Already home from this years trip. I usually try and post while there but I am getting lazy in my older years. I actually had a very long post prepared while there but something happened and I lost it so that put an end to my on island reporting. The planning for this family vacation was pretty much all over the place. My mother has a driving phobia which is magnified by the roads here. Mom: "I hate St. Barts. The roads are horrible, the food stinks and it's too expensive. I'm not coming if you go there again." My oldest daughter, 11, call her the big one, spent half the winter complaining about having to go to St. Barts every year. The big one: "Can't we go to Disney?" I'm like, really, my kid is complaining about this? I love St. Barts but it's the family vacay and I want everyone to be happy so I ask mom where she would like to go. Mom: "Some place flat with safe roads. How about the Cayman Islands?" Me: "nice but it's very hot there and there are lots of bugs." Mom: "People rave about it there. Let's go to the Caymans." Me: "Okay. And the kids can swim with the dolphins there." TBO: "Yeah! Anywhere but St. Barts." My youngest daughter, 9, call her the little one. "I don't care. Wherever you want to go daddy." After about a month of planning our Cayman Islands trip my mother calls me. Mom: "I don't want to go there. Aunt Barbara says it is unbearably hot there." Me: "Really, you don't say? Okay. No biggie wasting a month planning. Where else would you like to go?" After about a week, Mom: "How about Anguilla? People rave about Anguilla. And it's flat." Can you imagine the number one factor in choosing an island being flatness? Me: "Yes it is flat and people love it there but it's very expensive and there is no shopping there." Keep in mind that my mother loves shopping more than anyone in the world, with the possible exception of Missy, aka gramchop. Mom: "They have wonderful shopping there. I read about it online. Why would so many wealthy people love it there if they didn't have great shopping?" Me: "Trust me mom. There are some shops there but there's no shopping like on St. Barts." Mom: "It's going to be fabulous. We are going to like Anguilla more than St. Barts." Me: "i'm sure it will be very nice but I doubt if we will like it better than St. Barts." So, the trip is set. 10 nights on Anguilla staying in a beautiful villa. Mom: "It's going to be great. A flat island with great food and shopping." TBO: "Yeah! No St. Barts." TLO:"It doesn't matter. It's the family vacation." My wife is a little sad about missing St. Barts this year but mother and the kids are happy and the villa is amazing so she takes one for the team. Just as we are ready to book our flights mother announces that she is not coming on the family vacation. Mom: "I don't have enough vacation time at work and the kids are getting bigger and don't really need me and blah, blah, blah." Me: "Seriously?" So now we are back to square one. I announce that since granny isn't coming, we are going to St. Barts. Mom: "Don't go to St. Barts. The roads are horrible, it's too expensive and the kids don't like it. Me:"You are not going so you have no say" TBO: "Waah! I hate St. Barts!" Me: "You can stay home with granny!" TLO: "That's fine daddy." My wife is thrilled. Before I can even contact the owner of the villa in Anguilla to let him know we are no longer interested, he calls me to say that the 10 day period we inquired about is no longer available but that he had a cancellation the previous week and if we could fill that week for him we could have the villa for about 70% off. Hmm. Now my wheels are spinning. Could it be possible to travel to both Anguilla and St. Barts? It could be possible. It is possible. After some maneuvering we book 7 nights in the Anguilla villa and 6 nights in a St. Barts villa for less than the 10 nights we were initially paying for Anguilla. Everyone is ecstatic with the arrangements though we all feel bad that my mother is not coming with us. Not so fast. About a month before we leave my mother decides to come with us after all but only for the first week to Anguilla. I book her airfare but she has to travel alone as our flights are booked. I am very nervous about her chances of arriving safely in Anguilla as she loses her keys, wallet, glasses, etc. several times per day. I copy her passport and hope for the best. Part II coming soon. Had another disappearing post and only saved this half.
Trip planning drama
- Thread starter rodndonna
- Start date
elgreaux
Senior Insider
actually it's very flat:
edited from Wikipedia
Anguilla is a long, flat, dry/wet, scrub-covered coral island... The island has no significant elevations with its terrain consisting entirely of beaches, dunes, and low limestone bluffs.
but more to the point, Rod's report is funny as usual, and I look forward to the rest as well !
andynap
Senior Insider
I may be wrong but I'm positive.
Going from Blowing Point to Scilly Cay in a taxi I recall looking down from on high at several beaches. And I mean we were high up.
Love you guys. I actually wrote the entire report last week on sbh and then lost it. I then wrote it again yesterday and lost about half so I just posted the half that was saved. Part II is already written, at least in my head. Will post shortly. The "flatness" of Anguilla really refers to my mother's perception of it as opposed to St. Barts. In reality though, I found it to be pretty flat as well but in fairness to Andy, there was one area we visited near Sandy Ground where there is an elevated area about 200 ft. high looking down on the town but that's about it as far as hills go.
JEK
Senior Insider
The CIA knows . . .
Terrain:
flat and low-lying island of coral and limestone
Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Caribbean Sea 0 m
highest point: Crocus Hill 65 m
Terrain:
flat and low-lying island of coral and limestone
Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Caribbean Sea 0 m
highest point: Crocus Hill 65 m
stbartshopper
Senior Insider
Keep the story coming. We assume everyone is happy at the end and you had a wonderful vacation?
