Trips home are never about relaxing. One would think so but that’s never the case. Days after I return to Bellevue from a trip home, I’m guaranteed at least one person telling me off and asking why they didn’t get to see me. You have no idea how much this irritates me.
I currently live over 3000 miles away from Barbados and every other trip we try to stay by each other’s parents. Sometimes we have a car, sometimes we don’t. Sometimes we do not want to do anything because we’re simply no longer used to the heat and are extremely exhausted and other times you just don’t make that list of people we have to visit. We’ve discussed the option of sneaking in and staying somewhere for a few days of relaxation (not even immediate family would know) and then alerting people that we’re here after feeling a bit refreshed. But it just hasn’t happened as yet.
On the trip we just came back from, the primary purpose was for our best friends’ wedding. We were home for 12 days and I can tell you it wasn’t enough. The first week was spent helping them out and simply hanging with them (they live in England now) and then we used the last week to stock up on stuff to bring home and spend time with a few people. They had a mini-honeymoon in one of the top resorts in Barbados (The Crane) and the views from there made us want to find out the staycation rate (of which I forgot to get before leaving the property and the island). It was simply amazing, beautiful, peaceful and breathtaking. Yea, I just used all of those adjectives because they are exactly what come to mind when I think of it. I posted a picture in my last post from the same hotel. Yep! That one!! Wasn’t it lovely? Here’s another view.
Anyway, I would love that one of these years David and I can return home and not feel obliged to go and see anyone except our grandparents. That everyone would come to us. Would this mean not getting a car again to use an excuse? But then we’d not have our own transportation when we need to get somewhere… I told him, we have to have a date night while home to just calm and enjoy ourselves from the mad rush, but again, that never happened. It’s not that we do not like seeing our friends or anything, but everything is such a mad dash that it becomes exhausting and we feel like we need another vacation after to relax from that one! I know there are plenty people out there who know exactly what I am talking about. And I hope that this doesn’t offend any of my friends because we always see the ones that really matter or they make an effort to come and see us, which is always appreciated. Hey, I’m just keeping it real…
Now on to promoting Barbados! I really wanted to visit Harrison’s Cave this trip and as you can tell from that line I didn’t. It was to be something touristy for Dave and I to do but we never got there. We’ve both been as kids but they have since remodeled the cave and it would be nice to go and see it again. So mark that as something to do when you visit as I have to as well.
Dinners are a way of us meeting up with groups of friends that we can see all one time and every time we go home, we’re trying different restaurants and enjoying some amazing dinners. This trip, we went to two new restaurants: Lemongrass (Thai food) in Limegrove mall (with hubs’ parents) and to Shakers (a bar; with a bunch of our school friends that we are still very close to). We had breakfast a few times from The Coffee Bean, a coffee shop I had the privilege of working at for three weeks yeeears ago and David was just wreck when he found out in the last 3 days of the trip that they had Jamaican patties (his favorite). So I can tell you with confidence that if you visit, pull up this post and look for these places to eat. And how can I forget Chefette? Just go there, I demand you do!
On our final night, my parents took us to Oistins. For the whole night David kept saying we should’ve gone earlier in the trip because it was truly the highlight and it would’ve been nice to go twice (hehe nice rhyme!). By day, Oistins is a fish market, but on Friday and Saturday nights, the party truly comes alive. You can buy arts and crafts from local artisans, dine of fresh seafood and other meats, enjoy the ballroom dancing to oldie goldies by Lexi’s Bar, or go over by the stage with the more modern music and everyone is up on the stage dancing. It was so much fun to see the characters and enjoy some grilled mahi-mahi and sweet potato pie.
All in all, it was a good trip even though we were dying from the heat. Our friends had a beautiful wedding; it was nice to have my nephew request that we pick him up from school at least twice and my niece actually came to me when I picked her up from the nursery (she can be indifferent sometimes :(). We spent some time with our grandparents, and again got a chance to meet up with those who really matter and meet new people. Trips aren’t guaranteed to be relaxing but I still get excited knowing that I’m going and whom I will see. Family first and fun after!
Barbados will always be home no matter where I roam.
xx
Just a Dash 