Get Me There : The Best of Barbados

Since starting up this site, both Eb and I have received tons of requests from family and friends to help them plan a trip. People have even suggested that we become travel agents. While I love talking about traveling to others, I’m a little hesitant about taking on full responsibility for determining trip plans outside those I’m making for myself. Having the fate of someone’s trip in my hands is more than a notion to me. So instead…I think I’ll stick with giving “ideas” and “suggestions”, free of liability and filled with disclaimers. Bring them to the “water”…but it’s up to them to decide if and how they want to drink.

But, when my auntie asked me for suggestions on where to go for her birthday celebration in September, instead of shying away, I accepted the challenge of helping her research location options.

My aunt is a seasoned traveler in her own right, she’s traveled to a variety of places from Egypt to Hawaii. We’ve also traveled together to Russia and Aruba. She’s a laid back traveler, and enjoys a mix of relaxation, cultural experience, and fun activities. She would be taking this trip with my uncle, so I wanted to find some places that they could both enjoy.

Island love
Her only requirement was that she wanted to visit an island and get some beach time in. After reading an advertisement in Conde Nast Traveler about Caribbean Getaways, I knew these locations would be up her alley - Turks & Caicos, Barbabos, and St. Lucia. When I presented the three locations, Auntie wasn’t too familiar with Turks, and seemed to be more interested in Barbados and St. Lucia. So we forged ahead with Barbados and St. Lucia, and started looking up travel deals on sites like Kayak, Cheap Caribbean, AA Vacations and many others.




The Best of Barbados
Through my research, I found out that Tourism Board for Barbados was promoting a country-wide Best of Barbados vacation package. The package details are…
Book either a 5-night all-inclusive or a 7-night special Best of Barbados package and receive the following:
- $200 airfare credit per person ($300 per person for travel in September)
- First night free
- Free full breakfast daily
- $25.00 (USD) voucher for dinner for two at Oistins Fish Fry
- Free car rental day with the rental of two or more days at participating car rental companies
- Buy one, get the second half price on all participating ground activities
- High value discounts at participating Bridgetown retail stores

My auntie was really interested in this deal, but I told her to do some reading up on Barbados to see if it was an island that she’d be interested in visiting. I was so proud of her! She did some great research and found things she liked such as:
- The fact that Barbados has a lower probabilities of Hurricane occurrences.
- The dollar is strong here. According to XE.com, $1USD = $1.99 BDS (Barbados Dollar)
- There are some interesting cultural ties between Barbados and South Carolina which will be exhibited in October.

She even found this little video about Barbados on YouTube. Go ‘head, Auntie! She’s so savvy.

So, I think she’s set on Barbados and will be booking the trip soon. It was nice being a part of the planning process, but great to see her ultimately make decisions based on her own research and preferences. Learning about Barbados makes me want to go now! Maybe next time. Stay tuned in the future for the final details of Auntie’s trip plans. I’ve given her the assignment of sharing her Barbados experience with us when she returns.

StarTreks:
Looks like Auntie’s not the only one with Barbados on her mind. Celebrity Bajan, Rihanna returned home to Barbados this week for a fun vacation with “friend” Chris Brown.

If you’d like to be a part our next “Get Me There” post…we’d love to hear from you!

Submit to us via email your top travel ideas and preferences, and we’ll try find some great destination/event options to match your style! Remember it’s up to *you* to do final research and trip planning, but we’re up to the challenge of helping you get started in finding some great places to visit!