A Few Tips for Traveling to Atlantis. There are few destinations anywhere in the world to rival the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas. Located in Nassau Paradise Island, the hotel and resort complex are enormous and can be a bit intimidating if you don’t have the right information upon arrival. Of course, the hotel does a wonderful job of making all sorts of useful material available covering a wide variety of activities and attractions, but there are some things I wish I had known before I began packing that might help you before you take the trip of a lifetime.
Let’s take a look at a few tidbits that will be very important once you’re on the island. The first of these is the specific documents you need to travel. As a single parent, these will differ depending on your ex-spouse’s current whereabouts, their disposition legally toward the child, and your rights to travel freely. You will need a very specific list of documents, even beyond your passport, because of your child, so the best advice you can be given is to go directly here: www.travel.state.gov for the required documents. When you arrive, you’ll have to fill out an immigration form that has a tear-away portion you keep for your departure. You have to declare your baggage as well.
Now, think about the climate before you pack. The temperature fluctuates between 70° and 80° during the day and doesn’t drop significantly at night. You may want to include a light shawl or wrap just in case. The island is all about casual spring and summer dress, even on the streets and restaurants. It’s not appropriate to walk around in your bathing suit unless you’re on the beach, poolside, or at the water park. No one will get mad at you, but you should probably respect the locals’ wishes, After all, it’s their island.
The people on the island are English speakers with a much greater relationship to Old English and its accents than Americanized English and its peculiarities. You can set your watch to Eastern Standard Time and pay for all of your purchases with American or Bahamian Dollars. They exchange equally in most cases, but you can always check with your bank before you leave. Most shops and everything the resort runs take credit and debit cards as well.
Getting around on the island can be daunting initially, but it’s actually quite simple when you look at it from the right perspective. Basically, there are taxis to get you around the island, ferry boats to get you from Nassau to Paradise Island itself, and jitneys, their version of a shuttle, will get you around the city of Nassau and Cable Beach. Jitneys are the cheapest option when in the right places, ferries will only be used to get between islands, and the rest you can do walking with no problem. It’s designed that way.
Check-in time is 3:00pm and check-out is 11:00am, so you’re dealing with the same situation you’d find in any hotel in the States. You can trust the electricity to run all your electronics without adapters and you can be sure they have high-speed internet, Wi-Fi, and TV you wish you had all over the island. It’s an entertainment extravaganza any way you look at it. You can even drink the water if you’d like, but, if you’re unsure, there’s more bottled water throughout the island than you’ll know what to do with. Your child stays free if they’re under 12 and they have a great deal of scheduled activity for them if you’d like some time for adult things. You can be comfortable leaving tips for whoever you like, but gratuity is already added to many tickets, so check first.
Having these few tips in hand will at least let you pack your electric toothbrush and bring your Visa card without worrying if it’s a good or bad idea. The only thing you have to be sure to pack is your willingness to try new things because the Atlantis Resort will throw those at you the entire time you’re there. The reason you bought the ticket, the reason you chose Atlantis, is because you knew it would deliver all that and more, so have the best time you’re legally allowed to have and make sure you get plenty of pictures of your little one’s smiles.