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Solo Closeout in Barbados

Completion of the 2023 Goal

Well, there it is – 2023 is done and my goal completed with Barbados in the books. I successfully traveled to at least one new country every month during the year. Was it worth it? Yes and no.

I thought at the time of writing the goal that it was not too ambitious, and I mostly still agree with that. What I didn’t account for was the amount of quality time in each location and for other events and commitments popping up throughout the year, which I’ll elaborate on in the 2023 wrap-up and outlook post.

For now, this is about Barbados, and my weekend warrior trip to unwind and see a damn turtle. I’ll have to apologize in advance for the shortness of this post and lack of depth. I think it speaks volumes that I wrote this post 6 months after the trip – a result of me actually having to decompress going into 2024.

Logisticals

Travel Logistics I took advantage of my American Airline points for a RT flight with a connection in CLT. That airport is growing on me. No car rental on this island, as I knew I'd be walking to whatever I needed.

Logistics included:

Flight form American Airlines used 20,500 points plus $130 in taxes.
AirBnb of $300 for 3 nights.

Total was a cool $430. No map on this one. There was not much to show. For reference, I was a little outside Bridgetown at Rockley Golf Club and would walk over to St. Lawrence gap where the restaurants and bars were located.

An interesting start

It’s a little tough to remember all the details writing a post half a year late, but a few things definitely stuck out. The first being the Airbnb hosts. In the Lesser Antilles, I dealt with a lot of British folk as hosts, but the couple in Barbados was by far the most enthusiastic. They were super generous driving me to some nearby places and had great communication, but I could never shake the feeling there was some sort of “stuck in 1970’s” situation going on haha. Their day-to-day seemed very… groovy.

Aside from that, I also had a wee bit of a scare. Nothing builds character and self-dependence more than having some sort of medical issue on an island with no familiarity of the area. For some reason first night in, I got this crazy hive rash on half my body. I’m talking massive blotches of red, irritated, itchiness on my entire back and thighs. So that’s when I made a beeline to the nearest pharmacy, got some Benadryl and slept real good.

It mostly went away the following day, but I still have no idea what caused it.

Operation Turtle

With the weirdness hopefully behind me, I set my sights on the ocean. Browsing a few companies offering day tours, I found one that provided lunch on a catamaran and the opportunity to swim with turtles. I kind of laughed, since it was so touristy; like dolphin spotting in Florida. Nevertheless, I was one step closer.

It didn’t take long before we were all handed snorkel gear and jumped into the water. I was able to dive down to a few shipwrecks off the coast and get a good look at a diversity of fish. The guides provided some bread which immediately caused some fish frenzies. And then it happened. A majestic turtle swam right through the middle of us all. You can look, but no touchy. My day, my month, my year was complete.

Sleep and Christmas

With turtle spotting done, I spent the remainder of my time on the water’s edge; taking cat naps and listening to some lo-fi with waves crashing in the background. A gentle reminder to myself to slow down, feel the surroundings with all your senses and take it all in. We could all use a little more of that.

-ML

Michael Lakus

IT professional, athlete, musician, ponderer of many things... Born and raised in Florida, I began traveling internationally after college. I created this site primarily to remind myself of where I've been and to share my experiences on traveling with a quirky, stress-free, travel attitude.

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