BARBADOS
I'd never really had the opportunity to travel overseas when i was younger. In hindsight, I wish I had. You really realise what a big wise world there is out there. Still, our great county - our island home, Australia has plenty to see & do. And after finally getting over to Perth in Western Australia in August 2007 for a weeks holiday, & getting to see the mighty Cats give Freo a thrashing at Subiaco (first footy reference - score!) I could now say I'd been to every state & territory in our great land! Not too bad! Just Darwin to conquer in terms of capital cities too - only been as far as Alice Springs on my 2 trips to the great north!
But as the end of 2007 approached, an opportunity properly presented itself for the 1st time. I had Long Service Leave available after clocking up 10 years at the company I worked for. And seeing what I'd put up with through some of those years (that's another post - would be a length & ranty one too), I wanted to do something special with my time off. I had a bit money in the bank, too. So i hankered at getting away & seeing a bit of the world. As none of my friends were really in a position for a trip of that sort, I guess I was from early on looking at guided holiday of some sort, so i wouldn't totally be on my own & get horribly lost or anything!
I looked quite closely at a number of Contiki tours through the USA. Though i was close to the edge of the age limit that they did tours for. And I just couldn't quite find one that fit into my tastes & budget. Then some adds appeared over the summer during the TV cricket coverage , advertising trips to the West Indies where Australia would be touring in June-July 2008. It suddenly occurred to me - what about a cricket tour to the Caribbean?? Wouldn't that for a way to do your first overseas holiday? In a place well known for their love of beer, rum, relaxed lifestyle, and of course, cricket!
It certainly wasn't cheap, but sometimes you just have to say, What The Hell! Your 1st overseas trip is generally a pretty momentous occasion, & who knew when the next opportunity would present itself? So a few months later, it was all booked, & my long service leave was lodged. Had a bit of drama before I left when the tour company I booked through didn't get minimum numbers, so I was teamed up with another group - The Fanatics! Interesting!
To say I was nervous on the date of my flight was an understatement! Had never left the country before, now here I was flying halfway across the world by myself! After going over things like safety, security, local currency, overseas phone use, etc it was finally happening!
Without going through every facet of my trip, & writing a novel, I'll just sum up my trip. If you really want it simply - BEST HOLIDAY EVER :)
The flights were fine, despite me panicking about US customs. Its certainly a long way, hey! I went via the US, so my 1st stopover was LA. Only an hour or 2 before off to Miami. That was all a bit of blur, though it was nice to see Dr Pepper on the menu! Love that stuff! So a slight delay on the way to Miami, & a got mini lost at the airport, but finally it sorted itself out, & i had a great 2 day stopover there. Amazing beaches - was like something out of a Baywatch movie. Just minus the people, seeing it was a Monday!!
Then it was onto Barbados. You knew there were plenty of fellow Aussies on the flight over, cause they quickly ran out of cans of beer on the flight. David Boon look out? :) Barbados was both impressive & a little sad, a really interesting place. Theres not much in-between there. Either its a well designed airport, lovely beaches/parks/ovals, nice city, or a poor countryside. But then, as we quickly learned, that's the way the locals like it.
I met up fine with our tour host & fellow cricket fans, & before we knew it, we were bused out to the Barbados Beach Club. Now my greatest worry about an overseas trip by myself was feeling out of place, & not fitting in. This is where the Caribbean trip won itself over though - having a group of fellow Aussie cricket fans made it pretty easy to slot in, & make friends - which is not my strongest suit. But by 2 weeks later, I'd made a great group of friends!
From night 1, which was a welcome party at an outdoor bar/pub on the edge of the main city, Bridgewater, where we all enjoyed free drinks (ahh rum punch, good memories) & a local BBQ & got to meet up with none other than the big bird himself - Joel Garner - through a good, entertaining Test Match which the Aussies won on Day 5, though a 20-20 game marred by rain, a boat & bus tour through Barbados & plenty of extra-curricular activities in the evening, i knew this was the best damn holiday ever. I mean, how many people can say they've hung out with Desy Haynes at his own rum-shack, downing rum & cokes while discussing the state of West Indies cricket?? :)
It is such a relaxed lifestyle over there. You really have to experience it yourself to get a proper feel for it! We were also made to fit in really well - all the locals were really friendly on learning we were Aussies. Just be careful on the road - basically when it comes to driving, there are no rules! Literally, our hotel was only a normal 15 min drive to the cricket ground, but on the weekdays, it was nearly an hour to get there. Barbados has peak hour traffic nightmares, who've thunk?
