Over the last few weeks Ryan and I have been talking about what it's like when you first land in Jamaica. We'll be doing just that in15 days.

What to expect when you travel to Jamaica...

1) A half dozen locals dressed in traditional garb singing a welcome as you wait at immigration.

2) The nicest immigration agents you can imagine, tired, but friendly.

3) The most confusing customs process you will ever experience. The bags of 30+ Americans overloaded with medications, donated clothes, and supplies are rushed past multiple officers as quickly as possible. We don't want hassle, just a brief inspection and out the doors to the airport lobby.

4) More offers to carry your luggage to your car or someone's cab than you care to respond to. Best just to haul your own stuff anyhow.

5) A comfy bus with a brief stop at McDonald's for dinner where the burgers seem frightfully expensive. Don't worry that $30 value meal is Jamaican dollars - it will only cost you $5.

6) Driving past some of the most gorgeous scenery, but those ocean views and resorts will slowly give way to "real" Jamaica. Cement houses, others made of found objects and tin. Children, mothers, fathers walking the roads from one place to another.

7) As you ascend the mountains the sun will set, the road will become more bumpy, and those small villages will come alive with the congregation of locals. It's Saturday night after all, so it's time to crank the music.

8) After hours of driving in the dark you'll arrive in Harmons where a few Won by One staff and soon-to-be friends will greet you. Everyone pitches in to bring the 90+ pieces of luggage into the Harmony House courtyard.

9) Then after you think you can stay awake no more, sleeping....in the dark, in the silence. The only light being fireflies that twinkle briefly near the ceiling. Darkness, silence.

10) A brightly lit sky to wake you, the sound of a farmer singing with contentment as he walks past the Harmony House with his pig through the grass and trees, his day starting much earlier than yours.

These are the things that come to mind when I think about my first hours in Jamaica. I'm hoping to find things much the same two weeks from now. What calm these memories bring to me as I sit in an office building with the traffic, construction, and pedestrians swirling past my window. Jackhammer anyone?

No thanks, I'm dreaming of Jamaica.

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