Barbados... mini trippie....now with photos

[Ursula]

There will be pics so bear with me...
May 17th, Saturday: Woke up and today's the day that our holiday starts! Even though we fly out tomorrow this is the start for us. We get the cat carrier out of the shed and I yell *Good Luck* to DH as I drive off for last minute bits and bobs lol... Get back to find blood all over the lounge... His.. not the cats... lol (Joking) Bea is in the carrier and we take her to the cattery, get back and make sure all the windows are shut and locked, doors the same and pour bleach down all plugholes and toilet after last minute bathroom duties. Mike our usual cab driver is here. Suitcases loaded up and we're off! whaaaaahaaaaaaaaaaaaay! OK so it's only to the Manchester travel lodge but we get excited all the same, I have packed our usual picnic and milk for the coffee facilities. We basically chill out and hit the sacks early knowing that the next day will come earlier if we sleep now.

May18th, Sunday: Whoooooooooop! Today's the day! We don't have to rush because we have an early afternoon flight, so we take leisurely showers and coffee, I can't eat the breakfast we have prepaid for so DH and DD go and get breakfast for themselves... I use the time to catch some more Zzzzz's because I got up in the night to find that DD's bed was empty... it was 3am and she was not in the room.... oh great :( I wait and wait for her but no show so after an hour I am not a happy bunny and go looking for her... she couldn't sleep so was talking to the staff at the front desk. After a flea in the ear she comes back to bed. So I am abit tired as you can understand. Kids!

Anyway they come back and I get up and we make our way to the airport via the shuttle bus from the Travel Lodge... I see there is a Premier Lodge next door, it looks newly built and I don't recall seeing that there before?... anyways, make mental note for maybe next time... Get to the airport and even though we are early for our check in there are still loads of people there. Ha! we head straight to the front of the Premium Economy line, but get called to the front of the First Class desk and we get processed here, and request bulkhead seats which we luckily get, thankyou... We immediately go through to the other side because I like to look at the duty free shops and planes. As we go through I get stopped and patted down even though the machine doesn't go off, but I always do, so it's no biggy. I get swabbed with a stick thing that has a cloth on it and they test it for drugs. Believe me, if it came up with anything I would be the most surprised! I know it's going to be clear but I still hold my breath?????? Why I have no idea. Anyways we are all clear...:taunt:
We get called to our gate and we can see we are going to fly on Jetstream today :) It was lovely and new looking inside, the seats in PE were leather and very very comfy we even had a footstool brought out of the overhead lockers for each of us in bulkhead. The Virgin staff were brilliant, in more ways than one lol... they all had had their teef whitened, I have never seen such bright teef in my life! But anyways, that aside, our special thanks go to Richard on there, he was very camp and very very funny. At the end of the flight I thanked him and he gave me a big hug and a kiss... aw... can I take him home?...
The flight went by reasonably quickly because I was able to get some sleep, wonder why I was so tired... hmmnnn DD! I tried to watch some films and play some games but felt too fidgety to concentrate so gave it up. Read the free magazines and paper instead and snoozed in between being fed and watered lol. I had chicken and pineapple with peas and rice, I enjoyed it, had worse. DH had the same and DD had the mushroom ravioli which she says was good, followed by a GU chocolate raspberry mousse, yummy and later on a Haagen Daz vanilla ice cream pot. For tea we had a cheese roll... dry but it went down soaked in JD and coke :) We landed early and the doors were opened! Halleluyah! Let the holiday begin! Heat heat drip drip.... Get through to our coach the other side and see the cabin crew... Richard yells to me... "Oh god no... not you again... are you causing trouble again!" Lol... Because we'd gotten out so early we were taken off the coach and put into a taxi straight to the hotel to save us waiting for ages for the others.. Richard offered to carry my stuff over to the cab lol... more hugs later and we part ways...

[Mari]

yeap!! let the holiday begin!!!

[Ursula]

Sunday still: We got to our hotel and wow there is a scent coming from somewhere that is just gorgeous! Will have to hunt that down later... right now we need to get to some air con pronto.... :heatwave: We find our room and dump our stuff after having a mad runaround looking at the bathroom, and patio and kitchinette area. This is DD ToTMistress showing off her new hairdo for the hols :)

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The room is nicely furnished and clean and the bathroom is clean also, this will do. Plus we have a plasma screen tv in case there are any rainy days so we are happy. Off to explore now and get our bearings, we also need to eat so go and find a place to eat then we hit the sack because it's been a long day.

