By Molly Flynn

Hi, I’m Molly, and I love traveling. My absolute favorite places to go are warm, beautiful Caribbean islands. This is a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea east of North America. There are thousands of islands and 26 countries there, including the Cayman Islands, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Anguilla, Antigua, British Virgin Islands, Guadeloupe, Montserrat, Saba, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Martin, Saint Maarten, Saint Eustatius, and—my favorite—Aruba.

I’m going to tell you all about Aruba. I will break it down into parts: shops; food; pools and beaches; and miscellaneous.

Shops: One of my favorite things to do on vacation is shopping. One of my favorite places to shop there is Vadavas. Vadavas is an accessory business only in Aruba and Columbia. The people who work there are single moms and they do it at their house for an extra source of income without sacrificing time for their children. I think they have beautiful jewelry and they are very inspiring. Next is the Aruba Aloe store. There are 17 stores. It’s only in Aruba. If you don’t know already, aloe is a plant filled with a gooey substance. Aruba is famous for aloe, so one of the most popular businesses is the aloe store. The aloe store has many things from body scrubs to burn ointments. 

Food: Food is life, and when I travel, I love to try new foods. The first restaurant I would like to talk about is Yolo. Yolo is my absolute favorite restaurant in the world! There are four types of Yolo restaurants: Tapas, Rainforest Cafe, Burger and Shake stand, and Pancake House. My favorite one is tapas, so I’m going to talk about that one. If you don’t already know what tapas is, (not the rug) tapas are small meals or appetizers. My favorite meal is a mini filet mignon drizzled with chimichurri sauce. It is so good, and the steak melts in your mouth. My favorite thing about Yolo is that you can listen to some amazing music, eat the most delicious food and enjoy Aruba all at the same time!

Pools and beaches: One of the things that Aruba is known for is its exquisite pools and beaches. The beach is a beautiful place where you can watch the sunset while floating in the ocean. Since it’s so hot, it’s nice to cool down in a pool or at the beach. What I love about the beaches is that there are many spots, the sand doesn’t stick to your feet, and people even braid your hair there! Also, the sunset is beautiful. My family took our holiday card picture when the sun was setting there. (But don’t take any coral, sand, rocks, or seashells from Aruba; it is illegal.) Now, pools are amazing at all the hotels I’ve been to. What I love about the pools is that they all have a swim-up pool bar. For many pools, it depends but most of them allow kids at the pool bar. Also, most pools have a pool or waterfall.

Miscellaneous: It’s time for miscellaneous. It takes about four hours from New Jersey to get to Aruba by plane. Aruba has many iguanas and actually one time an iguana stole a cheese stick from me, and another iguana sat on my phone. It was scary but also kind of funny. Also, I’ve been to Aruba more times than I can count. My favorite hotel to stay at is the Marriott. And tours are another big thing in Aruba. Sometimes it feels like you’re going to fly off the car when you’re on very bumpy mountains. One time the car next to us had their steering wheel stop working and they were on the side of a cliff! Luckily they were ok.

Aruba is a super fun place and I really recommend it with its many shops, delicious food, beaches, fun activities, and MUCH MUCH more. I hope this persuaded you to travel to Aruba.