First of all – here are the photos from Curacao & Aruba. If you’re in a hurry, check the best 15 photos, but in case you’ve got time, see them all.
Here are a couple of tips for those who are planning their trip to ABC Islands.
I don’t know did we just have bad luck with our pilots, but on both cross-atlantic flights with American Airlines we experienced something which would feel pretty impossible with airlines like Finnair. Just before starting to cross the ocean, the pilot says: “Hi folks… we might have a small problem here… It’s something to do with the meters… We are checking at the moment whether or not we can cross the ocean…”.
Ok, it’s cool that he lets us know if something is wrong – but it wasn’t even sure if there really is a problem. So why to tell this to the people on board and make them nervous?
Some time passes, and the pilot announces: “Hi again, folks… It seems we have the problem pretty well solved and we can leave the French airspace.”
I really would have slept much better the next 8-9 hours on board without knowing that they had a problem in the cockpit which they got “pretty well” solved.
Maybe it’s just a foreign attitude, but – as I said – it’s hard to believe hearing that kind of uncertain announcements from the cockpit on Finnair fights.
Anyway, we got to Curacao & Aruba alive and well. Here are the tips if you’ll ever travel there:
Stay at “Howard Johnson Plaza” at least a couple of nights. It’s not too expensive not not too fancy either, BUT nothing beats the location. Try to get a room with a view to Punda (the other side of Willemstad).
Visit Kura Hulanda museum to get a good historical overview of the island’s history of slavery.
Eat at El Toro, a nice-price restaurant with a large variety of different kinds of meat dishes. Spend an evening at Mondo Bizarro bar/restaurant at Punda. Probably the coolest atmosphere of all the restaurants on the island. Check the photos:
Forget the evil tourist crowded beaches and head to north of the island in the morning and find a whole lagoon for yourself with white sand and incredibly clear waters for snorkeling.
In Aruba, check Pinchos restaurant – less than one kilometer from Oranjestad centrum. Excellent service, good food and probably the best view of the island’s restaurants. Make sure to get a table before 18:00 and you’ll get a perfect sunset for starters :)
A good tip for people using traveller’s cheques: you can cash your cheques at any Casino on the island, without any extra commissions and with good exchange rates. The same doesn’t work in Curacao, though.
Stay at Arubiana Inn at least for a couple of nights. The place is incredibly cosy, the owner is very nice and the location not bad at all. Compared to the horrible resorts everywhere, Arubiana Inn is a true gem among those. The prices are very nice, also if you rent snorkeling stuff or anything similar, you’ll get it cheaper than most of the places. The poolside is chilly and the 5,5e breakfast fills you up for sure. Only 19 rooms make sure you’ll get individual service, unlike those huge hotels.
The owner told us that in some of the big hotels the visitors pay up to 700-800e a night and end up lining up at 7a.m in the morning in order to get a sunchair on their private beach. What a vacation… And there they sit on their incredibly crowded private beach, unable to move anywhere and just 100m to the left or right you’d find kilometres of free beach. But without sunchairs. Or a bar. Or shower! That’s a reason to stay at your private beach. At least I’m happy they did :)