A few family members & friends have told me recently that they are vicariously living through me. Allow me to give you some more ammunition in your desire to claw my eyes out. 🙂 Its ok, I still love you

About 8 months ago, listening to my (now former) boss screech at whoever the latest victim was that day, I decided I’d had enough. The ceiling above me was military grade, bullet proof glass… the stuff that protects the President. And no matter how much I shot at it, it wasn’t going to break and let me do what I wanted to do, what I had studied to do. So I began searching for new career paths. I still love writing (clearlly), and my public relations background hadn’t quieted.

“I wish I could work for a travel company who would pay for me to see the world and write about it. That’d be ideal.”

Fast-forward to this past week, sitting on the beach in Barbados and having that “a-ha!” or “shoulda had a V-8” moment.

I got everything I asked for. It doesn’t look exactly like I thought it would, but to paraphrase a bible verse – “the LORD said, even If I told you, you would not believe”. Touche big man.

Here I am, 26 years old and traversing the Caribbean for work. 6 resorts in 4 days, gathering all the information my little brain can retain and reciting it back for my agents. Not exactly writing, but thats why I’m here typing it out for you all. 🙂

We started in Miami, two days of sitting in a conference room with the greatest team I’ve been a part of to date.

I was also able to make some new favorite memories consisting of sailboats and baseball.

Then off we went to Saint Lucia. One of my college roommates had studied abroad here and I was jealous as hell, but wouldn’t you know it, our driver drove us right past the Lynchburg College building! Cool coincidence huh? (I wasn’t fast enough for a photo)

We spent Sunday touring the 3 resorts on the island and attempting to learn their distinct personalities.

Monday was an early morning to hop on a teeny plane to our newest family member – Barbados! We didn’t think we’d have enough time after the tour to enjoy the beach too much but as it turns out, we had 5 hours to kill…. and I had no bathing suit… thank goodness the resort shop sells them!

I now refer to this particular one as my Barbados Suit. The beach was a little rough, but the reef thats being built should calm it down eventually. A couple of the waves knocked me on my ass. no lie.

And I got hella burnt. My chest hates me and is rebelling by turning into a python and shedding its crispy outer layer one disgusting flake at a time…. there is not enough aloe in the world.

A bummer of a Tuesday as the rest of my team  had to head back to the states, but I had one more island to see, Antigua.

Now, I thought St. Lucia was beautiful, and Barbados has the shiny new penny appeal, but holy shit Antigua. I’m breaking the rules by saying this here, but so far its my favorite. When you think Caribbean you dream up that picturesque jewel toned water, this is what you imagine.

Since I didn’t have anything on the schedule for that whole first day, my trainer and I were spoiled and treated to a scenic tour of the western coast.

A 3.5 hour tour.

There are 365 beaches here, one for every day of the year and we didn’t even skim the surface of them. We did take some time to walk around the historic Nelson’s Dockyard (sailing week is this coming week, there was a huge Cricket match while we were there…. I still don’t understand that game). We also traveled up to Shirley Heights, where I dropped in on one of the tour guides.

It was a little windy…. but these are photos in front of Eric Clapton’s house!

The guide told a story of how waaaaaay back when, the cove had a giant chain stretched across the opening. This chain served as a line of defense against approaching enemy ships. The chain would be pulled taught as the ships passed through, tearing up the bottom of the boat. Seriously, a trip wire for ships… a Ship-wire. (thanks for the new term Big Seester).

It was never used, thankfully, but an interesting insight into the history of the island.

It was nice to be able to experience the resort, I attended a dinner gala and danced around handing out desserts to returing guests. This was the same day the St. Lucian airport totally forgot to load one of my suitcases (the one with the essentials in it) onto the plane that morning. So there I was in a dirty shirt and no makeup with all the important people of the resort trying to make a good impression. Awesome..

I toured both resorts on the island and then was told I needed to try some of the watersports. Um… ok, twist my arm. I was hoping to try the sailing lessons, but we didn’t get back in time so all I could attempt was evening out my tan lines and testing the snack bars. 🙂

I’ll just have to find someone else to give me a crash course on sailing I guess!

Another reason I love this new company, we worked it out so that I would be able to fly home to the family for Nugget’s first birthday! He did give me kind of a funny look, he’s used to hearing my voice and seeing my face through Mommy’s phone, but not full body in front of him. He eventually figured it out and I can’t belive how much he’s grown. He’ll surely be walking soon.

I totally lucked out on picking this weekend to be home, as it turns out, it was my favorite weekend! The annual Flower and Garden Festival! Big Seester, Momma, and I walked into town for a girls day complete with wine, I took in a high school baseball game with my Disney Princess running friend, and then the whole family celebrated Phillippe’s 5 year cancer free milestone with a steak dinner!!

I love being home and seeing everybody, I even got to pop by Nana & Daddy Toms! A full weekend, but now I’ve returned to NOLA. Lots more to come, just waiting for that next adventure to start!

#AdventureYear