Kenningston Oval was the venue for the Test & the 20-20 match between Australia & the West Indies. Was a nice looking ground. We were in the party Stand - which was basically a beach area with deck chairs & umbrellas - like a scene outa a fancy beach, expect the ocean was the cricket oval, obviously. Best thing was free drinks all day!! We had a voucher for morning tea, lunch & afternoon tea, but open bar all day!! Whoo-hoo!! To day some of the guys on the trip were totally wasted by the end of the days play was an understatement!
In the evening, we had optional nights out at local bars/clubs. I stayed in a few nights, but went out a few as well - I was there to enjoy myself, plus plenty of the other guys in the Fanatics group were heading out, so it was good to go in a group. Also, that was the other great thing about Barbados - everything was so cheap! Highlight was on the Saturday night after the Test had concluded if I'm remembering right. lace was called McBrides, I think. Sort of a pub that turned into a big part indoor part outdoor club later on in the evening. They had a drink special for us Fanatics - 2 for 1 drinks all night. And seriously, a rum & coke would work out to round $A3. And their beer - Banks beer, which sadly isn't available anywhere here in Australia, was bloody beautiful & cheap! But on this night, they had a theme... 80s music. Now you might have worked out by now, I'm an 80's music nut. and buoyed by cheap & free drinks, I (apparently) danced like crazy & put the rest of the tour group to shame! The rest of the guys I went with couldn't drag my off the main stage, & i was there till closing. :) That also sealed my nickname for the rest of the tour, especially as there was already 2 other Matthews in the group of friends I made. Yep, I was "Disco" for the rest of the tour, hehehe.
I could go on & on. Meeting a legend in D.Haynes & kicking back at his own little rum shack (very popular over there) was a surreal experience. But then, the whole trip was in hindsight. Just an amazing experience. Was rather sad that i had to have an early one the following Saturday at McBrides as my flight out was early the next morning.
The trip wasn't over - I included a day 3 side tour of the world famous Las Vegas as well! That was amazing & quite eventful in the end so I'll save that for another post. But for my 1st overseas holiday, it was damn amazing! It will be hard to top, & made some good friends out of it too. . Alas they all live in NSW & QLD, but thanks to facebook we've kept in touch! A few stayed on in the Caribbean to go to some of the 1 day games, lucky buggers. Also a shout out to our host, Phil VB, as we soon came to know him - a funny guy who often drank more & got into more trouble in the small hours of the morning than his tour group did!
So in summary, this was one occasion where the holiday was worth every cent, plus some. So glad i went with my heart on this one -Barbados was an amazing place, & had such an incredible time. Even a few of the females who did the tour & weren't big cricket fans had a great time. It would have been hard to have a bad time!! :)
It certainly wasn't cheap, but sometimes you just have to say, What The Hell! Your 1st overseas trip is generally a pretty momentous occasion, & who knew when the next opportunity would present itself? So a few months later, it was all booked, & my long service leave was lodged. Had a bit of drama before I left when the tour company I booked through didn't get minimum numbers, so I was teamed up with another group - The Fanatics! Interesting!
To say I was nervous on the date of my flight was an understatement! Had never left the country before, now here I was flying halfway across the world by myself! After going over things like safety, security, local currency, overseas phone use, etc it was finally happening!
Without going through every facet of my trip, & writing a novel, I'll just sum up my trip. If you really want it simply - BEST HOLIDAY EVER :)
The flights were fine, despite me panicking about US customs. Its certainly a long way, hey! I went via the US, so my 1st stopover was LA. Only an hour or 2 before off to Miami. That was all a bit of blur, though it was nice to see Dr Pepper on the menu! Love that stuff! So a slight delay on the way to Miami, & a got mini lost at the airport, but finally it sorted itself out, & i had a great 2 day stopover there. Amazing beaches - was like something out of a Baywatch movie. Just minus the people, seeing it was a Monday!!
