Pat and I decided Bermuda would be an amazing destination for our honeymoon. Next door to our hotel was a moped rental station. The streets in Bermuda are extremely narrow and there aren’t many vehicles to speak of. Most everybody drive motorcycles and mopeds.
Seemingly easy to operate, I insisted we skip the one day rental and forced Pat to put down some cash for two mopeds for the entire week. When he hesitated I went on about how far we were from the city and how absolutely necessary (and fun) they were going to be on our trip.
I always get my way.
I underestimated how shaky I would be on the contraption and we spent some time driving through neighborhoods before taking our new toys on the main streets to the city for dinner. I’ll admit the “locals” in the neighborhoods looked entertained as I careened around their street corners with a wide grin on my face and one leg out to catch me should I fall.
I was shakey. It’s true. The Bermudian people tend to “tailgate” tourists on mopeds who like to follow the speed limit…or just a few mph slower than advised. Nothing wrong with being safe, as I always say.
But the sun was shining, the island was tropical, I was on my honeymoon and this was Bermuda dammit!! SO much fun to be had! I would not let the locals scare me off the streets with they’re tiny mopeds and their tendencies to tailgate. I was having the time of my life.
And then it started raining. I had never seen rain like this before. It was the kind of rain that could knock a large girl off a tiny moped. It was raining, it was dark, and it was cold. My groom and I finished our dinner in the city and hopped on our respective scooters to go back to our respective hotel room.
I’ll admit I was nervous about riding my moped back in the dark. I took a deep breath and had every confidence my prince would lead us back to our castle.
An hour later I was drenched, scared, and crying as I gripped the handle bars of my scooter. Gone was the wide grin I had been wearing earlier that afternoon. I wanted to go home. The neighborhoods we were whizzing through were not safe and we had no idea where we were going. We stopped when we reached a dock because we knew better than to scooting into a large body of water in search of our hotel and to our luck we happened upon local who smiled when we told him what hotel we were looking for.
He had some good news and some bad news.
And I’ll share it with you tomorrow because I’m tired…
*Photo Courtesy of virtualphotographystudio
Michelle says
I can’t wait! My husband and I went to Bermuda when we were dating and the scooters were the best part!! We made a huge mistake, though, to ride them around the island literally all night. Here’s a lesson: there is not a gas station on the entire island open at 4:00 in the morning! We were so sure we’d be pushing them home all droopy-eyed. We returned them to the dealer on fumes. So much fun!
B Harper says
Ah! I can’t wait for the end, I felt absolutely nervous reading this!
trash says
Were you sold in to slavery? Have you and Pat been communicating by tapping the pipes in the walls of the old dungeons? Oh I CANNOT wait to find out!
Losing Brownies says
Mopeds sound fun, but not when its dark and wet!
Melissa R says
LMAO… only because this KINDA sounds like my honeymoon in Key West!! Only we were on one moped and had to pull under an awning because the rain was so ferocious that it hurt and you couldn’t see in front of you. I have some pics of it on my blog! We had no clue where we were either! We finally found our way… not sure how BUT all in all I loved it and would rent them again : )
Paula Kiger says
Well, thanks SO MUCH for the big tease!
Send us along some writing prompts tomorrow, too, would ya?
Tori says
Oh girl. Bless you for trying. I still don’t trust a bike without training wheels :)
Can’t wait to hear what happened next!
Jennifer says
We were on a tour in Singapore when it started raining so hard we had to hide out in an old WWII hut until the rain stopped. Still one of my favorite memories.
Lisa says
Bermuda is the best! I was able to go visit family there when I was 17 and unfortunately haven’t been able to go back since. I really want to take my kids there and show them where Great-grandma grew up!
The Sweetest says
Argh! You can’t leave us hanging like that!
The Offended Blogger says
‘Tis better than riding a moped naked. Don’t ask me how I know this, I just do.
camesha says
Argh! Tomorrow huh?
Shell says
No fair with the cliffhangers!
Jennifer G. says
Hit us with part 2 please!
PS, I love your blog design. It’s eye-catching, sophisticated and delicious all at once. Like red velvet cake!
Veronica says
I would have freaked out! Can’t wait to read the rest!