Why
Real Jamaica Vacations
is really Jamaican

Hello. Thank you for spending time on my first website, Real Jamaica Vacations.

I usually find it easy to write about things that I know well. So I'm a bit surprised at how difficult it is to write about myself for a cyber audience. Harder than I imagined! Let me take a deep breath, and dive in.

My name is Allison.

I was born and grew up in rural Jamaica. Not all rustic like in a cow shed or anything (sorry if I disappoint), but in a small town in the countryside. Raised with my brother and sisters by a mother, father and grandmother who taught us to observe and enjoy our surroundings, and who found joy and entertainment in small things.

We would watch the stars, track comets, go to the beach before dawn to see how the water felt, go for a drive at dusk to see if there were any owls on the fence posts. We noticed the sound of the tree frogs at night, learned that June plums don't bear in June, and are actually "Jew" plums, laughed at my brother trying to say "film" and "desk", not "flim" and "deks".

We were well educated through common sense, good example, and excellent schools.

There's a song that sums it up:

"What a nice place fi live, sweet Jamdown, the only problem is, dollars nah run!"

Translated for the visitors, that means:

"Jamaica is a great place to live, but there's never enough money!"

So I decided to try something that I would love, knew a lot about, and could do from home without disrupting my family life or my job as a teacher. All my life I've been in love with Jamaica, especially
St. Elizabeth , where I was born. Now I'm happy to have a website telling you about sweet Jamdown from my perspective.

I didn't know a thing about building a website when I started. Now I know a thing or two, thanks to a program called Site Build It (SBI), which I found by searching on the net.

I hemmed, hawed, and hemmed some more, and finally mentioned it to someone I knew personally. To my surprise I found out she had recently started a website herself using SBI!

I took the plunge. Tremblingly, I used my US dollar credit card for the first time, and haven't regretted it for a minute.

The things I've learned and the pictures I've taken!

I'll be forever grateful to my daughter and her little Canon camera that was a gift from her uncle just when I needed it most. The majority of the pictures on the site were taken with that camera, the rest by friends and family.

After sharing my personal experiences and insights into Jamaica, all the little things which my childhood taught me to observe, I hope visitors will feel compelled to visit, explore and discover what the island has to offer.

For Jamaicans, I hope Real Jamaica Vacations will help you to discover things about our island you never knew, or encourage you to recognise the good things that sometimes get lost in the trials of day to day living.

Whoever you are, wherever you're from, I hope the time you spend on my site will be informative and enjoyable.

If you have any comments about the site, or suggestions you'd like to make, please take a moment and fill out the short form below.

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