Affordable Caribbean Travel: Dickenson Bay and Local Eats

So having travelled for another full day, on the Saturday, settled in and woken up to that magnificent view we took a day off on the Sunday to recuperate.
Being a bit of a chatterbox it didn’t take me long to introduce myself to our neighbours on either side.
On one side there was a Canadian family who had left Alberta’s snow to relax in the Caribbean sun.
On the other side was a European couple, the lady was Dutch and the gentleman was English and they were on a Caribbean adventure like us but started in Barbados before coming to Antigua and were leaving midweek to go to St Kitts.
It’s always good to get feedback from other tourists on what they have done already and also recommendations of places to eat.
After our experience the previous evening at the nearest supermarket we also ventured out on the Sunday to get the remaining provisions we would need for our 10 day visit. We drove to a different supermarket recommended by our landlord and discovered they had a hot food counter. This was a great find as I will explain in a later post.

On Monday we then set about exploring the island that is Antigua and this is where my first impression of the island which I talked about at the start of my first post was shattered. Read on to find out more………….

Dickenson Bay:

With so many beaches to choose from, Antigua has one for every day of the year, yes 365 in total!, We started our trip with a day out at Dickenson Bay.
Off we trundled back up the pot holed, dirt track for a mile to rejoin the main road. This became somewhat synonymous with our explorations as the time went on and I got better and better at avoiding the pot holes 😊.
The bay is easily accessible and so we followed the road right down into the car park, whereas many cars were parked on the roadside. We were greeted by a local man who smiling warmly explained it would be 10 XCD (£2.70)* for the day (* conversion rates throughout are based on today’s rates). With no idea if he was official or just a young entrepreneur we happily parted with our money and made our way to the beach.

Immediately we arrived on the sand we were then greeted by “Mr Deckchair Man” who guided us to his area of sun-beds. I’d already done my research so knew roughly how much to pay. Greeting him warmly and explaining that we had parked in the car park he offered us two chairs and an umbrella for 40 XCD (£11) for the day.
You can, of course, reject the sun-beds in favour of your own rug or towel on the beach. Like many Caribbean islands the beaches are public up to the high-water mark. According to the Physical Planning Act of 2003, all beaches must also have accessible landward entry points. You are legally allowed to walk along any beach, even those fronting high-end resorts or private villas.

Located close to St John’s and, therefore, the cruise terminal, the beach gets really busy so if you are not after crowds of people its probably best to avoid this one!
With white sand and aquamarine, clear waters it is, however, one of Antigua’s best loved beaches and reminded us of Grande Anse beach on Grenada from last year’s Caribbean adventure. Like Grenada it has much more of a local feel to it than other beaches in Barbados or Cayman where tourism is already well established.
Dickinson’s Bay comes complete with swaying palm trees, year-round sunshine and an array of facilities including nearby restaurants and food stands for lunch and stores selling local souvenirs.

Whilst we didn’t take up the option to experience the water sports etc on offer I did journey out for the first time on this adventure into the sea to snorkel. You may recall that snorkelling at our first stop –Grand Cayman wasn’t possible!
There were a few fish to view, not too far from the shore, once you made your way beyond the crowds but nothing too exciting. It was a great restart to my snorkelling experience though.
I brought my own snorkelling gear but rental is available.

If you fancy something a bit more adventurous you can go on a scenic boat trip to take a break from the beach with the uninhabited islands just off the coast offering a peaceful and relaxing change of scenery. Alternatively if you want something more thrilling you can rent a Jet Ski for a more adventurous way to enjoy the waves.

We left the beach around 4 p.m. Most of the sun-bed owners will start to ask you to leave around 5 p.m. as we discovered later on our trip.

Green Apple

Having only purchased a soda and a snack at the beach we made our way back to the car park where several mini buses were already lining up to pick up their cruise ship passengers.
Leaving the car park behind we headed back around St Johns towards our accommodation in order to try out a local eatery right next to the University of the West Indies, Five Islands Campus. This had been recommended by both of our neighbours individually and was a real find.

Having parked on the roadside we were immediately struck by the modern Caribbean feel of the wooden structure. There were tables and umbrellas in the courtyard at the front but also on the balcony to the side.
With a student population more or less in situ takeaways were very much the order of the day. The menu, however, is posted to the right of the counter and offered a good variety of typical fast food but with a Caribbean twist.
The staff were friendly and helpful, we placed our order and took a seat and it wasn’t long before our food was delivered fresh to the table straight from the kitchen.

It was one of those days where we were more than happy to have something quick and easy whilst sitting there with an after beach glow, casual clothes and no doubt straggly hair and grainy feet.
We chose to share a plate of steak loaded fries, then hubby had their Deluxe Burger and I had a Cajun shrimp wrap plus sodas. The total bill including a small tip was 75 XCD, £20.58.

Finishing off………..
We came back to our beachside duplex apartment having had a whole day out for just under £35!!!
Personally in the Caribbean I think that’s pretty cheap! I appreciate it’s not going to be to everyone’s taste but it also proves you don’t have to spend a fortune and we had a lovely day.
I’d be interested to hear what your thoughts on Antigua are if you have already visited, whether it is on your future travel list or if maybe I’ve inspired you to think about going to the Caribbean.

There are more adventures to come from Antigua when on the next post I’ll take you to a the. historic Betty’s Hope, the geological wonder of Devil’s Bridge and then down to Half Moon Bay with a quick stop at another local eatery.

Join me next time……………….

Antigua Travel Guide: Tips for First-Time Visitors

Antigua is a brand new island for us to explore in the Caribbean.
Prior to my arrival my preconception was I didn’t imagine the island would be as sophisticated as Barbados or Grand Cayman but thought, in light of its popularity, it would be more developed than Grenada, which we visited last year – Adventures in Grenada.

Our Journey to Antigua:
There are very few flights from Grand Cayman to other Caribbean islands which means in order for us to fly to Antigua we had to be up at 4 a.m. to start the 1 hr drive to Cayman’s airport to catch an early morning American Airlines flight via Miami. The first section of our flight was about 1.5 hrs, we then had a 2 hour stopover in Miami before boarding a second American Airlines flight down to Antigua of about 3.5 hours.

As a UK citizen, it’s worth noting that if you are transiting via an American airport you still have to go through immigration which means you still need a valid ESTA. This would not be the case in London, for example, if you were flying from Europe, via London, to America, providing you stay airside there would be no immigration check.
No visa is required for many visitors to Antigua but a return ticket is mandatory and we had to give details to the authorities of our next flight leaving in 10 days time.

Antigua is one hour ahead of Grand Cayman and so on arrival we “jumped forward” an hour. The queues at immigration control were long, as they were in Grand Cayman, and having collected our bags, which had transferred direct from Cayman, we then picked up our car. You have to get a temporary local driver’s license (valid for three months) which was supplied by our car rental company at a cost of 50 (XCD), Eastern Caribbean dollars on production of my UK driving licence. 
If you aren’t intent on hiring a car then taxis are available throughout the island. Fares are also regulated by the government and are posted at the airport and in taxi stands.

Origins and Information:
Antigua is located in the Leeward Islands and has a warm, tropical climate with temperatures averaging 77°F–82°F. This makes it a popular year-round tourist destination. Peak season is December to April which usually offers dry, sunny weather. Hurricane season (July–November) brings a higher risk of storms.

Visited by Columbus in 1493, Antigua was named after the Santa Maria la Antigua icon located in Spain’s Seville Cathedral. Antigua is Spanish for “ancient” or “old”.
Colonised by English settlers, it became a, critical sugar-producing hub with a plantation economy driven by enslaved African labour. It also served as the headquarters for the British Royal Navy Caribbean fleet.

It is part of the three-island nation of Antigua, Barbuda to the north, and the uninhabited, rocky island of Redonda to the southwest.
It is roughly circular, measuring about 14 miles by 11 miles. Fun fact, you could fit Antigua in the area of London three and a half times!!
With a mostly low-lying, volcanic, and coral-reefed landscape, the island’s capital is St. John’s, which sits in the north west of the island.
Antigua is divided into six administrative parishes: Saint George, Saint John (home to the capital), Saint Mary, Saint Paul, Saint Peter, and Saint Philip.

