Okay, so if I’m going to be completely honest, for the past year or so I’ve chastised John for wanting to go to Nantucket. I thought it was this pretentious place that was over-the-top and so high on itself – yes, I personified the island. I found joy in being anti-Nantucket, some may say. Then, I’m not sure what happened, maybe it’s because one of my favorite bloggers, Mackenzie, of Design Darling, has been posting a lot about Nantucket being her favorite place in the world as well as all of her tips on where to stay and what to do, but recently I began to have a change of heart and actually wanted to go and see what the island was all about.

Flash forward to the beginning of July. I began looking casually on Airbnb to see if I could find anything for a reasonable price. Nothing. Everything was hundreds of dollars per night, aka hundreds of dollars out of our budget. Then, I happened to check last Tuesday, and there was a listing for a surprisingly reasonable price. John and I agreed we wanted to go, and set it up so that we would drive up to Providence Friday night and stay with our friend, then high tail it to the ferry early Saturday morning and spend Saturday night at the Airbnb and return home Sunday afternoon. 

Friday came around and, after work, we set off for Providence. We arrived pretty late, around 9:30pm, and told ourselves we’d have an early night seeing as we had to wake up at 5:45 the next morning. Did this happen? Nope. Somehow we ended up out until 1:30, and managed to wake up the next morning after what was essentially a quick nap with grueling hangovers and burning desires for water. We made it to the car and John drove the hour and a half to the ferry while I tried to become human again. We managed to hop on right before it departed. To say we were in rough shape would be an understatement, but we were determined to enjoy our time in Nantucket.

We pulled into the harbor around 9:15, and having been up for 4 hours at this point, I was desperate for some breakfast. We found Met on Main, and although John abstained from food, we both downed some iced coffee and I dug into an omelet and truffle fries. To say those truffle fries saved my life would also be an understatement.

Feeling caffeinated and satiated, we began to explore the cute little cobblestone streets of the town and the harbor, and popped into some shops. John got a golf polo and I actually managed to not buy anything. Shocking, I know. I began to realize just how cute this little downtown area was and that although the prices for everything from coffee to t-shirts was somewhat obscene, the vibe itself was super relaxed and casual, something I hadn’t expected at all. I was happily surprised, though my wallet wasn’t.

After exploring, we grabbed some lunch to-go from John’s favorite spot, Provisions, and began to figure out the bus system, eventually finding the stop and hopping on with our exact change – veeerrrry important! We got off at the right stop and walked down the road to our Airbnb, where our host had left the key for us. It was just what we needed – a studio apartment attached to their garage with a bedroom, makeshift small kitchen area, and a bathroom. Our host even left us waters and snacks, which we promptly took advantage of.

At this point the delayed-onset hangover began to set in and we lay down and napped for a solid hour and a half. Feeling more refreshed after sleeping and eating (are we infants orrrrr), we decided it would be a good idea to walk 2 miles to Nobadeer Beach. In hindsight, not a good idea. We ended up coming across a portion of the road that was completely flooded and impassable. Using the map on my phone, I decided we could walk through this construction area onto a small path that would get us to a different road where we could then continue on to the beach. Yeah, so this  “construction area” was actually an enormous junkyard like straight out of Herbie. Thinking back to when I took us on that walk through the slums of Gili Trawangan, it was no surprise to John that I had managed to find the only “slum” in Nantucket. We literally got stuck in this junkyard, weaving through broken pieces of cars and mounds of dirt for a solid 10 minutes until I finally found a glimpse of this mysterious path. There were definitely moments where I was uneasy but then I remembered I was still on Nantucket and that I’d most definitely be fine.

After some more encounters with flooded roads, we finally made it to Nobadeer and spent some time being comatose on the beach followed by swimming in the ocean...that is until I got body slammed by a wave and was instantly #overit. But hey, I actually went swimming; I’m just as shocked as you. Then, we called an Uber to bring us home because we definitely were not repeating that walk again. Our Uber driver, Pamela, was the nicest person ever and said we “looked like we needed a mom,” so she gave us our ride for free. That may have been a backhanded compliment but I’ll take it because #ballinonabudget.

For dinner, we took the bus to the town, then another bus out to Madaket, where we hit up Millie’s for some tacos. So worth the time it took to get there! Then it was back to town where we waited in line for ice cream – with hot fudge of course – from The Juice Bar. Also so worth it. Plus we got to hear all the island gossip from the 13 year-olds behind us. Then it was straight to bed for some much needed rest. I’m pretty sure we fell asleep as soon as our heads hit our pillows.

Sunday morning, we got up and made the 10:15 bus out to ‘Sconset. The sky was suuuper cloudy and grey but we didn’t let it stop us. We grabbed delicious egg sandwiches and iced coffees from Claudette’s, then headed out to do the ‘Sconset Bluff Walk, which essentially goes through people’s backyards and overlooks the eastern shore of the island. We spent the entire walk ooh-ing and ahh-ing over the houses and planning our dream one. They looked to be straight out of a magazine – every single one. The houses were perfect, the landscaping was beyond perfect. Everything was #goals. TBH I’m convinced you must get evicted if you don’t maintain your house to a certain standard. We continued our walk out to the Sankaty Lighthouse and learned a little history about the lighthouse and some shipwrecks before making the walk back along Baxter Road.

After a quick stop at ‘Sconset Market for some cookies and a real estate magazine, we hopped on the bus and spent the entire ride looking at the real estate listings, eyes bulging at some of the prices. Then it was back to the Airbnb where we packed up our stuff and grabbed an Uber into town. I don’t know what it is with Nantucket, but we had another amazing driver! His name was Peter and he’s a sommelier so naturally we got to talking about wine, seeing as I intern at a wine company. He ended up giving me his card, which I gave to my boss, and he may now advertise in our magazine, so am I the best intern or what? #commission???

John grabbed another sandwich from Provisions, and I grabbed an acai bowl from Nativ Made and then it was back to the ferry to begin our trek home. Although it was a quick weekend, I absolutely loved our time on the island and didn’t want to leave. It really is a place where you can go and have nothing to worry about besides what type of ice cream to order and where to ride your bike that day. @Nantucket, I’m sorry I doubted you. I’ll be back!

xox,

Joanna