach with no schedule? taking tours  and going on excursions with a set itinerary? somewhere in between?)