Wednesday, July 06, 2005
How to have a fabulous Caribbean vacation, Mandy and Victor style
1. Leave earlier to ensure you will make the flight. After much deliberation, Victor and I decided to go to Barbados for the 4th of July. First we were leaving on Saturday. Flights started looking bad, so we decided to leave Friday instead. I had Friday off anyway, and I met Victor at his work around 11am, and we headed to the airport. Our plan was to fly to Atlanta Friday afternoon, then to Miami either Friday night or early Saturday morning, and then on to Barbados from Miami Saturday morning. There was bad weather in Atlanta, so we circled the airport for about an hour and a half, before diverting to Huntsville, AL to refuel. We then made it in to Atlanta. They had cancelled an earlier flight to Miami because of the weather, and it looked bad for us to get on the last flight out.
2. When all else fails, rent a car. We didn't make the last flight out to Miami. We checked with the gate agent, and it seemed likely we wouldn't get out of Atlanta until Saturday afternoon, so we would miss both flights to Barbados from Miami on Saturday. Crap. So, we formulated a great plan. Rent a car, drive to Orlando, get on a flight to Miami there, then connect to Barbados. Now, keep in mind that this decision is made at 10:30pm. So we rented a car. We drove all through the night to Orlando, fueled by coffee, Starbucks Doubleshot, and Mountain Dew's diet and Code Red versions. We listened to Georgia's and Florida's finest music stations, including the Buzz, which I think is the station that got us through our darkest hours.
3. Be a rock star! By which, I mean show up bleary-eyed, having slept not one single wink, for first class seats, and then proceed to drink! Yes, we made both the Orlando-Miami flight and the Miami-Barbados flight. They were rather generous with the drinks on the Barbados flight. Yum.
4. Do your homework. We had spent countless hours on tripadvisor trying to decide on a hotel. We eventually decided on The Crane, which is a pretty old hotel in a remote area in Barbados. The Crane was having a sale (35% off!) because the hotel is undergoing renovations through the end of 2005. We read reviews on tripadvisor which warned us of this, so we were prepared. We were also prepared for the underperforming air conditioner, which was totally fine because of the trade winds and cooler night temperatures. It was a little uncomfortable during the day, but we didn't spend too much time in the room.
5. Eat like kings! Or pirates. Well, whoever eats really fresh fish. Saturday night we went to the Oistins Fish-Fry, which is held every Friday and Saturday night in this fishing town. There were a lot of locals there, so we knew we were in the right spot. I had grilled marlin, and Victor tried fried flying fish. Both were amazing. Plus, it was super cheap. We ate the rest of our dinners at the hotel in their restaurants L'Azure and Zen. L'Azure had great lobster and fish freshly caught from the reef near the hotel, and Zen was wonderful Thai and Japanese food.
6. Go during hurricane season. The prices aren't cheap for nothing. We did expect little showers, but it rained more than we thought. Turns out Hurricane Dennis was forming! We did end up getting drenched a couple of times, both at the beach and also during our visit to the capital, Bridgetown. The weather also ruined our snorkeling plans. However, we both managed to sunburn odd parts of our bodies which had somehow escaped sunblock. So I guess we got some sun after all.
All in all, it was a great trip. We had plenty of time to relax, which is exactly what we wanted. Other highlights of the trip included hearing a radio news report about a huge marijuana bust in which the news reporter referred to the goods as "ganja" the entire time, seeing a British Airways Concorde at the Barbados airport (it retired there), and having a local guy totally try to make friends with us by offering travel pointers... before asking for money for food. It was the nicest panhandling I had ever experienced. Oh, and we also had lots of rum. Lots and lots of rum. Bajans (people from Barbados) are really friendly, and everyone calls you "love," "dear," "governor," etc. The accent was tricky, but we got used to it. What a lovely vacation. We can't wait to go back to the Caribbean.
1. Leave earlier to ensure you will make the flight. After much deliberation, Victor and I decided to go to Barbados for the 4th of July. First we were leaving on Saturday. Flights started looking bad, so we decided to leave Friday instead. I had Friday off anyway, and I met Victor at his work around 11am, and we headed to the airport. Our plan was to fly to Atlanta Friday afternoon, then to Miami either Friday night or early Saturday morning, and then on to Barbados from Miami Saturday morning. There was bad weather in Atlanta, so we circled the airport for about an hour and a half, before diverting to Huntsville, AL to refuel. We then made it in to Atlanta. They had cancelled an earlier flight to Miami because of the weather, and it looked bad for us to get on the last flight out.
2. When all else fails, rent a car. We didn't make the last flight out to Miami. We checked with the gate agent, and it seemed likely we wouldn't get out of Atlanta until Saturday afternoon, so we would miss both flights to Barbados from Miami on Saturday. Crap. So, we formulated a great plan. Rent a car, drive to Orlando, get on a flight to Miami there, then connect to Barbados. Now, keep in mind that this decision is made at 10:30pm. So we rented a car. We drove all through the night to Orlando, fueled by coffee, Starbucks Doubleshot, and Mountain Dew's diet and Code Red versions. We listened to Georgia's and Florida's finest music stations, including the Buzz, which I think is the station that got us through our darkest hours.
3. Be a rock star! By which, I mean show up bleary-eyed, having slept not one single wink, for first class seats, and then proceed to drink! Yes, we made both the Orlando-Miami flight and the Miami-Barbados flight. They were rather generous with the drinks on the Barbados flight. Yum.
4. Do your homework. We had spent countless hours on tripadvisor trying to decide on a hotel. We eventually decided on The Crane, which is a pretty old hotel in a remote area in Barbados. The Crane was having a sale (35% off!) because the hotel is undergoing renovations through the end of 2005. We read reviews on tripadvisor which warned us of this, so we were prepared. We were also prepared for the underperforming air conditioner, which was totally fine because of the trade winds and cooler night temperatures. It was a little uncomfortable during the day, but we didn't spend too much time in the room.
5. Eat like kings! Or pirates. Well, whoever eats really fresh fish. Saturday night we went to the Oistins Fish-Fry, which is held every Friday and Saturday night in this fishing town. There were a lot of locals there, so we knew we were in the right spot. I had grilled marlin, and Victor tried fried flying fish. Both were amazing. Plus, it was super cheap. We ate the rest of our dinners at the hotel in their restaurants L'Azure and Zen. L'Azure had great lobster and fish freshly caught from the reef near the hotel, and Zen was wonderful Thai and Japanese food.
6. Go during hurricane season. The prices aren't cheap for nothing. We did expect little showers, but it rained more than we thought. Turns out Hurricane Dennis was forming! We did end up getting drenched a couple of times, both at the beach and also during our visit to the capital, Bridgetown. The weather also ruined our snorkeling plans. However, we both managed to sunburn odd parts of our bodies which had somehow escaped sunblock. So I guess we got some sun after all.
All in all, it was a great trip. We had plenty of time to relax, which is exactly what we wanted. Other highlights of the trip included hearing a radio news report about a huge marijuana bust in which the news reporter referred to the goods as "ganja" the entire time, seeing a British Airways Concorde at the Barbados airport (it retired there), and having a local guy totally try to make friends with us by offering travel pointers... before asking for money for food. It was the nicest panhandling I had ever experienced. Oh, and we also had lots of rum. Lots and lots of rum. Bajans (people from Barbados) are really friendly, and everyone calls you "love," "dear," "governor," etc. The accent was tricky, but we got used to it. What a lovely vacation. We can't wait to go back to the Caribbean.
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