We often joke that we have a hard time making decisions, EXCEPT for when it comes to travel. Originally, Brittany and I were signed up to attend a UMF alumni trip to Italy. But it became clear over time that the costs were outpacing what we could comfortably afford/had budgeted. So, we withdrew from that trip, got our deposits back, and sat on my couch one day in February with a spreadsheet and our laptops. Because every trip we take has a spreadsheet with all the details, haha. After a bunch of initial searches on flights and hotels etc, we decide we’d go to Grand Cayman!
I had never been to Grand Cayman before, and it had been a long time since Brittany had seen the island during a family cruise. We booked it for 5 nights + 6 days, and we were STOKED. And a plus – we were able to book the trip and have all our spending money for the same cost as our Italy deposit. So we felt pretty good about our choices. As we always say, “we make great choices!”
Our Stay
We had a half day or so of travel on either end of the trip, with four full days in Grand Cayman in between. It was absolutely amazing! Grand Cayman was perfect because there’s not a whole lot of variety in terms of excursions, so we were forced to do a fair amount of relaxing too. We got super lucky and had perfect weather the whole time we were there!
We stayed at the Locale which was perfect because they included an amazing breakfast menu for us to choose from. So that also helped significantly with expenses! Here are some highlights from our time there:
- The Crystal Caves // We did an amazing tour of the Crystal Caves and it was sooo cool! Our tour guide was super knowledgeable and funny, and the caves themselves were incredible. Definitely worth it! (We paid for 50% of this excursion with points and then split the other half.) It was great too because they provided transportation to and from our hotel, and we were able to see the other side of the island on our 40 minute drive.
- The Turtle Center // Okay, so when I looked it up it said it was 6.5 miles away, so I literally said to Brittany “we can totally walk there.” And so we did! We walked along 7 mile beach as far as it would take us, and then started walking along the roads after that. It was a super hot day and we were dying by the time we got there but it was a super cool way to see the island. It was pretty clear that most tourists don’t walk all that way on that side of the island, haha. Before we got to the turtle center, we found an awesome local restaurant to eat at for lunch, and it was right on the water. Sooo gorgeous! We loved the turtle center for a lot of reasons but especially because we got to snorkel with the turtles!! Amazing experience.
- Riding the “bus” // The public transit there is unlike anything I’ve seen. There’s no set routes, they’re all independent contractors, but there are different color “lines.” We missed the shuttle after the turtle center to get a free ride back to our hotel, so we waited for a bus. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen Harry Potter, but it felt like we were on the Knight Bus. I’m glad we got to experience it though! If we go back, I’d probably avoid it as much as possible hahah.
- Governor’s Beach // On our 8+ miles of walking to the turtle center, we discovered Governor’s Beach and knew we wanted to go back. So we spent one of our mornings there and it was so wonderful. We just floated in the beautiful water for hours.
- Reading at sunset // Each night we walked down to the beach access right by the hotel (they let you borrow beach chairs too), and sat down with our books and read until it was dark. Absolutely perfect.
- General exploring // We did our usual photo walk when we go somewhere, where we just walk a ways to take photos of fun things and do a little bit of shopping! We did this on the last night, and we walked into “town” so we could eat at the Hard Rock Cafe (one of our traditions), and on the way back I developed an insane heat rash on my legs and feet and ended up with a bunch of broken blood vessels. It was so painful to move, haha. Thankfully that was our last night!
- Ms. Piper’s Kitchen // the CUTEST little local restaurant that is totally tucked away. Again, we found it on one of our wandering walks. It was our favorite place that we ate while we were there!! We were on our way back to it the night of the heat rash, but I couldn’t handle sitting down, haha.
We did find a good amount of sea glass, and we saved money by getting some groceries and eating what we could in our hotel room using the microwave and fridge! We had signed up for an excursion where we’d swim with sting rays and go out on a boat to a reef area, but it kept getting rescheduled because of it being too windy, and we ended up getting our money back because we couldn’t do it. By the end of the trip we had walked a little over 25 miles!
The finances
Shared expenses were as follows (meaning these were what we spent money on for things that we both did/ate together and we just split them 50/50 at the end of the trip):
- Flight + hotel – $1540.65 per person. We booked the package through Orbitz I believe.
- Turtle Excursion – $82.80
- Crystal Caves – $133.50
- Checked bags – $70
- Dining out + groceries – $369.75
- Transportation – $125.98
My individual expenses:
- Snacks and eating out (mostly during travel days) – $90.68
- Souvenirs – $30
Our goal was to keep our trip around $2100 per person, and I think we came in $50 under budget!
The photos
You can see a fun reel of our trip here.
To see other travel posts, you can check them out here.
Linda is a Portland-based photographer specializing in weddings and creating family legacies from Portland to Boston and across New England. You can see more of her work online at lindabarryphotography.com, on Instagram, or on Facebook. If you want to reach out directly: linda@lindabarryphotography.com.
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