Antigua and Barbuda became an independent state within the Commonwealth of Nations on November 1, 1981, with Queen Elizabeth as the first Queen of Antigua and Barbuda and Right Honourable Vere Cornwall Bird as its first prime minister.
English is the official language.

Evidence of British allegiance can be found on the island as seen here!

Tourism and The Economy:
Antigua and Barbuda are extremely dependent on tourism, which serves as the primary driver of its economy, contributing between 60% to over 80% of the GDP and providing over half of all jobs.
The sector is driven by luxury resorts, cruise ship arrivals, and yachting, primarily attracting visitors from the US, UK, and Canada.

Famed for having 365 beaches the leeward or west coast is sheltered from the prevailing winds, creating calm and tranquil waters. As a result, it is home to the most stunning beaches such as Dickenson Bay, Jolly Beach and Hermitage Bay.

Antigua and Barbuda is a middle-income Caribbean nation, heavily reliant on tourism, with a GDP per capita higher than many developing nations but still facing significant poverty. The island has a high Gini coefficient which indicates greater income or wealth inequality within a population. It signifies that a small percentage of people hold a disproportionately large share of the total income or wealth, while the majority holds a smaller share. This leads to pockets of wealth and also areas of hardship. 
Despite its income status, a notable portion of the population lives below the poverty line (around 22-29%)

Conversely the country offers tax benefits for high-net-worth individuals thus attracting famous residents and homeowners in Antigua including media mogul Oprah Winfrey, fashion designer Giorgio Armani, Virgin’s Richard Branson, musician Eric Clapton, and former Bond actor Timothy Dalton, alongside legendary Antiguan cricketers like Sir Viv Richards and Sir Curtly Ambrose, drawn to the island’s luxury resorts like Jumby Bay.

Jumby Bay is an ultra-luxury, 300-acre private island resort located two miles off the coast of Antigua. Accessible only by boat, it features 56 individually owned villas and 40 suites, offering all-inclusive, high-end amenities like private chefs, white-sand beaches, and no cars.

The Eastern Caribbean Dollar (XCD), is the official currency on the island of Antigua. The U.S. Dollar is also quite popular and accepted almost everywhere, especially in tourist-friendly zones. We used the XCD where 1 XCD equates to approx 30p in the UK, depending on the market.

Arrival:
Having picked up our car we left the airport as the sun began to set and armed with Google Maps on my phone (we couldn’t get it to connect into the car!) we made our way 5 miles west towards Green Bay and the Perry Bay Supermarket to pick up some essential supplies for breakfast the following morning.

Driving in Antigua:

  • Driving is on the left which is great for us visitors from the UK and cars tend to be automatic.
  • The roads in Antigua are all full of potholes. To drive 5 miles where we live in rural England would take approx 7-10 minutes, here you are looking at 20 minutes! The more I got to know the roads the more I realised that this was normal and perhaps explained why the lady at the car hire company made a point of ensuring we knew where the spare wheel was and the jack! 😊
  • Speed limits- what speed limits? There seemed to be a total disregard for limits which made driving particularly dangerous because roads often, as previously mentioned have significant potholes, there is often no street lighting particularly in rural areas, pedestrians often walk on the roads as there are no pavements and outside of St Johns meeting animals such as goats on the road is not unusual.
  • Drivers don’t indicate where they are going and have no respect for “right of way” so don’t be surprised if drivers come out in front of you at junctions, crossroads or even side turnings when they should be giving way to you. If you come across a “red flashing crossroads” this is suppose to indicate a four-way stop sign. Drivers are suppose to come to a complete stop, yield to other vehicles and pedestrians, and only proceed when the way is clear.
    In reality it is a free for all! so proceed with caution.

We took this photo coming down into Half Moon Bay

I much prefer arriving somewhere new and driving initially in daylight but unfortunately this wasn’t to be here on Antigua.
Making our way through St John’s the poverty became apparent very quickly and having found the supermarket and parked we were surprised to see security guards at the entrance. We definitely felt a bit nervous which was accentuated by a couple of vagrants approaching us for money on returning to our car.

With another 4 miles to drive to our Air BnB we soon left the lights of the capital behind and journeyed along empty roads which diminished into a dirt track for the last mile. Having been awake by this point for about 16 hours we began to question where on earth we were coming to and whether in fact we were at the right place.

We parked up and expecting to meet our host at the property initially managed to knock on the wrong door! Luckily the local gentleman who answered the door was able to walk us to the correct villa and whilst doing so explained he had lived and worked in England for seven years in an area I knew about an hour from our home!!!!

Our host was really welcoming and friendly and having unpacked and stored our food items we collapsed in bed upstairs opening the curtains in the morning to this view! And realising even after all our struggles of the night before we had arrived in paradise!

On my next post I will start to give you an insight into the places that we visited whilst here on Antigua and also how my views and opinions changed during our stay………

I hope you enjoy this first post on Antigua! Is it somewhere in the Caribbean that you would like to visit? or have already been to? I would love to hear your views and opinions

Exploring Local Food in Grand Cayman: Tips and Prices

As part of our Caribbean trip I think it is important to give you an insight into how we eat whilst on an adventure.
We are not normally here to eat in high end restaurants and spend the sort of budget you would if you were on your annual two week holiday but we did allow ourselves a couple of treats so get ready for some delicious food photos!

Our normal practice is to book self catering accommodation and eat breakfast there each day. We will also ensure we have some staples like milk, water, bread and/or snacks for example and hope the owner supplies cleaning materials including washing up liquid (if there is no dishwasher) and we bring our own toiletries. Everyone has their own viewpoint on this but smelling something familiar in the shower each day and ensuring my hair looks and feels human is important to me!

1/ Supermarkets:
Buying food and commodities in supermarkets in the Caribbean is never cheap as a lot of goods are imported and not grown on the island. Also be warned supermarkets do not open in Cayman on Sunday.

I thought I would share some prices with you to give an idea of how much you can expect to spend.
We visited two different supermarket chains in Cayman -Hurleys and Fosters. Like anywhere, different people will have their own views as to which is the best value.

As I’ve previously mentioned in my posts, we tend to try and eat healthily so fresh fruit features quite highly on our assessment of any supermarket abroad. Additionally having not drunk full fat milk for more years than I care to remember, buying low fat, fresh milk is also near the top of my agenda.
Water is safe to drink on the island, they use high-quality desalination plants to produce safe, purified water that is pumped throughout the island. That being said my tummy has a habit of reacting to water even in different parts of the UK so I personally tend to buy bottled water.

Hubby likes granola and yoghurt for his breakfast, whilst I favour fibre cereals such as Weetabix and we both use honey at home as a sweetener rather than traditional sugar.

Comparisons with Tesco supermarket in the UK:

  • 907g carton of natural, coconut yoghurt cost £4.29.
    Tesco price £4.10 per kg
  • 2% fat milk cost £4.69 for 4 pints
    Tesco skimmed milk cost £1.65
  • Granola 500g cost £4.89.
    Tesco price £2.45 for 500g
  • Shredded Wheat cost £5.59.
    Tesco price £3.00
  • Honey 340g Squeezy Bottle £7.29
    Tesco price £1.19
  • Apples cost £1.67 each (£5.01 for 3)
    Tesco price 36p each (£1.08 for 3)
  • Bananas cost 35p each (£2.45 for 7)
    Tesco price 16p each (£1.12 for 7)
  • Mangoes cost £1.54 each (£3.08 for 2)
    Tesco price 88p each (£1.76 for 2)
  • Pears cost £1.87 each (£5.61 for 3)
    Tesco price 52p each (£1.56 for 3)
  • Large packet of Ruffles Crinkle Cut Crisps, 180g cost £5.89.
    Tesco price for 150g is £1.25
  • Diet Coke, 2 litre bottle £3.79
    Tesco price £2.15
  • Water 5 litres £2.29
    Tesco price £1.80
  • Total in Cayman: £54.87
    Tesco Total: £23.11
    37% more in Cayman

In total across our 7 days we spent £81.35 at the supermarkets.
Prices, as you can see, are much cheaper in the UK and, therefore, often eating your main meal of the day at a local eaterie in Grand Cayman is cheaper than actually buying all the raw ingredients yourself and cooking it in the kitchen provided.

