Monday, January 4, 2016

Barbados: A Photo Diary

Oh Barbados, where do I start. Never before have I loved somewhere so much. I actually spent the entire week post-returning listening to Bob Marley with my heating cranked up to 20.

...You think I'm kidding don't you.

The best way I can explain it is that I kind of feel about it like you would an ex-boyfriend. Every time something mentions they've either been or are going there I'm like, 'Oh.. how was it? Did he.. did he mention me?', whilst my big jealous eyes burn on. Someone merely needs to mention a word that sounds like Barbados and I'll take it as a cue to sit for hours and talk about it. Again, you think I'm kidding. Two of my best friends sat for an hour and half solid while I pulled out the 'just one more story' routine. I'm not proud of it but it happened. More than once.
The Little Magpie Barbados blog post
So.. what did I love about Big Bim? First up, the people. I've never met such a welcoming bunch in my life. Some places you go you find there's a real tourist-local divide but you don't get that impression at all here, which I think is one of the main things that leads very quickly to it feeling like home. What I've done for today's post is put together a little photo diary before I fire on with my 'things to do in Barbados' post, because I think that's the best way to get a feel for a place. However, I do feel it's one of those gems that you really need to experience yourself and, once you do, you'll be like, 'ah, yes, I get it. I get it and I'm never leaving'. In fact, one of the first couples we spoke to were on their 10th visit there, and the second were on their 12th  - you see where I'm going here - there's some sort of magic that just makes people want to go back and back again. I actually looked to see how much flights would be to go back the day after getting we got home, which isn't something I've ever done.. I also got into a nice little daydream on the plane home about how I was going to move there but that's a whole other story*

So pour yourself a cup of tea and come take my hand while I take you on a magical tour of Barbados. Ok, you don't need to do the hand-holding part.

* Can a country take out a restraining order on a person? Asking for a friend who needs to calm down

Barbados Photo Diary FullSizeRender-4
Barbados Photo Diary The Little Magpie
FullSizeRender-3 Barbados Travel Guide and Photo Diary The Little Magpie 91 Barbados Travel Guide and Photo Diary The Little Magpie 88 Barbados Travel Guide and Photo Diary The Little Magpie 86 Barbados Travel Guide and Photo Diary The Little Magpie 85 Barbados Travel Guide and Photo Diary The Little Magpie 79 Barbados Travel Guide and Photo Diary The Little Magpie 74
I feel like these are the kind of images that pop in to your head when someone mentions Barbados, yees? I won't lie, this is exactly what I had in mind - well, that and me making best friends with Rhianna but that's something else entirely - but that's just one side to the island. Don't get me wrong; the white beaches, rainbows, palms and the sunsets and sunrises are incredible and would be enough on their own, but that's just where the fun begins. 

Barbados Travel Guide and Photo Diary The Little Magpie 48 Barbados Travel Guide and Photo Diary The Little Magpie 69 Barbados Travel Guide and Photo Diary The Little Magpie 46 Barbados Travel Guide and Photo Diary The Little Magpie 38 Barbados Travel Guide and Photo Diary The Little Magpie 37 Barbados Travel Guide and Photo Diary The Little Magpie 36 Barbados Travel Guide and Photo Diary The Little Magpie 31 Barbados Travel Guide and Photo Diary The Little Magpie 29
You seee? There's a whole leafy green side to it too - if I told you the windmill and the bridge were in Scotland you'd believe me wouldn't you? If you couldn't tell it was 30 degrees, of course. There is actually a part of the island known as The Scotland District because it's so hilly and green, but I'll come back to that in my What to Do Post. And there's your cliffhanger right there.

The waves get pretty choppy on the South and the East of the island; Barbados is surrounded by the Atlantic ocean, not the Caribbean as commonly thought.. If you win a pub quiz on this you're welcome, so it's really popular with surfers. In the third photo down there you can see some people - sorry, surfer dudes - getting ready for a big competition that was coming up that week. 

Barbados Travel Guide and Photo Diary The Little Magpie 59 Barbados Travel Guide and Photo Diary The Little Magpie 62 Barbados Travel Guide and Photo Diary The Little Magpie 49 Barbados Travel Guide and Photo Diary The Little Magpie 44 Barbados Travel Guide and Photo Diary The Little Magpie 43 Barbados Travel Guide and Photo Diary The Little Magpie 45 Barbados Travel Guide and Photo Diary The Little Magpie 41 Barbados Travel Guide and Photo Diary The Little Magpie 40 Barbados Travel Guide and Photo Diary The Little Magpie 39 Barbados Travel Guide and Photo Diary The Little Magpie 50 Barbados Travel Guide and Photo Diary The Little Magpie 21 Barbados Travel Guide and Photo Diary The Little Magpie 2
Barbados pretty much had me from the get-go, but what you see in these last photos here were, for me, the parts that really sealed the deal - the bright colours, the amazing people and just the general air happiness. Honestly, it's infectious* Oh and, of course, rum. I think I had a rum punch in my hand about 93% of the time. What's not to love? As you can see by that second last photo, we had some (crazy) rain during our time there, but it really didn't matter. The showers are generally quite quick and heavy as hell so, since it still sits in the 20s, it's all part of the fun. Believe me, this is coming from a little sun bunny.

So, there we go! I genuinely feel a little crushed looking back at these, especially with Storm Frank raging at my window and the notable absence of rum in my life. Stay strong Amy, stay strong. I'll go into it all a little more detail in my next post, but I hope for now that gave you a little glimpse into the wonderful world of Bim and why I love it so. Barbados is warm all year round, but dry season typically runs from January to June and flights start as little as £299 (I know, who'da thunk it!?) so if you're looking to get a little bit of Winter sun on your bones and fancy heading outside of the usual Canary Island bubble then this is a definite one to put on your radar. One condition though.. you take me with you.

Amy

Glasgow to Barbados  from £298.98 return   |   Manchester to Barbados from £335 return *subject to availability

For more information on Barbados visit http://www.visitbarbados.org/

* Have you ever known me to be so soppy? Honestly, I don't even know who I am any more.