Off to Aruba

My exciting vacations

On August 1, 2006 I travelled to Aruba for the very first time. I had long heard about this unique island so close to Venezuela because my college roommate had gone on many gambling junkets there, and always raved about the beauty of the island, its people and mostly the weather. Since I am a hot weather type of person, I knew that it would be a place at some point in my lifetime I would want to visit. Needless to say my intense interest in the Natalee Holloway case, seemed to push it to the top for a vacation destination. It is of course not surprising that the other members of my family did not exactly share my Holloway passion. Thus, my trip to Aruba would be solo and that was probably a good thing, so I could spend most of my time revisiting the many locations I had been reading about for over a year.

There is of course no secret my most important reason for going to Aruba was to meet the Van der Sloot family. I had coordinated, to some extent my trip there based on when Joran would be on the island, and also with the schedule of Anita and Paul. If I was going to visit Aruba, I certainly would not want to miss out on finally meeting my new friends.

I arrived at Queen Beatrix airport on August 1st around 3:30 P.M. and was surprised in a way what a small airport it really was. In fact approaching from the sky, one could quickly see that Aruba was a very tiny island. I remember also understanding, that such a small island was probably way out of its league, dealing with such a high profile missing person's case and certainly the intensity of the United States media. That was a strong initial impression that came over me as I landed. It only grew stronger as I went to the tiniest rental car company I had ever dealt with. It was almost like in a closet at the airport. Handy, though, as I could rent a local cell phone at the exact same spot. But it also showed me again how this was not on par with other more plush island resorts. And made me realize that perhaps the island's law enforcement was probably not either.

I got in my tiny rental car and made my way from the airport, down the coastal road to the city of Oranjestad. I have to say that drive was very impressive to me. It was a beautiful city right on the coast. There were some very large hotels, lots of classy shops, lovely restaurants and people everywhere. I could see a couple of cruise ships docked there and it certainly seemed to me this was quite a tourist attraction. As I drove along, rather slowly as there was a lot of traffic, I saw the big sign that truly made me realize once again where I was, Carlos 'N Charlies. I do not think I expected it to be in a location that was so busy and so upscale. I am not exactly sure where I expected it to be, but that stuck with me as I made my way along that coastal highway.