2/ Local Cuisine:
When you are travelling on a budget do not be afraid to venture out to places where the locals go to eat and sample real Caymanian food.

The national dish of the Cayman Islands is Stew Turtle, a traditional meal reflecting the islands’ maritime heritage, made from farm-raised turtle meat and often served with rice, beans, and a spicy sauce. 

While turtle stew is the official dish, another popular ingredient is conch (in stews, salads, fritters), which is a staple of local Caribbean cuisine and culture. It is a large, protected marine snail. and a prized seafood with a clam-like flavour, heavily regulated through a strictly enforced season and catch limits to prevent overfishing.
Other local favourites include jerk chicken and pork (similar to Jamaican cuisine), fish such as tuna, snapper and mahi-mahi and tropical fruits/vegetables.
Food can often be spicy, using local chilli sauces, tomatoes, onions, and peppers. Never be afraid to ask how spicy it is!

The national drink is Swanky which is a bitter/sour mix of Seville oranges, brown sugar, and spices.

3/ Eating Economically:
Supermarkets:
Nearly all the large supermarkets on Grand Cayman have hot food counters where an array of freshly cooked food is available for purchase, served to you in plastic box containers.
Some of them open for breakfast between 6.30 and 7 a.m. whilst lunch tends to start around 11.00 a.m.
We bought a hot dinner for two at Fosters for £12.77, cheaper than a takeaway in the UK!

You can often also find a help yourself salad counter and cooked chickens are available in a hot cabinet. We chose this option at Hurleys at a total cost of £22.08. It gave us a lovely evening meal plus enough for a lunch the next day.

Local Eateries:
As we were staying in the East End of the island this is where we focused our attention when having meals out.
These local places do not add a service charge so a tip is discretionary.

Big Tree BBQ:
(Currently rated 4.8 on Tripadvisor)

I have to start with this is a firm favourite of ours which we have been frequenting since our first visit together back in 2016.

The story goes that “Henry (the owner) was working at the local hospital when one Christmas he gathered his family around the table for their main dinner. The family sat at tables under the big tree in the front garden and whilst enjoying their festivities a car pulled up and out stepped an American couple and thinking it was a local restaurant they asked how much it was for dinner. In a typical Caribbean hospitable fashion Henry explained they were having a family Christmas meal but invited them to join in.
Another car pulled up and again a couple came and joined them.
Before the two couples departed they wouldn’t leave without offering Henry some money towards the food.
Sunday is often the only day that Caribbean people get off, working 6 days a week isn’t unusual. Henry decided he would put a sign outside his property and invite the public to join him for Sunday BBQ lunch for a reasonable price underneath the big tree in the garden”

The rest is history, as they say, with the Big Tree BBQ still going strong, open 11-6, 5 days a week. Its now being run by his youngest son Arvid, who was a teenager when we first met him, but now has a family of his own!

We opted for the pork ribs and beef short ribs which were served as usual with fried plantain, potato salad and rice n peas. There’s always a home made piece of cassava cake on the side and I love their swanky!

Total Cost: £42

Caboose:
(Currently rated a 4.8 on Tripadvisor)
In venturing to the north of the island to visit The Botanical Gardens, we decided to try this cafe/restaurant in Old Man Bay.
As we pulled up in the car park it was clear that this was a popular option at lunchtime/early afternoon.
Whilst the owner welcomes the tourist trade it was obvious that her mainstay was local hospitality and construction workers who dropped by to pick up their pre-ordered takeaway or, if they had more time, stopped by during their lunch break to eat.

There is a printed menu but there are enough “specials” on the board to the right of the counter to meet most peoples’ tastes.
We opted for some conch fritters to start and then followed this up with Coconut Curried Grouper and Cayman Style Grouper both served with rice n peas and potato salad.

Total Cost: £45

4/ Other Places To Eat in the East End:
As this is our last time visiting Grand Cayman we decided to splurge a little and try a couple of other restaurants in the East End rather than cooking in our apartment.
Everywhere you eat, except in the local restaurants, there will be an 18% service charge added.

Monday Night Welcome Party & Tropical Buffet at Morritt’s Resort:
https://morritts.com/dine/david-deep-blue
As we were staying at Morritts we decided to try the Monday Night Welcome Night and Entertainment buffet. This event is also open to outside visitors but tickets have to be purchased in advance from ‘Davids Restaurant”.
This is not normally our sort of event but we were given it ex gratis as I had some business to conclude here, hence the visit to the island.
Tickets are normally £35 each with a discount for children and there was a vast array of food to choose from including starters, salads, various meats and fish and a complete dessert island.
Entertainment comes in the form of party style games for all ages and normally a “Fire Show” but this had to be postponed when we were there because of the winds blowing in off the sea.

The Rum Point Club:
(Currently rated a 4.2 on Tripadvisor) https://rumpointclub.com
We ventured up to the north end of the island for a day at the beach and were pleasantly surprised to find that Rum Point had completely changed since our last visit back in 2018.

As part of the new set up you can lie on your sunbed with your umbrella on the beach (which are free!) and have food and drinks brought to you, which probably explains why no outside food or beverages are allowed!
Alternatively you can take a seat at one of the many tables, inside or outside, in their well designed restaurant
We chose from their lunch menu and selected a Peach and Burrata Salad (Gf/Veg) and a Quinoa Tuna Poke (Gf) accompanied by a non alcoholic Pina Colada and a soda.

Total cost incl service charge: £60. For lunch this is expensive for us!

La Casita Authentic Mexican, Mezcal and Tequila Bar:
(Currently rated a 4.8 on Tripadvisor) https://lacasita.ky
With a head chef currently hailing from Guadalajara you can be certain of some real authentic Mexican food. We decided to try “Taco Tuesday” where they feature four different tacos at a slightly reduced price to normal.
Thankfully we contacted them in advance to book a table for 6 pm. because when we arrived the place was nigh on full and we saw several groups turned away during the evening because they hadn’t made a booking and there was simply no more room!

With such a wonderful menu to pick from we decided to go a bit overboard and opted to share the chicken nachos to start, have all four of the special tacos to share as a mains and churros and tres leche for dessert accompanied by soda and unsweetened ice tea.

Total cost incl service charge: £64

Tukka:
(Currently rated a 4.6 on Tripadvisor) https://east.tukka.ky
I first visited this restaurant back in 2015 with my children and had a lovely but very expensive meal.
I then revisited in 2016 with my hubby and whilst the price remained pretty static we weren’t really that impressed.
However, Tukka has had an impressive resurgence with not one but three parking lots now available, due to its popularity and an extension of their business into Tukka in the West End as well.
In light of the popularity we felt we had to go and see what had changed. Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner we chose to get dressed up and go in the evening.

Firstly there is an impressive array of food to select from on the menu and prices have definitely come down!
We skipped a starter and went straight to mains with Hubby choosing the Aussie Burger and me the tacos.
As I wanted to try a couple of different ones I ordered two Peanut Chicken and one Jerk Chicken. (Had I known that I could have chosen three different ones I would have probably done that!)
I was really impressed! I’ve had quite a few tacos in my time, in many places around the world and these were up there with the best 😋
We drank bottled water and soda and finished off by sharing a Luv in a Jar (Lana’s Mums Creation) which was truly amazing!
Definitely one of the best meals we have had for a while!

Total cost incl service charge: £68

I hope you have enjoyed my foray into the East End of Grand Cayman’s culinary scene.
It should be noted that we are probably the exception to the rule here as most visitors, particularly those staying on Seven Mile Beach, will be looking for far more sophisticated fayre and thus will happily pay much higher prices!
But the fact remains that you don’t have to and, therefore, you can visit this beautiful island without spending a fortune!

Have you been to Grand Cayman? What did you think about the food there?
Did you try any of the local eateries? I’m interested in hearing from you…………………

We are waving goodbye to Grand Cayman now and embarking on the next leg of our Caribbean adventure so look out for my next post as we arrive in Antigua!