[Ursula]

Monday 19th May: Woke at 5am, 10am UK time so that figures. Woke up frozen solid so after unbending myself I go to adjust the air con, and start unpacking, DH and DD wake up and perform coffee making duties. Before we do anything else today we have to hit the supermarket to get essentials, but right now I am going to sit on the patio and drink in the view, our Hotel is right on the beach and we have pool view and sea view.

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We are very close and the lull of the waves is very soothing and I can feel myself unwinding. We brought cereals and plastic cutlery and stuff because the cost of things in Barbados is expensive. We find a complimentary bottle of Barbados Mount Gay rum on the table and that gets tucked away for home :) I'm afraid there is no WalMart here, the closest thing they have to it I suppose is a supermarket called Big B. So we summon a cab and our cab driver is called Carl, a very nice gentleman. Stock up on essentials and back to our room to change and hit the pool as we can feel the sun stinging our skin. After creaming up we hit the pool and that pool water was cool and deliciously skin calming lol. The sea is absolutely beautiful, it's a turquoise colour and everything you dream of, with white sand and coconut palms, and don't forget to not sit under the palm trees lol. We have salad bits and fresh baked rolls for lunch then back out for more sun, sea and sand lol. At 4pm every day the Hotel and other Hotels in Barbados have an English style High Tea which they serve free of charge. Which consists of English tea, coffee and cakes, scones and biscuits. The Bajan staff here are very friendly and the people so far on the Island have been friendly, yes I think we'll be liking it here.
We went to the Hotel bar to eat and the food was good, I had tuna and coleslaw in pitta bread while DH and DD had cheeseburger and fries each, it all went down well with ice cold cokes and water. The water in Barbados is drinkable so no spending on bottled water needed, we drank it and we were fine. We went out after dinner and had a walk along the street markets and shops and bars nearby, a Rastafarian came up and shook our hands (the Bajan people do that alot) and then he came back to me and gave me a squidgy hug saying "aw" lol... dunno why but I'm not complaining. Got back to the room and again we hit the sack until morning!

[Tink]

So far so good! :yes: Sounds like things are going well... no green monkeys though. :(

[disneymom]

I LOVE trip reports more please :hug2:

[Mags]

Sounding good so far. Nice to see the photos.

Margaret

[Dawn]

Oooh I want to go to the Big B. :D

[mumof2]

awww, sounds fab!


:point:i wonder why the guy came back for a squidgy hug....:unsure:

[Ursula]

I dunno lol.... and Dawn.... you shurrup or I will send more of that hot sauce over... cos that's where I got it from.

[mumof2]

perhaps word had got round that you were there....oooh, i bet Richard told him about you! :yes:

[Disneybumble]

Yay trip report time. Nothing l like more than a camp air steward reminds me of "the high life and Air Scotia.

[sunsetlakes]

Sounds fantastic - great photo's, thanks for sharing :thumbsup:

[Johnie]

ooohhhh a trip report! Just what I need right now!! More please!

[Ursula]

Tuesday 20th: Quick breakfast in room after another comfortable night, the beds are sooo comfy thank god. We decided to hit the beach today, the white sand and turquoise sea were just so inviting. We sat and watched these *lumps* in the water... looked like dead bodies floating so just before we screamed in horror we saw they were huge turtles! there were about 10 of them all floating and bobbing up and down in the sea, they swim alongside you and the notices in the Hotel tell you not to pull them down as they can drown, they have to be able to come up for air. So we swim and don't touch, the sea was actually cooler than the pool, but still warm. Turtles come and lay their eggs on the beach so when there is a nest security put sticks around the nest and tape it off so you don't accidentally tread there, Barbados do alot to look after the turtles and there are lots of signs telling you what to do if you come upon a nest and who to contact so it can be logged. We find some shells and coral on the beach and they will go into our souvenir boxes once back home. DD decides to have a go on a jet ski so dons a vest and is taken around some of the island on it, she loved it and got to see some of the posher Hotels and how the other half live lol, also her teeth were abit loose after that trip lol. We just mainly relaxed and swam while listening to a steel band, it was wonderful.

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We had afternoon High Tea and then went browsing across the road where they have some shops called The Chattel House Village, these shops are based on the old slave houses, obviously they weren't as colourful as these ones are.

