I Think I’m Going to Jamaica

I’m currently on a four-hour layover at Miami International. While I’ve got some time on my hands, let me ask you something.

Were someone to offer you an unsolicited international trip via email, would you assume it’s a Nigerian prince scheme? Yeah, me too. Which is why I did a little research when the Jamaica Tourism Board contacted me about a week ago.

I know I’ve been on sponsored trips before (And I hope to take many such trips in the future! Captains of Industry, do drop me a line). But “free” travel usually comes at the end of a year-long pitch process with twenty different companies, and the conversations go like this:

-Will you stop using your laptop, and instead use our MP3 Player’s voice-activated “BlogUp!” feature?
-No.
-What if we let you keep the MP3 Player?

-Will you guarantee fifteen Tweets about video games over a two day period, using the hashtags #GameOn! #Cabo!
-No.
-What if we have our intern write the Tweets for you and set them to auto-post while you’re away?

So you can imagine my surprise when Jamaica contacted me about a week ago with a note that boiled down to, “What’s up, Maggie. Do you want to come to Jamaica?”

Uh. Yes?

And then I didn’t even bother to look for my hand-knit Rasta beret with attached dreads until a few days later when Jamaica was like, “Cool. Here’s your ticket.”

So now here I am in Miami. If you don’t hear from me in a few days, send a dispatch to Nigera, would you? Thanks a million, team.