Then it was onto Barbados. You knew there were plenty of fellow Aussies on the flight over, cause they quickly ran out of cans of beer on the flight. David Boon look out? :) Barbados was both impressive & a little sad, a really interesting place. Theres not much in-between there. Either its a well designed airport, lovely beaches/parks/ovals, nice city, or a poor countryside. But then, as we quickly learned, that's the way the locals like it.
I met up fine with our tour host & fellow cricket fans, & before we knew it, we were bused out to the Barbados Beach Club. Now my greatest worry about an overseas trip by myself was feeling out of place, & not fitting in. This is where the Caribbean trip won itself over though - having a group of fellow Aussie cricket fans made it pretty easy to slot in, & make friends - which is not my strongest suit. But by 2 weeks later, I'd made a great group of friends!
From night 1, which was a welcome party at an outdoor bar/pub on the edge of the main city, Bridgewater, where we all enjoyed free drinks (ahh rum punch, good memories) & a local BBQ & got to meet up with none other than the big bird himself - Joel Garner - through a good, entertaining Test Match which the Aussies won on Day 5, though a 20-20 game marred by rain, a boat & bus tour through Barbados & plenty of extra-curricular activities in the evening, i knew this was the best damn holiday ever. I mean, how many people can say they've hung out with Desy Haynes at his own rum-shack, downing rum & cokes while discussing the state of West Indies cricket?? :)
It is such a relaxed lifestyle over there. You really have to experience it yourself to get a proper feel for it! We were also made to fit in really well - all the locals were really friendly on learning we were Aussies. Just be careful on the road - basically when it comes to driving, there are no rules! Literally, our hotel was only a normal 15 min drive to the cricket ground, but on the weekdays, it was nearly an hour to get there. Barbados has peak hour traffic nightmares, who've thunk?
Kenningston Oval was the venue for the Test & the 20-20 match between Australia & the West Indies. Was a nice looking ground. We were in the party Stand - which was basically a beach area with deck chairs & umbrellas - like a scene outa a fancy beach, expect the ocean was the cricket oval, obviously. Best thing was free drinks all day!! We had a voucher for morning tea, lunch & afternoon tea, but open bar all day!! Whoo-hoo!! To day some of the guys on the trip were totally wasted by the end of the days play was an understatement!
In the evening, we had optional nights out at local bars/clubs. I stayed in a few nights, but went out a few as well - I was there to enjoy myself, plus plenty of the other guys in the Fanatics group were heading out, so it was good to go in a group. Also, that was the other great thing about Barbados - everything was so cheap! Highlight was on the Saturday night after the Test had concluded if I'm remembering right. lace was called McBrides, I think. Sort of a pub that turned into a big part indoor part outdoor club later on in the evening. They had a drink special for us Fanatics - 2 for 1 drinks all night. And seriously, a rum & coke would work out to round $A3. And their beer - Banks beer, which sadly isn't available anywhere here in Australia, was bloody beautiful & cheap! But on this night, they had a theme... 80s music. Now you might have worked out by now, I'm an 80's music nut. and buoyed by cheap & free drinks, I (apparently) danced like crazy & put the rest of the tour group to shame! The rest of the guys I went with couldn't drag my off the main stage, & i was there till closing. :) That also sealed my nickname for the rest of the tour, especially as there was already 2 other Matthews in the group of friends I made. Yep, I was "Disco" for the rest of the tour, hehehe.
I could go on & on. Meeting a legend in D.Haynes & kicking back at his own little rum shack (very popular over there) was a surreal experience. But then, the whole trip was in hindsight. Just an amazing experience. Was rather sad that i had to have an early one the following Saturday at McBrides as my flight out was early the next morning.
The trip wasn't over - I included a day 3 side tour of the world famous Las Vegas as well! That was amazing & quite eventful in the end so I'll save that for another post. But for my 1st overseas holiday, it was damn amazing! It will be hard to top, & made some good friends out of it too. . Alas they all live in NSW & QLD, but thanks to facebook we've kept in touch! A few stayed on in the Caribbean to go to some of the 1 day games, lucky buggers. Also a shout out to our host, Phil VB, as we soon came to know him - a funny guy who often drank more & got into more trouble in the small hours of the morning than his tour group did!
So in summary, this was one occasion where the holiday was worth every cent, plus some. So glad i went with my heart on this one -Barbados was an amazing place, & had such an incredible time. Even a few of the females who did the tour & weren't big cricket fans had a great time. It would have been hard to have a bad time!! :)
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