Affordable Adventures in Grand Cayman

Having visited Grand Cayman on three previous occasions I feel I have pretty much visited everything there is to see of any significance on the island, so on this trip it was more a case of revisiting the places that I thought would bring me the most joy.
As midlife adventurers we are not here to eat in high end restaurants and spend the sort of budget you would if you were on a two week holiday.
This is just the start of our Caribbean adventure and we have other islands to visit. Our choice of places to visit is, therefore, influenced by this mode of travel but it doesn’t retract from having a good time. So here are a couple of ideas of things you can do without breaking the bank………

1/ Rum Point:
Within a 45 minute drive from the island’s capital -GeorgeTown and located in the picturesque district of North Side, “Rum Point” is famous for its island atmosphere, white sandy beach and shallow waters. It is an ideal spot for swimming and snorkelling. The beach hammocks, shady trees, picnic tables and delicious food beckon visitors and locals alike seven days a week.

Driving north is a wonderful experience, in itself, as it passes some beautiful scenic stretches along the coast and it was a welcoming sight to see the presence of more traditional Cayman homes, maybe because the development of new houses seems to have currently not reached this far.

Arriving at the car park I am immediately struck with how much things have changed since my last trip back in 2018.
We soon learn from the guy based at Red Sail Sports, who happens to come from England, that a complete, major refurbishment took place during 2022–2023. The whole beach front area now looks brand new, gone is the old wooden shack from which you could buy lunch and instead in its place is a much bigger, architecturally designed restaurant and bar which sweeps around the bay bringing waiting service to your sun bed!

Rum Point also now offers changing rooms, showers, huts, hammocks, snorkelling and volleyball nets. About 45 minutes from most hotels and the cruise terminal, Rum Point is well worth a day trip.
Calm, shallow waters make it perfect for swimming, snorkelling and paddleboarding while beach hammocks and shaded loungers invite relaxation. Alas on our visit the winds were up and so all the umbrellas were safely tethered and the sea wasn’t welcoming snorkelers which was a bit disappointing. However with FREE sunbeds, waitress service for all food and drinks we were still able to spend a good few hours here relaxing in the Caribbean sun.
Quick Tip: Don’t leave without trying the island’s legendary mudslide cocktail at the beach bar!

2/ Starfish Point:
Leaving Rum Point we head further north to Starfish Point. This is a very popular spot for both independent visitors and those on boat tours.
Firstly let me say, having visited this spot many times, there are always starfish in the water. Secondly, however, visitors are reminded that “the starfish belong in the water, it is illegal to remove them”. This means even temporarily!
If like me you appreciate seeing wildlife in their natural habitat you may find coming here a little overwhelming. There are usually a percentage of visitors who ignore that these are living creatures.
I have seen children being allowed by their parents to collect them in buckets! Or remove from the sea and place them like trophies on the sand.
Fortunately as it was a windy day we were blessed to be there this time with very few people and thus spent our time admiring these beautiful creatures under the water in their natural home.

Whilst all beaches on Grand Cayman are technically public up to the high-water mark, offering extensive access across the island, Grand Cayman has over 250 public shoreline access points. Look out for this sign on the roadside.

3/ Queen Elizabeth Botanic Garden:
Anyone that knows me is aware that I like to explore a good garden and having not been here since my first visit to Cayman back in 2015 I felt I was long overdue for a revisit.
Admission is 20 Cayman Dollars, 20 UK pounds or 25 US dollars per person.
We were happy to pay this as a contribution to the work they do here securing flora and fauna for future generations.
A small map is provided so you can meander around at your own pace. These were my key highlights:

Orchid Boardwalk:
I try my hardest to grow orchids at home and have often taken on poorly plants that friends and relatives have been gifted but have failed to thrive. My oldest plant was given to me as a house warming present back in 2005!
I am more than happy to wander around this 600 ft looping boardwalk where hundreds of orchids can be found amongst the native vegetation. Be aware that orchids do not flower year round so the amount in bloom will vary upon the season. I love to see them in their natural environment and as they are mostly categorised as epiphytes, unlike money, they do grow on trees! 

Heritage Garden:
The heritage garden stands in tribute to early 20th century Caymanian life with a colourful, restored, traditional, pink cottage as its centrepiece. It has a separate small structure used for cooking, often featuring a traditional fire hearth.
The cottage is set in a traditional white sand yard with paths lined with pink queen conch shells, a historical practice that kept the area clean and cool.
Surrounding the house is a traditional garden with a variety of fruit trees, including mango, breadfruit, and banana. The garden also features an area displaying plants traditionally used by early settlers for treating illness and injury.

Birds:
It’s definitely worth listening out for the bird song whilst you are walking around. If you stand still and listen you might even be lucky enough to spot a bird nearby in a tree or on a bush. If you are very fortunate you might be blessed with the presence of a Cayman parrot!

Iguanas:
A visit to the Botanic Gardens isn’t complete without seeing these reptiles in the wild and also, as we discovered, on this visit within the Blue Iguana Conservation Facility.
We also managed to spot a couple of agoutis whilst on the Woodland Trail.

When you have finished your visit and return to the car please heed the signs in the car park!

4/ Snorkelling:
There are many places around Cayman to snorkel and it was very much my intention to do so. If you are a regular reader of my blog you will know that this is a skill I didn’t learn until midlife. I’m still not super confident but I’m getting there.
We chilled out on day one of our visit and then the remainder of our stay, when I had plans to explore various coves, beaches etc and build my ability, were unfortunately thwarted by the wind. With boats not taking visitors out to scuba dive we were advised not to pursue any snorkelling either until the winds dropped which didn’t materialise.

However these were the places I had on my list based upon my previous knowledge of the island taking my children snorkelling and also the snorkelling list I had been given by our resort:

Rum Point:

  • Featuring calm, shallow, and clear turquoise waters ideal for all skill levels, particularly when swimming about 100 yards offshore to the reef.
  • You can rent equipment from Red Sail Sports who operate a location on-site that provides masks, fins, snorkels, and vests for daily or weekly rentals.
  • The water is shallow, calm, and protected by a barrier reef, making it safe and easy for beginners.
  • For the best experience, swim out about 100 yards towards the reef and you should see abundant, colourful fish and healthy, live coral.

Spotts Beach:

  • Renowned as one of the best spots on the island to swim with green sea turtles in their natural habitat.
  • Located on the south coast, it offers shallow, calm waters, a sandy bottom with sea grass, and frequent sightings of turtles, stingrays, and various tropical fish.
  • The water is generally calm, but strong currents can sometimes occur. The best snorkelling is typically found to the left of the dock, where a rocky area attracts more marine life.
  • The beach has some shade, limited parking, and, is a more secluded, “chill” spot compared to others on the island. 


Smith Cove:

  • It is easy to reach by car, with free parking available across the street. It offers easy access, calm, crystal-clear waters, and vibrant marine life just 30 yards offshore. 
  • Located near George Town, it is a popular, cost-free, and scenic location suitable for all skill levels.
  • While the sandy beach area is quite small, it features beautiful scenery with rocky cliffs.
  • Small restrooms are available on-site, though visitors should bring their own food and beverages.

Macabuca, West Bay Area:

  • An excellent, highly-rated spot for shore snorkelling, offering easy access via ladders directly from a deck into a shallow, fish-filled iron shore cove.
  • It features clear water, nearby coral, and a “mini-wall” dive site experience with coral, reef fish, jacks, and sometimes barracuda or turtles.
  • Snorkelling equipment is available for rent on-site through Sun Divers, and there is a bar/restaurant right on the deck.

5/ Souvenirs and Shopping:
I thought I’d finalise this post with a few ideas of where to shop for souvenirs etc on the island:

  • Beach Bubbles at Bodden Town -I have been frequenting this small shop since 2015. Owned and operated by Nina Squires, the shop, is known for its locally made, handcrafted soaps and natural skincare products. Located across from the post office.
  • Pure Art Gallery & Gifts -another beautiful shop that I always visit when on Cayman.
    Contained within a charming Cayman cottage this shop, located just a mile south of George Town on South Church Street, has been a mainstay for local artists for over thirty years. Selling prints, jewellery, souvenirs and collectibles you `are sure to find something unusual to take home.
  • Georgetown-the capital of the island and also the main port of call for the cruise ships. We tend to check out how many passengers are being disgorged daily before deciding which day to shop. It’s worth going into town on a day when there are less people but not when there are no ships at all as it can then lack atmosphere and feel a little abandoned.
    You may need to shop around, excuse the pun, for parking but the shopping area is very compact, making it easy to stroll to the shops, restaurants, and local attractions.

