You May Be Right, I May Be Crazy

The days leading up to our trip down to Barbados were a little busy, to say the least. It started with us seeing Billy Joel perform at Wrigley Field on Friday night (which was absolutely amazing), followed by going out to one of Chicago's suburbs on Saturday to photograph a wedding.  Then we got out of bed early on Sunday to fly to Miami, where we would spend a little under 24 hours before setting off again on Monday, finally to Barbados.  As someone recently said to me, we don't like feeling the grass grow beneath our feet. 

Billy Joel live at Wrigley.

Our layover in Miami was alright. I found a deal for us on Jetsetter at the Freehand hostel, which worked out nicely. We had a suite, which consisted of two rooms - one with a TV and couch and another with a bed. It was cool and quiet, which was nice. But I doubt the rest of guests were staying in those rooms as they appeared to be a lot of young Europeans on a gap year.  I felt a little old staying there because it seemed that everyone was in their early twenties and preferred to spend their Sunday evening getting sloppy at the hostel's cocktail bar while all I wanted to do was sleep.  But I will admit, that cocktail bar did make damn good drinks. 

We got to walk around Miami Beach and check it out. The portion we explored was somewhat underwhelming as the water felt lukewarm and there was seaweed everywhere. It was also a million percent humidity, which didn't help matters. But we eventually found a Cuban restaurant to eat at, so that was nice. 

When we arrived in Barbados, Mike's uncle, Reggie, and one of his family members met us at the airport.  We made our way to our hotel, where Mike's aunt, Linda, was waiting for us. There were hugs for all and you could immediately tell how excited they were (and still are!) to have us here. 

Our first view of the island.

Another fun part about this trip is that Reggie's grandson and his girlfriend are here as well. And they are hilarious and a ton of fun. Neither Mike nor I have met much of Reggie's family, so it's nice that we are able to now. 

On our first night here, we went out to watch some people sing karaoke with Reggie and Linda at a place called La Bouche in Speightstown. We had to take a bus, which was an experience. There are some government owned buses and there are some private ones. We hoped on a private one that was going a million miles an hour and blaring music. It was awesome.  The government ones didn't have music blaring, but they still drove like bats out of hell. Typically, that sort of thing terrifys me but I loved it here. 

I keep joking with Linda that we need to allow extra time when going places with Reggie because he knows so many people here and stops to say hi to them all. I feel like I am getting to know a lot of people here already.  And who knows what he still has in store for us. He has been a wonderful host so far and I am sure that he will continue to be.