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We have an older couple above us and for some reason they don't walk across their floor they *stomp* so we nicknamed them *The Heffalumps* lol. Honest to god I don't know what they do up there but we can hear beds being moved and chairs being moved and these walls are thick! (NB, when they left the new couple were as quiet as mice) We couldn't work out what they were doing! it started as soon as they got up at around 7am and didn't stop til they left their room to go to the pool. SHE was as thin as a rake, I've seen more meat on an empty kebab stick, and He wasn't a heavyweight either... very strange?
When having the High Tea we could see the birds knew what time it was too and one bird only had the one leg so he/she always got a bit of cake from us. We also found a cafe across the road called Happy Days and Mick the proprietor is from London and his wife is Bajan, they were friendly and we had some good chats and some good food there, his steak was out of this world. We later went for a stroll up at The Gap as it's called for short for St Lawrence Gap, it's the happening place in Barbados and just up the road from our Hotel. More to come...

[Johnie]

Oh goodness, I used to have an upstairs neighbor that weighed maybe 100 pounds soaking wet. She made so much noise!! You would have thought elephants lived above me.

[*Bambi-Belle*]

sounds and looks like luxury Helen. xxxxxxx

[Dawn]

Swimming with turtles and the Big B. Now I'm totally jealous.

[Ursula]

I haven't got to the good part yet... DD and her boyfriend..... he's called almost every day since we got back!

[mumof2]

Helly, the photos are wonderful - i so wish i was there! i'd love to see the turtles :yes:

[Ursula]

More pics to come...

[Ursula]

Helly, the photos are wonderful - i so wish i was there! i'd love to see the turtles :yes:

See see! I only need me disposables... none of yer gadgety thingy malarky needed....

[lozzy]

It's great to read the report to go with your lovely shots, Glad you managed to get it sorted.

[Ursula]

With thanks to you and Isafari for your help XXXXXXXXXXX I should really crack on with the rest.

[Deb]

Great trippie so far....need more!! Too many teasers thrown in there for you to leave us hanging!

We're going to the Maldives in October and apparently there are turtles on the house reef that often swim along with you. I can't wait!!!

[lozzy]

With thanks to you and Isafari for your help XXXXXXXXXXX I should really crack on with the rest.


Your very welcome, :hug2:

[Isafari]

With thanks to you and Isafari for your help XXXXXXXXXXX I should really crack on with the rest.

No problem...you are welcome :hug2:

[Ursula]

Aw Deb you will love St Lucia if it's anything like Barbados... and I think it is.

[Ursula]

Right on with the trippette...Pics to be inserted soon... DD has met a very nice young man called John, he is a security guard in the evenings at the Hotel we are at and he's studying for a degree in microbiology. He asked politely if he could take DD for a walk on his rounds and he has impeccable manners. He's smitten with her we think? He says so and says he loves her, he rang her each morning at the Hotel and came to see her on his days off and when we left for the airport, and since we've been back hes rung virtually every day and emailed and he's still ringing three weeks later. He seems very very nice.
Anyways... Just some pics of the beach view we had from our chairs by the pool... enjoy... later on pics of our Mexican meal and Chinese meal.

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[Johnie]

awww John sounds like a sweet young man (and I sound like an old lady saying that lol). Does your DD feel the same way?

[Tink]

He seems a handsome one, he does. :yes:

Does he know where the green monkeys live? :cry2:

[Ursula]

Lol... I don't know... He's from Nigeria he's not Bajan and you should see him in his uniform.... lol. His course finishes in January and he said he wants to visit Natalie. I have spoken to him, well some would say grilled him lol... and told him if he thinks he's going to get an easy visa to the UK then he can keep on stepping... but he assures me his intentions are genuine and that he doesn't need a visa and he has family and friends in the UK. He told me a little bit about his background etc so I believe in giving people chances and he does seem like a real sweetie. Natalie does like him alot but she's aware that it may come to nothing and she's cool about it all, if he comes to UK to visit she'll be pleased but she's just getting on with her life still. He rings her all the time she never rings him because of cost and he's doing all the running. He said he fell in love with her sweet ways.
The second pic from the bottom DD is learning to windsurf on the beach... that's also her at the top chillin' in the pool lol.

[Disneybumble]

I'm glad you grilled him. Best to know his intentions. I would be horrible if he just had a visa in mind and not your beautiful DD. Now l still haven't seen those mexico t-shirts!!!

[Ursula]

Lol.. DH wore his but as with everything in Barbados they were so chilled I don't even think they noticed, they are so laid back there they're almost horizontal at times lol.

[Ursula]

Right... Today we are on our way to Harrisons Caves to see the stalagmites and stalactites on the way we pass the statue of *Bussa* he caused an uprising and was the only slave there who could read and write, unfortunately the uprising resulted in his death. Barbados is a very flat country and you can see for miles. We looked out for the green monkeys but as it was early they were not to be seen :( The caves were a sight to behold I've only ever seen the phenomenon in books so to actually see it in real life was awesome.

