Thursday, September 27, 2007

Caribbound

We'd been thinking of booking a trip to Europe for our next vacation, hopefully to be taken right around now. Now it looks like the soonest we'll be able to escape is January.

So Ms. Bargain Hunter Slave started poking into destinations where the climate in January is more pleasant than it is at home. Places like Kauai, Phuket, Rio, and Paradise Island came to mind.

The spousal unit wasn't wowed by Hawaii on our honeymoon, so that was the first to go. Asia and South America were next based on flight times and ticket prices. This meant that, for the second year in a row, we'd be headed to the Caribbean.

I started looking in the Bahamas since it's a relatively short flight and we've heard good things. Was all set to have us on a vacay on Cable Beach. But the spousal unit balked, fearing the weather would not be quite warm enough in January.

Next I eyed the Cayman Islands. Alas, flights within out frequent flyer/voucher system were not to be had.

Finally, my eye was caught by St. Maarten. We enjoyed the Dutch hospitality shown last year in Aruba. And an added bonus is that it shares an island with the French territory St. Martin. The average temperature was to the spousal unit's liking, and airline tickets were in reach. So we'll be there for a week in January.

As I poked through travel guides, I realized how close the celeb getaway of St. Barts is to St. Maarten. Perhaps we'd do a side trip for a couple days and rub elbows with George, Brad, or Matt! Then I started looking at hotels in St. Bart. Suffice to say, our visit to that island will be confined to a day trip by ferry.

Anguilla is another option for a day trip, but St. Barts looks prettier.

St. Maarten/Martin apparently has the best food in the Caribbean. This is a real draw for me, since I'll hopefully be pregnant and unable to imbibe spirits.

Any tales or anecdotes from these islands to share? Let's hear it!

5 comments:

chelene said...

You must visit St. Barts!!! In fact, I'm having strong deja vu as if I told you this before...hmmm.

Anyway, it's an awesome island. I had the best time when I went. If you go for the day have lunch at La Plage (the restaurant at the Tom Beach Hotel) before or after you visit all the shops in Gustavia.

I hear Anguilla is beautiful but there's not much to do. I didn't stay long in St. Martin so I can't help there.

Slave to the dogs said...

Chel - I do recall reading something you wrote at some point about St. Barts. Would have loved to stay there the whole time, but we're restricting ourselves to our Starwood hotel points. I'll keep your advice in mind when we go there for the day.

Tanya Espanya said...

We did that sailing cruise in February starting/ending in St. Maarten. It was hot and breezy. Very excellent.

We've also been to Cable Beach in the Bahamas and found it to be less than expected re: white sugary beachs (there was a lot of floating green stuff...seaweed perhaps?).

BeckEye said...

I wish I had any island anecdotes. Unless you count Manhattan.

Slave to the dogs said...

Tanya - most excellent! About St. Maarten good, Cable beach not-so-good. Sounds like we've made the right choice.

BeckEye - there's a huge market for Manhattan anecdotes! You could be the next Candace Bushnell. Only smarter.