Tag 13 "Danki" Curacao - Welcome to Aruba

Day 13 (August 18, 2023)

Peter takes us to the airport in the morning. Anneke says goodbye to us in the villa - she will now prepare it for the next guests. Both of them warmly invite us to stop by their holiday apartments next time. On Curacao you have the “Kas Amigu” with a pool and smaller holiday apartments ( https://kasamigu.nl/en/ ). If you're not looking for an entire villa, I can really recommend their house. Two very nice people!

When Peter drops us off at the airport, it starts to rain. Really now???

Rain? Then let’s get out of here 😉

The airport is very clear. I booked a flight with “Winair” and found the counter quickly. The ladies at the counter are very nice and have fun when we ask if we can get contiguous seats. Seating is chosen here according to the “fcfs” principle – first come first serve! Oh – that’s something new!

At the airport I found a small set of three “Curacao liqueurs” that I hadn’t bought at the distillery and was annoyed afterwards. There's nothing going on at the gate. I look at the empty runway and see a huge drone about to take off! Cool!!! Military??? Of course, by the time I ran to the window and took out my cell phone, she was already far too far away and could hardly be seen in the picture. A pity.

Our Winair flight with the flight number “WM805” is scheduled to take off at 11:20 a.m. At 11 a.m. the ladies who were previously at the check-in desk open the door and take us out onto the tarmac via an escalator. While we are waiting for the shuttle bus, a luggage cart whizzes past in front of us and has so much speed that it easily loses 5 suitcases in the curve - and continues on!!!

We're having fun, but at the same time we're hoping that this won't happen to our suitcases. A second car then stops on the street and loads the suitcases into its car.

The shuttle bus takes us to the Winair plane, a turboprop - we already know it from our vacation in the Azores. The plane is already half full. As we learn, these are vacationers from St. Maarten who are now flying on to Aruba and have stopped over on Curacao.

We find 2 free seats on the left and right side of the plane. The flight duration is very manageable at 20 minutes. There is a “Bonaire” mini plane next to us. It starts in front of us – with no less than 5 passengers. Sohnemann emphasizes again that he would never get into such a small item and I am glad I didn't book with “Divi Divi Air”. They only fly with such small planes. I would have found it funny, but in the end the deciding factor was the price. Winair had the best offer for today!

Curacao says goodbye to us with a blanket of clouds. After just 20 minutes we land in Aruba and as we approach we see the Renaissance Aruba Resort, where we will spend the last night of our vacation.

To enter Aruba you must apply for an Aruba ED Card . It doesn't cost anything, but you should take a few minutes to fill out the forms. The QR code for entry was sent via email a few minutes later – no problem!

Booking a rental car in Aruba was difficult. In contrast to Curacao, everything is significantly more expensive here. I would have liked to book an SUV here too so that I could drive to Arikok NP without any worries, but I couldn't find a good deal there for the price. While the well-known rental companies wanted a paltry €1000 for an SUV or 4WD for 6 days, the local rental companies were at €700-800. Comparison: the SUV on Curacao cost us €650 for 13 days.

The supposedly cheap offers in Aruba turned out to be a scam because insurance was never included...

With gritted teeth, a mid-range car is booked from the rental company Wheels2Goaruba (wheels2goaruba.com), a “Nissan Versa type or similar, with space for 4 pieces of luggage. I'm excited - 4 people, 4 suitcases and 4 backpacks...

At the airport we treat ourselves to a Jack Daniels Tennessee Fire “Cinnamon” whiskey at the shop 😉

The pick-up service at the airport works perfectly – we are already waiting for us with a sign. A minibus waits in front of the airport, we load our suitcases and drive to the rental car station, 5 minutes away. That works. There are various Nissan Versas lying around in a backyard here. Looks good, we should have enough space and it seems to have enough ground clearance (I think in Arikok NP). As we were sorting out the formalities, an employee drove up with a freshly washed Chevy Cruise: our rental car! Crap, no Nissan Versa.

We already know a Chevy Cruise, we've already driven it in Miami and Abu Dhabi - it's not an issue in terms of luggage, but it's damn deep...

We can't change it, so let's go. There's room for our luggage, the car is spotlessly clean and cleaned, there's a scratch here and there on the outside, especially on the front plastic panel below the license plate. It seems that someone in front of us has already tried to drive off the road...

Due to the cancellation of our flights and the rebooking with another airline, our departure times have changed. Originally we wanted to return the car around 12 p.m., but now our return flight no longer leaves at noon, but in the evening. We ask if there is an option to keep the car for a few hours longer. The nice gentleman communicates with his boss and tells us that the car is unfortunately booked and that we can only extend it by a whole day at most, but that would be about €80 extra.

Hmm, crap… we only need the car for at most 2-3 hours longer and €80 for 2 hours is already steep….

The alternative would be to return the car at 12 p.m. and then sit at the airport for 5 hours. Also stupid...

The compromise is that we should ask on the day of submission whether an extension of 1 hour might be possible. Ok, then let's do that and wait...

We drive towards Sabana Liber, where our Villa Palmcourt (https://www.micazu.de/ferienwohnung/aruba/aruba-nord/nord/villa-palmcourt-12053/) is.

Unfortunately, I forgot to mark the exact location on our offline maps because we can't find the address. Damn. The three of us drive across the residential area and then a nice gentleman can help us. On the second attempt we find the villa and also the manager's house on the other side.

The villa is significantly smaller than Villa Clé on Curacao, but also has 3 bedrooms, a large living-dining area and a terrace with patio and pool. We are satisfied, it will be nice here 😊

The managers Fred and Lia show us everything and give us the tip that there are always cheap daily specials in the nearby supermarket “Super Food” on Eagle Bach. We haven't eaten anything since breakfast and we have to go shopping anyway, so off to the supermarket.

In Aruba you notice that the island is visited a lot by Americans. We feel like we're in America - I don't really see that as a positive thing. Just looking at the typical American hotel bunkers and bunkers makes me swallow. Ok, it's definitely different here than on Curacao.

We opt for the lunch menu, there is a selection of fish, meat, vegetables and wraps. Delicious – and cheap!

Afterwards we go shopping. Here we are shocked at the prices at first, but then realize that they are not dollar prices, but Aruban florins. Pretty easy to calculate, roughly :2 and you have the euro price. Then it works somewhat again. The Antilles guilder could be converted to Curacao in a similar way. By the way, the eye-catchers on the cheese shelf are the colorful cheese variations - welcome to the “Netherlands” - Gouda & Co are also a must in Aruba.

With the trunk fully packed we head back to the villa. Today it's chilling, unpacking, pool, dinner and playing card games - let's see what we do tomorrow.