A hop, skip, and a lunch

There were more points to be had in 2018 and we got them! It was purely a point mission with enough time to get lunch in each place, begging the question, "how far will this family go for lunch?"

We first went to Dominica. Dominica was hit hard by Hurricane Maria and is still recovering but is very much open to tourists and visitors. At the bed and breakfast where we had lunch, the owners had been off island when the hurricane hit and upon return had to walk two days to get to their property. They suffered minimal damage compared to the rest of the island. Our brief stay overlooked the mountains and curvy mountain roads of the island. Rain storms moved quickly in and out and it was super windy.

From Dominica, we flew back to Barbados via Antigua. We were only in the airport but saw as many sights as possible.* First stop, obviously, a fort.

 Next, the coast to see the waves come crashing in.

 We took a break and waited for Dad's ship to come in.

 Then relaxed some more on the beach.

When we finally returned to the airport, Dad continued his quest for the perfect magnet and I continued my passion to try on hats.**

Our next day trip was to Grenada. As we learned at our lunch locale, Grenada's latitude is 12 degrees north. That was about all we learned, to be honest. The fish and chips were delicious and the bay was beautiful and wikipedia attempted to explain to us the 1983 US invasion.***

Dad did take a brief foray into body building, like ya do.

We had a slight delay on the way home but if there are two people equipped to hang out in an airport for an extra 45 minutes, it's these two.

This ends the country counting for 2018 bringing Dad to a total of 90 and me to 142. 

Since it's the new year and you, devoted reader, have come this far, we'll end the year with a few quotes from Dad.

(Unprompted) "I don't think I could have been a sailor back in the 1700s."

"Do you know what 'Liat'**** spells backwards?"

And finally, "maybe they'll have a big tree we can take our picture in front of!"*****

I hope you all have a wonderful new year and safe travels into 2019!
-KT

*Never before has there been as good a sport as Dad who was photo directed all over the airport.

**Sadly, AT had already headed home and was unavailable to try on hats. Oh, but she did put this one on in Barbados the other day . . .

***You can google it. This isn't that kind of blog.

****We are not sponsored by Liat but they did fly us everywhere. And if anyone from Liat is reading this, we are very open to being sponsored by Liat. We are also open to being sponsored by just about anyone that wants to fly us around the world. In a totally non-creepy way, obvs.

*****I never knew he was so passionate about Christmas trees before this trip.

Island Holiday Hopping

All Dad wanted for Christmas was a Teacher Summer blog post! He is so easy to shop for!

We decided to get out of dodge this Christmas and head to warm weather, beaches, and Rihanna. Dad is working on joining TCC* and needed some country points anyway. We flew to Miami for stone crabs, Barbados for warmth, and are island hopping between beach sits. 

I don’t know why your family goes to Miami but mine goes to eat stone crabs. Giant, jumbo, stone crabs. Dad and I got in early enough to cruise bikes down the boardwalk and take incredibly dangerous selfies. Next time you want to take your life in your own hands and seriously endanger the lives of strangers, take a selfie while bike riding on a busy boardwalk. 

**

Once AT got into town, we got down to business.*** We had a delicious meal at Joe’s Stone Crabs complete with fabulous bibs and legs for days.**** 

We flew the next day to Barbados and started working Dad closer to his 100th point! He will be at 90 by the end of this trip and a full-fledged TCC member by the end of 2019. 

Completely confusing the hotel check-in, we confirmed our rooms for several nights and then booked a transfer to the airport for the next morning. At o’dark:thirty we were back at the airport to fly to St Vincent via St Lucia.*****

St Lucia was a cold airport with nothing to report. St Vincent, however, was a lovely day trip with a taxi driver excited to show off his island. We started with lunch on a private island-turned-beach resort where the thing to do was try the local rums.******

Following lunch, we were dragged to a fort******* where the view was excellent and no new knowledge about forts was relayed.

We also went to the botanical garden, the oldest in the Western Hemisphere, and were enthralled by parrots saying hi to us. There is extensive video of the parrots talking to us- see me in America for that exclusive footage. Also, there were plants.********

We ended the day trip at Wallilabou Bay where the first two “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies were filmed. You can ooh and ahh at the bay and see a random sampling of sets and props left behind.

*********

The island hopping ended with the inevitable, a delayed plane ride home. It’s not the airline’s fault, Santa was taking up all the air-traffic controller’s time and we wouldn’t have had it any other way. 

For Christmas we sat on the beach and read quietly. I hope you, devoted reader, had a lovely day doing whatever loveliness means to you. It’s the wrong island’s greetings, but, Mele Kalikimaka!

-KT

*If you are a new reader, welcome, I hardly knew ye, and http://travelerscenturyclub.org/. If you are an old reader and still working this out, there is really nothing else I can do to describe the absurdity of this club with its arbitrary point system except to tell you that now I’m not only a member, I’m a chapter advisor. 

**Is it just me or is this photo a little: 

***The family business has always been and will always be taking a delicious meal very seriously. 

****Not my nickname in college. 

*****St Lucia was a repeat for me but new for Dad and AT and this is the season of giving. They’re welcome. We could have flown direct. 

******Fun fact: the favorite local rum is of such a high proof that you are not allowed to fly with it and the airport is filled with signs reminding you of that fact. 

*******I had pre-planned what I wanted to do on the island and I can assure you the fort did not make my list. 

********We passed on a botanical guide but I did force our family Master Gardener to rattle off plant names upon request. Always worth it. 

*********No ATs were harmed in the making of this blog. 

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