    George Town is famous for high-end jewellery, watches (including a large selection of Rolex), diamonds, and crystal. My hubby bought my matching engagement ring and wedding ring here back in 2018!
    Souvenir shops are numerous, though for higher-end fashion, many visitors prefer Camana Bay, located a short distance away.

    I hope you have enjoyed my post and appreciate that you don’t have to ‘break the bank’ to have a great time on the island. I’m more than open to feedback including those who have visited the island already. A comment or like is all I ask for 😊
    My final post, coming soon, will give you some ideas of where to eat in the East End of Cayman.

Introduction to Grand Cayman

In 2015 my daughter turned eighteen and, like her brother before her, I gave her a choice of where to go for our annual two week holiday. Having decided that she wanted to go to the Caribbean I short listed three islands for her to choose from and thus we arrived in Grand Cayman for the first time.
I fell in love with the island and hubby and I visited together in 2016 and again in 2018.
Just over 7 years later we are returning for one last time.
Whilst a lot of joy comes from travelling the way that we do, you also have to sometimes make some tough decisions and wave farewell to some favourite haunts in favour of discovering new places. As I’ve said previously we are now in the last quartile of our life and there are still many places on the list to cross off!

Just a little exert from our Very Long List of Cities and countries we still want to visit

Introduction and Origins:
Originally named Las Tortugas in 1503 by Christopher Columbus due to the numerous sea turtles. The Caymans were later called Caimanas for the alligators (caymans) found there but now extinct from the islands.

Grand Cayman is the largest of the three Cayman Islands and is a British Overseas Territory, with the UK’s King Charles III as head of state. The residents joke about the fact that taxes from the UK pay for their garbage disposal 😊.
The island is roughly 22 miles long and up to 8 miles wide, stretching from West Bay along the coast past Camana Bay and Seven Mile Beach, to the capital George Town then through to the East End and finally to the North End.

Known for its world-class diving and credited with developing scuba diving as a recreational sport in the 1950s, Grand Cayman is situated in the Western Caribbean. Lying approximately 450 miles south of Miami, Florida and only an hour and a quarter flight time from Cuba which sits to the north east with Jamaica to the south east.

The Cayman Islands are the world’s fifth-largest financial centre, hosting around 600 banks and many of the world’s hedge funds. Cayman is well known for being an international tax haven. The island imposes zero direct taxes—no income, corporate, capital gains, or withholding taxes—on individuals or corporations. As a British Overseas Territory, it offers a stable, business-friendly, and secretive legal framework that allows multinational firms and high-net-worth individuals to shield income and assets.
Additionally there are no restrictions on foreign ownership of a single property and there is no property tax levied.
It is perhaps no surprise that Cayman is currently home to 12 billionaires and 102 centi-millionaires – people with more than $100 million in personal wealth.

Cayman has a a tropical climate with a rainy season from mid-May through October and it also sits within the hurricane belt from late August to October.
The worst hurricane to hit the island was back in September 2004 when “Hurricane Ivan” passed about 25 miles southwest of George Town as a Category 5 hurricane. The town reported sustained winds of 150 mph. The storm surge from the hurricane flooded the whole island leaving behind US$2.86 billion in damage.

English is the official language, driving is on the left side of the road and there over 68,000 residents here, the majority being native Caymanians but with people also from over 100 countries!
The Cayman Dollar (KYD) is the local currency roughly 1:1 with the English pound.
100 US dollars currently equates to about 82 KYD.

Visting Grand Cayman:
82% of visitors to the island in 2025 came from the USA with 7% from Canada and just 3% from the UK. With direct flights now coming in from all over the USA with flight times varying from 1.5 to 5.5 hours it’s not really surprising that Americans make up most of the tourist market.

In comparison having woken up with an alarm at 4 a.m. and arrived at Heathrow airport at 6 a.m. our flight is at 9.
Due to runway restrictions in Cayman larger planes cannot land and so a stop in Nassau in the Bahamas to refuel is necessary, making the total flight time around 13 hrs. We disembark at 4.30 p.m. Cayman is 5 hrs behind the UK so for us it’s 9.30 at night. Hitting midlife means that this really feels like a long journey!

Despite the fact that the airport was extended in 2021 the queues at immigration are very long! It’s peak season and there is just one very polite, fairly well organised lady trying to control the chaos as visitors snake their way to the immigration desks.
Interestingly in May 2025, the Cayman Islands government approved a $91 million redevelopment plan for the airport. The project will include building a new terminal, extending the runway, and modernising the air traffic control system.

The East End:
From our very first trip to Cayman we settled on accommodation in the East End away from the crowds who flock to Seven Mile Beach every year and the cruise ships that land in George Town every day.
Leaving the airport behind our first stop was a large supermarket. We were going to need food to make breakfast, alongside some snacks for lunch or evening depending upon when we ate our main meal each day.
We are travellers, don’t forget, not holiday makers and as such we are not here to eat out at fancy restaurants.

Having not been to the island for 8 years, en route to our accommodation, and despite the lateness of the hour, we realise that the road system has changed with a brand new road (“Frank Sound Road” ) now open across the island. We decide to avoid this and maintain our normal route around the coast.
Interestingly our hire car displays the speed in km per hour but the road signage still matches the UK and is, therefore, in miles per hr!
The roads here are smooth, modern and well maintained and as we speed onwards we notice the evolution of far more modern housing taking over from the old Caymanian style homes. Instead of modernising these existing and often beautiful houses it appears that people are just tearing them down to open up the ground space and build brand new homes. This makes me feel a little sad and I wonder if the native Caymanians will one day regret these decisions and wonder why they didn’t protect their heritage.

This fellow was actually outside the supermarket when we visited later in the week!

Chickens and Iguanas:
Luckily as it is nighttime we don’t have to look out for the ever-present chickens or iguanas on the roads.
I love to see chickens during the day pecking away on the side of the road and it’s unusual if you don’t hear a rooster crowing first thing in the morning.
The high number of chickens on the roads in Grand Cayman is primarily due to Hurricane Ivan back in 2004 when coops were blown away and domesticated birds escaped into the wild!
With no natural predators on the island, a warm climate, and an abundance of food, these birds have flourished, becoming a common sight on roadsides, in parking lots, and near restaurants.

Green iguanas are a non-native, invasive species that has proliferated on the island particularly in the East End. These cold blooded reptiles use the hot roads to regulate their body temperature, especially in the early morning. Luckily it’s not breeding season as male iguanas travel significantly at this time of the year in search of a mate, which increases the likelihood of them crossing roads.

Weirdly it is the very presence of these chickens and iguanas that make the roads in the East End of Cayman so special, they just seem to welcome you home. And as we finally arrive in our accommodation for the next 7 days I’m going to bid you good night and leave you with a promise to share with you some of our explorations on my next post………………

A real road sign on Cayman!

I look forward to your comments and hopefully “likes” and if you have any suggestions of how to manage long distance flights so you don’t arrive at your destination completely shattered I’m all ears!😊

Who is Behind The Blog? Adventures and Reflections: A Life Unfolded

I’m sitting in a hotel room at Heathrow airport, with the alarm set for 4 a.m. so we have enough time to shower and grab a free breakfast before heading to the terminal and the start of a new adventure! 
I seriously cannot wait. The run up to this point I often find a bit overwhelming, making sure I’ve packed everything we are likely to need, that all the plans I’ve researched and put in place are ready to rock and roll and we have those three key important ingredients: passports, money and a sense of adventure 😊

I’m sat in bed busily creating this next post, looking forward to receiving comments from readers around the world and hopefully some “likes” without those who give up their time to do this actually knowing a lot about me. So who is behind the blog? 

Well I was born into a hard working family, in a beautiful Cotswold village, living high up on a hill overlooking the fabulous picturesque valleys below. 
My life actually began in a caravan in my father’s field with my parents and my older sister. 
I think I was about 4 or 5 when we moved into our family home on what is now known as a “social housing” estate, but back in my day was “council housing” so called because the local council built the houses and then rented them out. 

