Unwind in the Beauty of Aruba: Pristine Beaches, Exciting Adventures, and Caribbean Charm

Aruba is such a beautiful place!! It has so much to offer for all types of people from hiking, golfing, ATV trails, beaches, caves, natural pools, hotels, casinos, and more! I grew up going here so I've done it all but here's how I spent my most recent 5 days :)

What to know before you go: 

The Aruba customs form has moved online!!! It is called the Aruba ED card. Make sure you fill it out before you go so that you don't end up like me and get to the front of the line, only to get sent back to fill out this form. The good news is the Aruba airport has wifi and the people working are very helpful. 

Day 1

The airline I chose was American. The ticket was the cheapest with reasonable hours. It still cost $980 USD round trip. Insane. I arrived in Aruba from Miami at about 1:30 and got out of the airport by 2 pm where my grandparents picked me up and we headed to their beautiful home.

After getting settled in, we went to dinner at Ruth Chris Steakhouse located inside the Marriott hotel. The people working also brought us Starbucks to drink. We drank an Iced Black Tea lemonade with strawberry syrup and 4 Splendas. For dinner, I had a French onion soup, filet mignon, and sweet potato casserole. My grandad and I shared a chocolate duo dessert. Dinner was on point delicious. 

Day 2

Shopping day! 
I started my day heading to Starbucks at the new Gloria mall. On the way, my grandad took us on a driving tour of that side of the island. We went to the lighthouse- pics below!

While waiting on my grandparents to finish their morning routine, I headed to the clubhouse gym. The day pass costs $16 and they're open from 9am to 5pm. They have all the equipment needed but no barbells. 

Right around noon, we headed to the shops downtown. I did some tourist shopping and bought a cute hat for me and a decorative item for my friend. In addition, we did some designer shopping and I got new shoes. 
We headed home around 4pm and then got ready to have dinner with some friends at BLT Steak. BLT Steak is located inside the Ritz Carlton hotel by the pool. The food was delicious. I had a wedge salad to begin and some crab, followed by a filet mignon with green beans and mashed potatoes, and finished that off with some hot mini doughnuts. I thought my steak was better than Ruth Chris but my grandparents said Ruth Chris has been consistently good while BLT has had on and off days. I was lucky to experience an "on" day. When we went home, I took a swim in the backyard pool!

Day 3

Day 3 was my first day of kitesurfing! I did mostly land stuff all lesson and then worked a little bit on body dragging with the kite. I signed up for another lesson the next day so that I could do it on the ocean with the board. I took my lesson at Aruba Active vacations: 

After my lesson, I came back to the house and swam in the pool for around 2 hours. For an hour of that, I took the best nap ever in the pool. 
Then we headed out to P.F. Changs. The food was delicious- way better than the U.S. P.F. Changs is located in the Gloria Mall with the Starbucks and new movie theater. I ate spring rolls to start followed by Mongolian beef with fried rice. Everything was delicious and they are open for lunch. We went for a late lunch so that we could watch the sunset later along this on road where everyone goes. It's the same road as the Marriott and Ritz hotels. 

After lunch I took the prettiest run of my life along the golf course. 

Speaking of the sunset- here's some photos: 

After we saw the sunset, we headed to the Marriott to get gelato to go then headed to Victoria's to get pizza to go for dinner. We had a cute Netflix night and ate some takeout. Also, I would HIGHLY recommend the Marriott Gelato because they have imported their machine and ingredients from Italy- its delicious. 

Day 4

I took my second kitesurfing lesson and then we headed to the Ritz-Carlton for a brunch around 11 am. The food was DELICIOUS! I wish I had photos but sadly I deleted my whole camera's SD card so I lost a huge majority of the trip. :( 
I ate fruit, a tiny waffle, eggs, drank blackberry juice, and had yogurt. Everything that touched my mouth was delicious- I have absolutely no complaints. 

After breakfast, I did some brief shopping from the Ritz shops. I got two new outfits, one of which I've inserted a photo of below. It's definitely my new favorite. 

Then, my grandad and I headed to a beachside cabana. The only photo of it I have is this one: 

Side note, though, the Iguanas are SO friendly, they will eat food right out of your hand. One of them even chewed on my camera strap. 
I had the best day on the beach! We also ordered two frozen drinks- I got a strawberry daiquiri and my grandad got a Pina colada. We loved them both.

We wrapped up our day at the beach around 4 pm. We headed to Sole Mare for dinner to get pasta out of a wheel of cheese. The garlic bread and pasta tasted phenomenal. I ate way too much bread- at least 8 pieces. 

Day 5

On day 5, I was flying back to Miami at 3:05 pm. In the morning, I went to retake some of the photos I had deleted. At 10:30, I met my nana at the Ritz to exchange my pants for a different pair since the others had a hole in them. After that, we went to Starbucks and headed home so I could pack up my things and shower before heading out. 
I flew home on American Airlines. There are no forms like the ED card that I needed to do in order to fly home. COVID testing is not required.