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That evening we went to a Mexican restaurant where the drinks were 2 for 1 so we had to partake and it was really a tough thing to do lol as you can see....

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[Johnie]

The drinks look yummy!

Who had french fries? :tongue:

[Ursula]

DD lol, mine is the yummy steak, last pic.

[Ursula]

Today is the last of the pics... Here is the sign for the gift shop... I don't know why either.... just using up film I guess lol.

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I think I just wanted something that said Barbados in it lol to prove, to whom I know not, that we've been there. The pic of the palm tree is one that was just outside our room, it was very pretty in real life, a gorgeous silvery green colour.

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DH and DD took pity on the hotel cats and kittens and bought them tins of sardines to feed them each day.

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Next is the steel band that used to play quite softly during the afternoons, it wasn't ear drum bangingly loud, just nice and chilled.

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Another unusual tree in the hotel grounds,

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DH smiling,

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a view from the lobby as we get ready to come home :(

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The Chinese food we had one evening... ordered waaaaaaaaay too much and had to bring it back to the hotel, didn't know the portions were going to be so generous.

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Last but not least... DD in the first class cabin and the bar in the first class cabin in front of us. It was a truly brilliant way to end our brilliant holiday. Couldn't have wished for anything better. End.

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[Isafari]

I would have been the same with the hotel cats :yes: then, once I was home I would worry that they would be starving without me!

Enjoyed the reports :thumbsup:

[Ursula]

Thank you so much for your help in putting the pictures in for me XXXXXXXX

[Isafari]

Thank you so much for your help in putting the pictures in for me XXXXXXXX

That's ok, you're very welcome :hug2:

[Dawn]

I want one of the those tablecloths. :D

[Johnie]

awwww the kitties are so cute. I would have been feeding them every day too.

[Ursula]

I want one of the those tablecloths. :D

Now she tells me.....

[Disneybumble]

:thumbsup:Kittens and first class pictures. :thumbsup:Thanks Helly have really enjoyed reading them. XXX

[Steven]

Bravo! Now I wanna go to Barbados. You know you can see stalagmites and stalactites in Chedder. And you don't have to pay all that money to go to Barbados lol. I've been and they are amazing.

[mumof2]

Thanks Helly! :thumbsup:

Will you just look at the colour of that sea.......oh, you did!

[Ursula]

Bravo! Now I wanna go to Barbados. You know you can see stalagmites and stalactites in Chedder. And you don't have to pay all that money to go to Barbados lol. I've been and they are amazing.

Now he tells me..... :unsure:

[Ursula]

Thank you guys for the positive feedback.. it has been much appreciated XXXXXXX

[mumof2]

Thank you guys for the positive feedback.. it has been much appreciated XXXXXXX


awww, your trippie and pics have been even more appreciated! :hug2:

[Keith]

awww, your trippie and pics have been even more appreciated! :hug2:

Totally! They've been brilliant :hug2:

[Deb]

The kitties always find me on holiday too - they know I'm a soft touch! Loved your trippie and piccies!! Thank you!!! xxx

Though of course you must keep us updated on DD's romance :yes: Not that we're nosey or anything :unsure: Oh, ok, we are!!! :D

[Ursula]

Lol... so far it's still going strong. He's still ringing her every three or so days!

[Tinkfan]

:wave: Just saw this trip report, Barbados looks beautiful! Great pictures! How old is DD? Is she an only child? Looks like love is in the air.:yes:

[Ursula]

She is 19, but went to a special needs school, she's more like a 16 year old maturity wise. I have a son who is 23 and he lives in Germany.

[piglet]

Wow, fantastic pics, thanks so much for sharing them :thumbsup:

[Tinkfan]

She is 19, but went to a special needs school, she's more like a 16 year old maturity wise. I have a son who is 23 and he lives in Germany.

Our kids are in their late 20's and still at times are at the maturity level of 16 LOL:ROFL1::ROFL1::ROFL1:

[Skywatcher]

Thanks Helly - :unsure: can't see any pics of you :unsure:

[Shellyamc]

I was relaxing just reading your trip report..meeeeeeeeeelt..

Some of those pictures of the beach look fake! That water is so blue it is amazing.

Oh and yes, we want pictures of you :yes:

[Ursula]

I know! but trust me I just used a cheapy disposable camera... you should have seen it for real though. Ah yes... pics of me.... hmnnn....