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Barbados Trip Report
Day 1
Getting to Barbados was going to be challenging. At 12.00 midnight we received a call from Air Jamaica that our 7.00 am flight was moved to 1.00 pm. This means we would miss our connecting flight from Kingston to Barbados. We had 2 options. Option 1 was to rebook everything and lose the hotel. Option 2 was to be “bussed” from Ft Lauderdale to Miami where we would catch a 9.00 am flight to Jamaica. There was a catch with option two. The flight would have a stop in Montego Bay and then Kingston where we get the connecting flight. We took the second option as we could sleep a little longer. Initially we had a 5 hour stopover in Kingston. Now that time would be spent on the road and in the air. So the time we gained we still lost.
The flight to Jamaica was smooth. Earlier in the year I took Spirit to Jamaica and disliked the experience. Air Jamaica may be late (mostly my experience) but they treat people with respect. The flight attendants are always friendly and the flights are smooth.
The stop over in Jamaica was not as long as I though it would be. Before we knew it we were off to Barbados on Air Jamaica. The flight to Barbados was excellent. We actually had food on the flight. The chicken was delicious. The flight attendants actually walked around and asked if we wanted more. It was another brilliant flight by Air Jamaica. This is the way to fly.
The Barbados airport was really nice. We later learned it was fairly new and expanding. We got outside the airport fairly quickly. I approached a station wagon taxi to take us to the hotel. The driver explained that he is not allowed to take 5 people in his vehicle. The police would stop him and give him a ticket. We had to take a mini-van. He was not having it. In Jamaica we would “get away with this” easily but not in Barbados.
We took a mini-van to hotel. The driver was quite friendly. Once he realized I was Jamaican he started to discuss cricket. He was very passionate about it and was disappointed with the current West Indies team. It was dark but I could see that the roads leading to the hotel were narrow and winding similar to the Jamaican country side.
The hotel check-in was quick. There seems to be quite a few British travelers checking in and out of the hotel.
Went to the room to rest and “refresh” from an exhausting day. We would go down and eat later. We soon found out that we could not eat dinner on property because it was too late. Barbados is one hour ahead of the USA. I was thinking it was similar to Jamaica which is now on US Eastern Time. Good thing there was a Chinese restaurant that delivered to the hotel. The food was good….Caribbean Chinese food is always good because it mixes some of the culture with the food.
Day 2
We were awoken by a bright 5.30 am sun rise. We later learned from my Bajan friend that the sun rises early in Barbados. We headed down to one of the restaurants on-site to have breakfast. There were some little birds around the restaurant looking form food. One of them had some of my orange juice when I went back to the buffet.
I normally don’t do the “stay on hotel property” thing but it was nice day and we wanted to relax. We spent most of the day at the pool and the beach. The pool was great and it has waterfall. The kids loved it. Later we went to the beach. One of the first observations my wife and I made was there were no one on the beach trying to sell anything. I could the hotel we were at but we found that surprising. We actually missed it. In Jamaica some of the best discussion are with the “hustlers” who walk along the beach selling there wares.
We soon realized that most of the tourists were from London. They were a bit reserved. Later in the day while at the pool we met a family. They were very friendly. They were Americans. Later in the afternoon there was a group playing music on the beach. Yes there were the typical Bob Marley renditions. We later saw some one selling something on the beach.
That evening night we were picked up by our Bajan friend. My wife and I had not seen her in years so we did some catching up before heading out. She took us to Oistins a fishing town which was popular with tourist and locals. There was a fishing village/boatyard there with little shack restaurants right. We were going to eat the famous George’s grilled fish. She mentioned that people travelled from everywhere to get it.
The lines were long to George’s. It reminded me of the soup line in the Seinfeld “Soup Nazi” episode. The fish was cooked in the front of the shop. She pointed out George to us. The lines moved quickly.
The grilled fish was very good.
Day 1
Getting to Barbados was going to be challenging. At 12.00 midnight we received a call from Air Jamaica that our 7.00 am flight was moved to 1.00 pm. This means we would miss our connecting flight from Kingston to Barbados. We had 2 options. Option 1 was to rebook everything and lose the hotel. Option 2 was to be “bussed” from Ft Lauderdale to Miami where we would catch a 9.00 am flight to Jamaica. There was a catch with option two. The flight would have a stop in Montego Bay and then Kingston where we get the connecting flight. We took the second option as we could sleep a little longer. Initially we had a 5 hour stopover in Kingston. Now that time would be spent on the road and in the air. So the time we gained we still lost.
The flight to Jamaica was smooth. Earlier in the year I took Spirit to Jamaica and disliked the experience. Air Jamaica may be late (mostly my experience) but they treat people with respect. The flight attendants are always friendly and the flights are smooth.
The stop over in Jamaica was not as long as I though it would be. Before we knew it we were off to Barbados on Air Jamaica. The flight to Barbados was excellent. We actually had food on the flight. The chicken was delicious. The flight attendants actually walked around and asked if we wanted more. It was another brilliant flight by Air Jamaica. This is the way to fly.
The Barbados airport was really nice. We later learned it was fairly new and expanding. We got outside the airport fairly quickly. I approached a station wagon taxi to take us to the hotel. The driver explained that he is not allowed to take 5 people in his vehicle. The police would stop him and give him a ticket. We had to take a mini-van. He was not having it. In Jamaica we would “get away with this” easily but not in Barbados.
We took a mini-van to hotel. The driver was quite friendly. Once he realized I was Jamaican he started to discuss cricket. He was very passionate about it and was disappointed with the current West Indies team. It was dark but I could see that the roads leading to the hotel were narrow and winding similar to the Jamaican country side.
The hotel check-in was quick. There seems to be quite a few British travelers checking in and out of the hotel.
Went to the room to rest and “refresh” from an exhausting day. We would go down and eat later. We soon found out that we could not eat dinner on property because it was too late. Barbados is one hour ahead of the USA. I was thinking it was similar to Jamaica which is now on US Eastern Time. Good thing there was a Chinese restaurant that delivered to the hotel. The food was good….Caribbean Chinese food is always good because it mixes some of the culture with the food.
Day 2
We were awoken by a bright 5.30 am sun rise. We later learned from my Bajan friend that the sun rises early in Barbados. We headed down to one of the restaurants on-site to have breakfast. There were some little birds around the restaurant looking form food. One of them had some of my orange juice when I went back to the buffet.
I normally don’t do the “stay on hotel property” thing but it was nice day and we wanted to relax. We spent most of the day at the pool and the beach. The pool was great and it has waterfall. The kids loved it. Later we went to the beach. One of the first observations my wife and I made was there were no one on the beach trying to sell anything. I could the hotel we were at but we found that surprising. We actually missed it. In Jamaica some of the best discussion are with the “hustlers” who walk along the beach selling there wares.
We soon realized that most of the tourists were from London. They were a bit reserved. Later in the day while at the pool we met a family. They were very friendly. They were Americans. Later in the afternoon there was a group playing music on the beach. Yes there were the typical Bob Marley renditions. We later saw some one selling something on the beach.
That evening night we were picked up by our Bajan friend. My wife and I had not seen her in years so we did some catching up before heading out. She took us to Oistins a fishing town which was popular with tourist and locals. There was a fishing village/boatyard there with little shack restaurants right. We were going to eat the famous George’s grilled fish. She mentioned that people travelled from everywhere to get it.
The lines were long to George’s. It reminded me of the soup line in the Seinfeld “Soup Nazi” episode. The fish was cooked in the front of the shop. She pointed out George to us. The lines moved quickly.
The grilled fish was very good.
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