At Junior School (in the UK that is aged 4 to 11 years) I excelled and willingly fought to keep my place at the top of the class. 
It was also at this point in my life that I started to learn to ride and then very quickly caught the equine bug and fell in love with horses. 
My Dad rented a farm so a field and stabling came free. He was incredibly supportive which sometimes I don’t think I ever really thanked him for. It was a way of life that allowed me to be alone with my thoughts and negated the need at times to make friends. I was never lonely and became very independent, a characteristic that stood me in good stead many times later in life.

I’ve chosen pictures of flowers for this post taken on my travels

Passing my 11+ exam I then found myself at the Stroud High School for Girls.
Suddenly I was no longer top of the class but surrounded by other “clever girls” and being fed an ethos that “we were the cream of the crop”. 
This was also my first taste of a divided world, surrounded by girls from middle class backgrounds whose fathers were bankers, solicitors, directors and doctors and whose Mums stayed at home to bring up the children and “keep house”. A social stigma that I have already talked about in a previous post.
On a personal level, at 14, my Mum died and life changed overnight. Being without that central figure in my life was incredibly hard and my Dad, bless him, had no real idea of how to support us. He had been brought up in a post war world where you just shrugged it off, picked yourself up and got on with life. Alongside that he was busy working and home suddenly became quite a lonely place.

I left school at 18 with good qualifications but university wasn’t an option for me. 
My Mum had died at 55 when I was only 14 and my home life was emotionally and practically difficult and it was time for me to go out into the big wide world and earn a living.
With four job offers in retail management I chose to start my career with a large well known retailer as a Trainee Manager in Basingstoke, Hampshire. I was moved around the country every six months:- Basingstoke to Swansea where I lived on The Mumbles and then in Llangyfelach. Swansea to Banbury in Oxfordshire. Then Banbury to Clapham, South London as my training and career progressed. It was a nomadic life style and one that I ultimately decided was not for me. 

I left, settling in London and worked initially for a smaller fashion retail chain before joining a gaming and entertainment company. It wasn’t a job I envisaged taking but I desperately wanted to get out of fashion retail and so two days before my twenty second birthday on February 11th I started what turned into a 30 year career!

Apart from the work experience, promotions and sometimes good bonuses this job delivered, it allowed me to come into contact with all aspects of life. From the Mum spending her child allowance betting on the spin of a fruit machine to the thousands that could be bet and won on a roulette wheel along with the demands that were listed on a “rider” for a visiting well known singing group or individual artist. Some of these entertainers were down to earth, speaking to you and treating you like a colleague whilst others were full of their own self importance and happy to lord it over you. 

I loved the fact that I met people from every walk of life, every level of Management and a multitude of nationalities. I listened to true life stories of refugees forced to leave their homes and countries of birth from Sri Lanka to Uganda, Cambodia and beyond. 
People who left behind all that they knew to start again in the UK without even the ability to speak the language. 
I met people who left their countries on ships from the Caribbean or as internet brides from Russia and the Philippines intent on finding a better way of life for their future generations or the family they were forced to leave behind. I saw bravery and unbroken spirits in these characters who did what they had to do to make a better life.
It was a real eye opener and made me far more worldly wise. As a result I also definitely appreciate the country I live in and the freedom we often take for granted.

In February 2002 I began the next stage of my personal life as a single Mum with two mixed race children making hard but rationalised decisions to ensure they had a stable upbringing. It didn’t come without it’s challenges, some from within our family unit and others from the world outside. They were and are still my pride and joy.

2015 was a massive year of change for me. 
Just after my birthday in February I found myself out of work, with an NDA, having given 30 years of blood, sweat and tears to a company who no longer valued experience. A company that seemed to all intents and purposes to be set on culling those who added the most expense to their payroll in favour of a cheaper, younger labour market. 
Despite this I left with so many happy memories, more life lessons than I will ever be able to recall and a wealth of commercial experience and transferable skills.

With a mortgage still to pay I reinvented myself and for three years worked in the funeral industry. Initially alongside my commercial ability I utilised my hospitality skills to run a crematorium and open their first ever hospitality suite. 
A year later I was training to be a funeral celebrant and ultimately used my creative writing ability to write funeral services and eulogies whilst happily standing up and speaking publicly at funerals.

In July 2015 I also met my now hubby. We had known each other previously when we were 19, had dated for about 18 months and then split up amicably. It was just too hard to conduct a relationship when we basically lived at opposite ends of the country! 
30+ years later he decided to come looking for me and having found me on line decided to email me one Sunday night completely out of the blue. His research and ultimate belief that we belonged together turned into marriage and a life long love ❤️

in February 2018, I decided to make another change in my life. With the success of my business clashing with our personal time together and with only two weeks notice I decided to retire early, whilst hubby went on to work for another four years.
No doubt you can see the pattern of how the month of February has dominated every major stage of my life thus far. 
With no real structure or work life I found myself at a complete loss. What was I now going to do with my time? 
It took me until September 2020 to even begin to work it out and I probably didn’t reach the finished retired article until the end of last year, 2025!
There’s been a few curve balls thrown in along the way to test my endurance and to knock me off course but I seem to have an inept ability to brush myself off and find my way back to my own personal yellow brick road and finally a life of happiness, enjoyment, adventure and occasionally rest!

Does all this life experience qualify me to write a blog? I think I’ll allow you to decide that and will look forward to your comments……………….. 
In the meantime I will listen out for that alarm tomorrow morning and get myself to the airport 😊

Life Lessons from Personal Mantras

Based upon the idea that “midlife” brings us a chance to reflect and learn more about ourselves. I’ve realised, looking back on my own life, that having my own personal mantras to live by has really helped me. 
A mantra is defined in the Oxford Language as “a statement or slogan repeated frequently. By repeating your mantra out loud or silently within your own mind, it can help guide your thoughts to the right frame of mind to achieve your goal or task.”
For me it has been more often a silent thought process that has worked.

My First Mantra:
My mantras have come to me naturally over time as I have progressed through life. 
It started when I was just fourteen standing by my Mum’s bedside one Saturday Afternoon. It was January 14th, I remember the date because two days later my Mum died and this was the last moments I would get to spend with her. 
Using money from my Saturday job, I left at lunchtime and travelled alone by bus and train before walking from the railway station to our county hospital.
My Mum had been in and out of hospital many times over the years. She went in and then when she was better she came out. I didn’t for one moment, at the tender age of fourteen, imagine this time was going to be any different. She looked normal, she wasn’t sickly pale or too tired to talk as she had been on other occasions. She was confined to bed but again that was normal. We chatted about every day life, my journey to the hospital, how school was going, how things were at home. Nothing specific, just everyday life. 

Towards the end of visiting hours, she turned to me and fixed me with that motherly stare that was hard to avoid and always meant she had something to say that required my focused attention and said to me  “Make sure you go out of this life with more than you came in”. These were some of the last words she ever spoke to me. 
They stayed with me forever and grew in depth as I matured and began to understand more of the hard and gruelling life she had been born into. It filled me with sadness to realise how much she, herself, had worked to leave her poverty stricken life behind and went on to dedicate her life to creating a stable, safe and loving home for me and my older sister. Those words were my first mantra to live by and drove my ambition to constantly move forward and make more of myself.

“Robins appear when loved ones are near”. 

Onto My Second Mantra:
In my late thirties as my 8 year marriage dissolved around me I sought counselling to deal with the mix of emotions that swelled within me as I came to terms with the fact that the vows I had made on my wedding day were not going to be forever. 
This also meant that my children were going to find themselves in a single parent family, something I never wanted for them, after my own family life had been cut so wickedly short. 
It was during this counselling that I learnt more about personal happiness and how my mixed emotions would ultimately affect my children if I didn’t choose to change anything. Thus I picked up my second mantra “everyone in life deserves to be happy and if you are not happy there is only one person who can do anything about it, You!” 
It was a tough lesson to learn but one that has stood me in great stead ever since.

