Barbados - Short and Sweet

Yikes....I can't believe it's December 1st.  Time to start thinking of the Christmas Holidays.  But before I can even think of that let me recap the past few days in Barbados.

Friday November 26
Woke up at 6:00a.m. finished getting ready and was picked up at 7:00a.m. to head to the airport.  As we had already checked in on-line we weren't worried about not getting seats together.  Funny though, I'm not sure how checking in on-line saves any time as you still have to go to the check-in counter to drop off your bags and they re-check everything anyway.
7:45a.m. cleared security and eat breakfast at Fionn McCool's.  Eggs and toast with home fries.  Delicious!
9:20a.m. - board plane.  Departure was supposed to be at 9:40a.m. but we didn't leave until almost 10:40a.m.  There were 6 people who had checked in but did not board the plane, so they had to find their luggage and take it off.  Lesson learned, don't be late for your flight or else there will be a plane full of very irritated passengers.
5:00p.m. (ish) Barbados time (they are 1 hour ahead of us). We arrive in Barbados.  After a short wait to get through customs and for our luggage we got into a cab to head to our resort.  As it was rush hour our cab driver took many back roads.  I honestly felt like we were going back and forth and all over the place.
6:00p.m. Arrived at our resort - Almond Beach Village.  My Dad was patiently waiting in the lobby and it was raining.  After a bit of running around we finally found our room.  We (I mean I) unpacked and got ready.
7:00p.m. Headed to dinner and to surprise my Mom.  We were seated and then the waitress brought my parents over.  My Mom really seemed surprised.  She was so excited to see us.  It was nice to surprise her like that.
8:30p.m. - Finished dinner.  So exhausted so headed back to the room and to bed.

Saturday November 27
Woke up and had breakfast at The Horizon restaurant.  Then we headed to the beach for the morning.  I did not venture into the waters as they were a bit rough for me.  Raju however, was not afraid and ventured in a few times.
After the morning in the sun, we headed back to the room and then went for lunch. at The Reef.  We discovered a Guest Beverage Centre nearby that also had self serve soft ice-cream.  One of the best finds of the day.
After lunch we went back to the beach but decided to stay in the shade as we had, had enough sun in the morning.  After another relaxing few hours we went back to the room and hung out until to Tea.  High Tea was served at 3:30p.m. but it wasn't the same as the service at the Almond Resort in St. Lucia.  It wasn't quite as nice.  We met up with my parents there and chatted for a bit before retiring back to our room until dinner.
For dinner we met up with my parents at The Horizon for a Caribbean Buffet.  I can't quite remember all the dishes but it was delicious.
After dinner we hung out in the lounge for a bit and then left my parents and headed off to bed.  I think my parents must have been surprised at our lazy, early bed times.

Sunday November 28

Sugar Mill

Woke up to some grey skies but it cleared and the sun came out.  Met my parents for breakfast at The Reef.  They headed off on a shuttle bus to check out another resort and a store and we headed to another location on the beach with an umbrella.  I was reading "Mini-Shopoholic" which I have to say I didn't enjoy very much.  I just found it so irritating how shallow this woman was.  As we were enjoying our time there we had lunch at the Beach Bar.  We spent a few more hours out at the beach and then went for a walk around the grounds.  We found an Old Sugar Mill.  It was right across from the restaurant we were going to be having dinner at later that evening.
Back on the beach we hung for a while longer and then headed back to the room to rest and get ready prior to dinner.  I popped over to my parents room

View from Room

to give my Mom my Chatelaine magazine.  I chatted for a bit and then went back to our room.


Dinner was at the Italian restaurant.  I had the chicken parmigiana which was tasty.
Back at the lounge there was a steel pan player.  I hung out with my Mom for a bit while my Dad ran back to their room.  When he returned I as usual headed up to room for bed time.

Monday November 29

Woke up to grey skies.  Met my parents for breakfast at The Horizon.  Then we all headed out for an Island Safari tour.  This was a different way to see the Island.  Instead of in a big coach bus we were in a 10 seater land rover.  We did some off-roading which was bumpy but fun.  The open air was a really nice way to see the East Coast.  Barbados is a beautiful island.  Apparently we went there a few times when I was little but I really don't remember it much at all.
We arrived back at the resort around 3:30p.m. We didn't head down to the beach today.  It was still grey.  Instead we got the iPad and decided to go to the lobby to hang out for a bit before dinner.   While there we saw my parents wandering around so they joined us for a bit.  I checked a few e-mails but there wasn't anything pressing.  At 5:00p.m. we tried to do on-line check-in but that wasn't available for Barbados.  We headed back to the room to rest and get ready for dinner.  While I was in the shower I heard a knock at the door.  When I got out I saw a cake that say Happy 4th Anniversary.  My parents had ordered it for us.  As you can see it was quite large.  Fortunately the next day my Mom was going to visit a cousin so I let her take most of it with her.
We had dinner at The Reef.  It was seafood.  Funnily enough I had chicken curry instead of any seafood.  Raju had grilled tuna.  It was quite tasty.  Might be something we try to make at some point too.
After dinner we headed back to the room and it was time to pack.  It was a quick trip but a good one.


Tuesday November 30
Time to come home, but before we did that we still had time for one last breakfast and a few hours of some rays of sunshine on the beach.  As I mentioned my parents met someone who was related so went to visit her for the morning.  Raju and I declined the invite and headed to the beach.  Again, I just dipped my feet in the ocean while Raju got his last few dips in to play with the waves.
Once we felt we had enough we headed back to the room and finished packing and getting ready to leave.  Finally it was check out time.  We had lunch before leaving and then we were off.  Fortunately the roads were clear as it was Independence Day a National Holiday for them.  This way we didn't have to take the back roads.  At the airport we arrived before check-in was available, but at least we knew we would get seats together.  My parents opted for the emergency exit row for leg room but those seats didn't recline so we chose a spot a few rows up from them.  We had a few hours to kill so I read a bit (I've started The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, but I'm having a hard time getting into it), checked e-mails a bit and then had one last snack before getting on the plane.
Everything was on time on the way back and we got to the gate at 9:55p.m.  Everything ran smoothly so we were through customs, got our luggage and in a cab on the way home by 10:15p.m.