Aruba, Jamaica, ohh I Wanna Take Ya....

Turning 31 ain't no joke. Translation: diving into your 30's is not as fun as it may look. With this in mind, I decided to book another tropical trip, but not on a cruise ship. I have a friend who went to Aruba in June & I fell in love with her pictures. I decided to book the same hotel that she stayed at. As it turns out, Southwest flies here, too! Take a look at my solo Aruba adventure. And if one more person would have mentioned Natalie Holloway's name, I would have screamed.

I spent 5 nights at the Marriott Stellaris and Casino in Palm Beach, Aruba. My favorite part of the room? You guessed it, the balcony! 

 View from my bed in the morning......

For my birthday, I booked a tour with de Palm tour - 7 hr jeep tour to Baby Beach.
(More info below)

First stop, ostrich farm...

The Caves

 Then we went to the area where the Natural Bridge used to be located, however, there are still beautiful rock formations where the ocean brushes through the rocks.

 We concluded the day at Baby Beach. It's a beloved portion of Aruba that's only 15 miles off the coast of Venezuela. 

I also spent a day with friends on a private island called De Palm Island. A view from my hut

Now back to the hotel, here are a few random shots -

Waves Pool, has the swim up bar or you can walk around and sit like I did.

This is a view of the main pool.

A view from the hotel area of the beach - it was quite a dramatic process to rent a palapa, so I opted out and did not spend time at the beach near the hotel.

And now, I've saved the best for last... the sunsets from my balcony -- HEAVEN.

Additional information:

I used De Palm Tours (http://www.depalmtours.com/)  for airport transfers ($15 round trip and you get great island scoop!)

I also booked my birthday tour (included lunch at a local place) through De Palm for $109:
http://www.depalmtours.com/baby-beach-land-rover-safari/

De Palm Island all inclusive day - a friend's niece was able to score us student tickets. I would NEVER pay the full price ($100) for this. It's definitely not worth it for cheap food and drinks. The banana boat and snorkeling was not available due to rough waters. The waterpark portion was also not open due to renovation. 

http://www.depalmtours.com/de-palm-island

Hope you've enjoyed this very brief tour of my 4 days in paradise. Well worth the travel and time, would definitely go back in the future. Cheers to my 3o's!