“I’m happy when I am out exploring and being by water, of any description,
always has a calming effect”

Mantra 3:
During my thirteen years as a single parent I focused all my energy on making as comfortable a life as I could for my children. I committed myself to ensuring that all the hours spent developing my career, which brought in money to keep a roof over our heads food in our tummies and all the bills paid, would also give us the freedom to have holidays. At first this was a two week holiday abroad each summer but grew over time to include the cultural exploration of European cities during February half term and ultimately a whole month off, when we were 16,18 and 50 years old and went to explore different parts of America. 
From these travels I realised that “I didn’t want to be one of those old people who sat on their rocking chair in their 70’s or 80’s looking back on my life thinking I wish I had done this or experienced that”. 
By then it is too late, you need to do the things you want whilst you are healthy enough to do so. My hubby and I now both live by this, although Covid definitely restricted plans for nearly 2 years!

Travelling and adventures make me happy
-the beautiful Quetzal bird photographed when we were in the 
Monteverde Cloud Forest in Costa Rica

My all encompassing mantra:
When I found myself retraining in my early 50’s to work in the funeral business it stimulated a lot of thoughts about life.
I knew already that life was not forever but sitting writing eulogies for people, I had never met, in the hope that the service I was planning would bring some comfort to the families left behind, I sometimes found myself pondering life.
Why do some people reach a ripe old age whilst others die so young? It was during this period in my life that I confirmed that Christianity wasn’t for me. 

I was an independent funeral celebrant so not being religious, in the traditional sense, didn’t affect my work. The more I thought about it, particularly the fact that people live their lives according to what was apparently written down in the Bible, based upon stories that had taken place thousands of years ago, the more I found it totally bizarre. 
Project forward another few hundred years and will people be living their lives according to J K Rowling and everything written about the world of Harry Potter? After all sales of her books probably equal if not exceed those of the Bible!
So if I’m not religious then on what is my life based?

As part of my midlife adventure I’ve addressed this question and dabbled in looking on the surface of many religions and beliefs . On the surface Buddhism seems more aligned to my thinking but then again I’ve also had a strong fascination with the beliefs of the North American Indians. 
I also found Covid interesting, in that it seemed to me and I’m sure many others, that nature was taking back control, if only temporarily. While the world was in lockdown people’s strong attachment to materialism was halted in favour of pure survival. Was Covid “sent” to teach us new lessons? Did it happen to effectively wipe out a percentage of the world’s population which after all, if I’ve understood David Attenborough correctly, is a definitive reason for a lot of the issues we now have with climate change and the resulting mass production needed to feed an ever increasing world population.. 

During the three years that I spent in the funeral business I grew to realise that my belief in life is very simplistic and this became an all encompassing mantra that I live by. 
Life is like a yellow brick road, there is always a start and inevitably always an end. The paths we wander, the daisy fields of sunshine we pass through, the dark angry storms we encounter are all part of the great adventure that is life.

Along the yellow brick road we will meet many people, some will be lifelong friends, others just passers by. There will be times we take a wrong turn, other times when we feel like we are going around in circles but this is all part of the path we tread, the lessons we need to learn.
The memories we have of people who we have met en route who loved us but had to pass on from this earthly life leave behind an indelible impression, they were part of that great journey. We will never forget them, they will always be there for us, to talk to, confide in and to shine a light in our heart. Their legacy is in the beautiful memories and the positive experiences we shared and still hold dear. That legacy shines in your heart always and echoes in our memories.

My Mum is with me every day. I don’t speak to her every day but when I do she listens. I know she hears me because when I ask her for help it comes. It might be that in the cold light of day, from a restless night, a solution presents itself to a problem that has been bearing down on me or when I ask her to look after someone I love they are returned to me alive and well. 

It might be that during your earthly adventure if you give it some time and thought your beliefs will show themselves and like me you will find peace in knowing where you sit in this vast universe and on this great journey that is life. 

I’ll finish this piece with a short poem I came across when I was working on a eulogy one day which in its own way answers my previous question about the length of life.

“A butterfly lights beside us like a sunbeam,
And for a brief moment its glory
And beauty belong to our world
But then it flies again
And though we wish it could have stayed
We feel lucky to have seen it”

Do you live by any key philosophies? Do you have any beliefs that you hold dear?
Why not comment and let me know and if you enjoyed my post today please give it a like 
Thank you for reading 

Our Journey: From Holidays to Authentic Travel Experiences

My hubby and I had often discussed the idea of taking a break from life, experiencing other cultures by actually living as a local rather than just going on holiday, staying in nice hotels/ self catering resorts and eating out every night.
We wanted to wave goodbye to the traditional holiday culture, which was ok when we were both working full time and just needed to relax in the sun for a couple of weeks reading books on sun loungers and going out to discover a bit of culture.

It was obvious that to try “travelling” we needed to commit to being away for an extended period of time. Two weeks wasn’t really going to hack it!
You read about the older generation taking “gap years” replicating what their grandchildren are doing. This was something they never had a chance to do themselves when they were younger. Did we want to pack a rucksack, throw away plans, be impulsive and sleep in hostels? Probably not, to be honest, but was there a middle ground?

I’ve been planning holidays and avoiding travel agents and glossy brochures for 20+ years so planning 3-6 months away didn’t phase me but can you do it reasonably inexpensively?
Well the answer to that question is yes, providing you are willing to make some sacrifices in order to be able to finance such a trip:
Self catering was a must. Eating in our accommodation had to become the norm although going out to lunch or dinner once a week was affordable. 
Hiring a car, unless absolutely necessary was a no, and thus using public transport as much as possible needed to be a priority. 
Utilising every saving scheme, voucher offer and price reduction was important. 

Also would spending every day, 24/7, suit us? I can imagine some couples would be worried or even terrified of that thought but we relished the idea.

Oia in Santorini

Our Background:
Hubby and I had met each other originally when we were nineteen and stayed together for about 18 months. During our relationship, we both had careers. he lived in Essex and I lived in Swansea, Banbury and finally South London. We used to see each other at weekends, I would drive to him one weekend and then he would drive to me the next weekend. 
It was hard, there was no M25 circling London at this time and so when I was living in Swansea it used to take about 6 hours, arriving late on a Friday Evening and then returning again on a Sunday night. 
There was no massive split, we just drifted apart. 

32 years later he found me again through the internet!
By this point I was settled in Gloucestershire, divorced, with two children and he was living in the neighbouring county of Oxfordshire. He’d never been married, had no children and had lived alone for 10 years!

We met in Lechlade, roughly halfway between us, and have never looked back. 
After four years we got engaged at Harcourt Arboretum and planned to get married on our 5th anniversary. in 2020. 
We decided on a honeymoon in Chicago and driving East to West across Route 66. Little did we know then that a pandemic was going to take hold in March 2020 and like so many couples Covid delayed the wedding until June 2021. 
With Covid regulations differing from country to country and the USA, at one point, seeming to have no control over the spread of the disease and vaccinations being controlled by State Governors instead of a central government we decided that the USA trip would be put back on hold. 
But “what can we do instead?” he asked me. “Leave it with me” I said and when he returned from work the next day I greeted him with “Well I’ve got good news and bad news! The good news is I have a new honeymoon idea, the bad news is it will take 53 days!”
Basically I had sat down with a list of all the places in England and Scotland that we had ever thought about visiting and created a circular trip by joining all the dots. He was elated and this became our honeymoon for 2021. 

Alas Covid hit again and our wedding was postponed until July 2022. 
With the UK honeymoon already in motion we talked about cancelling it and then thought” Why not? Let’s just do it!” And that was how our first long distance road trip came about!

So when it, eventually, came to our wedding in 2022 we again discussed our honeymoon and to be honest I still wasn’t ready to sit back down and replan the Route 66 trip with a wedding still to finish. So with no real plans at all we went island hopping in Greece instead. 

Church of Saint Irene, at night, on the Island of Ios

Accidentally Starting to Travel Rather Than Holiday:
We had begun our trip by treating the honeymoon as an extended holiday rather than travelling. 
We had loved the simplicity of the Greek lifestyle and although we began by using the kitchen in our accommodation purely for breakfast and lunch rather than cooking dinner, this soon changed.
Whilst on Naxos we started to get bored with nights out, eating in restaurants. We started to question whether we needed to do this or even wanted to do this every night. 
We found ourselves often visiting local bakeries, taking pastries and freshly cooked rolls filled with a lovely range of Greek delicatessen back to our apartment instead. This gave us a great introduction to cutting back on expenditure and a real feel for authentic Greek cooking.

Our First Adventure Is Born:
We arrived home 4 weeks later and the idea of going somewhere to live as a local began to really take a grip of us. 

We started to explore staying in Madrid for a month or flying to Grand Cayman for 6 weeks but then we started to look at our ever growing list of places in the world we wanted to visit and suddenly an idea began to form in our heads. Why not join all the places in Western Europe together and go for an extended visit like we had in the UK? 
Obviously we would be restricted by the 90 day stay in Europe, thanks to Brexit, but what could you cover in 90 days?

So armed with a Google map of Europe, a list of potential travel books I would be using for research, an online planning website and a financial spreadsheet I began to put the trip together. 
Hubby and I have an understanding: – I plan and he turns up at the airport with the passports and carries the baggage! This might sound a little lopsided but it works for us and to be honest it’s easier not to have to consult someone on every minute detail! 
I know what sort of things he likes to do and we tend to visit a mixture of places when we are away that covers both our tastes. 
I do tend to get his thoughts on accommodation once I’ve got myself a short list because after all we both have to stay there and be comfortable.

The Beautiful Fishing Village of Naousa on Paros

And Then The Adventure Grew:
As the trip started to take shape more thoughts started circulating. 
What if we did Western Europe and then finally got across to the USA to drive Route 66 ? Before I quite knew what was happening we added this trip to the itinerary. 
I thought it would be fairly straight forward, given I still had all my notes etc, having previously planned the trip back in 2020. 
Alas Covid had affected a lot of hospitality businesses and I soon found I needed to change some of the plans. Additionally if we were now going to be “travelling” and not “honeymooning” it would require a tighter control on expenditure.

And Grew:
Then we started looking at other extended trips we still wanted to do during our life time and realised there was only currently one other trip in the USA we wanted to do. 
Drive the Eastern Seaboard from Florida to New York excluding all freeways and interstates, sticking to local A roads, as we refer to them in the UK. 
This idea had been born from a discussion with a young waitress in Key West back in 2018 whose family lived there but she was at university in New York and used to load up her car when it was time to return and drive herself back. 
Americans appeared to have no concept of distance or travel time. The roads are pretty much straight and they will drive four hours just for a day trip before driving back again at the end of their day. Everything is on such a larger scale out there. 
Yes, you’ve guessed it we then tagged this trip on and before we knew it we had a 6 month adventure awaiting us. 

I originally wrote this post sat in a hotel room at Gatwick Airport knowing that in the morning we would get up at 5am to fly to Bilbao at 8.30 and the adventure would begin. 
I can, honestly, say we have never looked back. 
We have changed a few things, learnt a great deal and continue to have adventures across the globe. 

I’m interested to hear other travellers’ tips and ideas on their adventures so look forward to reading your comments. And don’t forget if you liked this post please give it a like 🙏

My Midlife Adventure: A Travel Blog Journey

Inspiration comes in many formats and today whilst browsing and reading posts on other blogs I was inspired to research how “A Midlife Adventure” has developed.
I launched my blog on February 18th 2023 so nearly three years ago! Time has definitely flown and it’s hard to believe just how many places we have visited since then and how my readership has grown.

Travelling and exploring was always part of my life, initially with my children and then with my hubby after we rekindled our relationship after a 30+ year gap and eventually got married.
I’m not the most tech savvy person, which I’ll excuse with the fact that I’m a mid-lifer😊, so launching a blog was quite a steep learning curve and a mountain I’m definitely still climbing. Once you leave work you find your skills wane a bit and staying up to date with today’s technology certainly becomes harder. My statistics are maybe, therefore, not as awe inspiring as other blogs that are featured on the WordPress website but I’m still proud of my gentle ascent.

Photos from Spain taken on our travels in 2023:
The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao (Top Left), The Alcazar in Segovia, (Top Middle)
The Retiro Park in Madrid (Top Right)

My Stats:
Over the last 3 years I’ve posted 153 articles so an average of at least one a week.
Last year I took a break of two months in the Winter when I temporarily lost my mojo and, therefore, produced 42 articles last year.

In 2024 my readership increased by 36% compared to 2023 and last year, in 2025 this grew again by another 110%. I’m currently making plans to try and expand this even more this year. My most popular posts are all travel based so there is an argument that I should steer clear of “Opinion” pieces or those based upon “Mid-life” but I think you also have to stay true to yourself. When I launched my blog I knew I wanted to do a bit of a mixture of all three and I’ve stayed true to that ideology.

I always find it really interesting looking at my visitor figures. Again this has grown over the last three years with an increase of 125% in 2024 compared to 2023 and then another increase in 2025 when visitors trebled year on year; I think that’s really impressive and I’m proud of myself.

More photos from Spain in 2023:
From the top left; Cordoba, Seville, Valencia, Granada, Barcelona, Girona

I find it really mad that people all around the world read my posts.

In 2023 my Top 5 readership by country was:
1. UK
2. USA
3. Spain
4. Malaysia
5. The Netherlands
with 29 countries finding my blog posts

This changed in 2024 to:
1. UK
2. USA
3. Canada
4. Australia
5. Greece
with 38 countries finding my articles

and then this year 2025:
1. UK
2. USA
3. Canada
4. China
5. Moldova
with 82 countries finding my blog posts

Yes, Moldova!!! This country sits between the Ukraine and Romania in Eastern Europe and has a population of about 3 million! Thank you! Mulțumesc!

WordPress also monitors how visitors find my blog or “referrals”.
When I started back in 2023 my top three referrers were WordPress itself, Facebook and then way behind this was Google.
In 2024 Facebook took over from WordPress and my referrals from Google grew.
In 2025, however, Google far outstripped anyone else with nearly three times as many compared to Facebook and with WordPress coming in a poor third.

Travel and Experiences:
So where have I been in the last three years? Well here is a quick recap:

Highlights of 2023:
Europe:
This was a really busy year, we spent 3 months travelling across Western Europe by train, visiting four different countries: Spain, France, Belgium, and The Netherlands, stopping at 29 different cities/towns.

Europe in 2023:
Top Row: Versailles, Chantilly and Tours in France
Bottom Rows: Ghent, Antwerp, Bruges and Brussels in Belgium

USA:
Then we popped home for 2 weeks before flying to the USA where we began our trip with 7 nights in Chicago before heading out on our first of two road trips along the famous “Route 66”. Our drive took 30 nights with 17 different stopping off points.

Ending Route 66 on Santa Monica Pier we then flew down to Florida where we took a break for 7 days before heading out on our second road trip following the Eastern Seaboard all the way up from Fort Lauderdale to Richmond, Virginia. It was important to us not to use any interstates or freeways so we used what we would call “A” roads in the UK or smaller.
Dropping the car in Richmond we boarded a train to Washington. Then it was onto Philadelphia before finally finishing our trip in New York.
38 nights and 11 different cities/towns.
Across both road trips I drove 5250 miles through 18 different states!

Photos from Route 66:
Top Row: Chicago, the start of Route 66, and Pontiac in Illinois,
Bottom Row: Riverton in Kansas and Oklahoma City

The Sunrise over Monument Valley, and the Sunset over the Grand Canyon on July 4th

Highlights of 2024:
Aside from visiting Crete in 2024, due to hubby’s ill health we remained in the UK where we managed a lot of day trips and a couple of overnight adventures, covering 25 different places.

Highlights of 2025:
By the start of the year, we were understandably fed up with being in the UK and so exited winter and started our adventures in February in the Caribbean visiting Barbados and Grenada.
March found us back in The Netherlands visiting Utrecht, Rotterdam, Delfshaven and Gouda.
In April we popped across the pond and revisited Las Vegas.
Then in May we flew to Morocco, (wow what a country!) where we visited Marrakech and Essaouira.
We spent a week in the Brecon Beacons in June before heading to London for our anniversary in July.
September found us in Cornwall and we ended the year by spending Christmas in Wales

Photos from the Caribbean: Barbados and Grenada

2026:
Plans are already in place for two trips in the first half of the year.
I’m also going to be revamping a few of my older posts, relative to the above highlights, which I know a lot of my current readers may not have seen.


If you haven’t done so already, please subscribe to my blog and keep reading because there are a lot more adventures to come!!