Seasons Greetings from the Caribbean!

For the second year in a row, I decided to venture out to a tropical island in December. As most may observe, common winter travelers usually come from where it is considerably colder. Since I am traveling from San Diego, it is not rare to receive replies from fellow travelers like "What on earth are you doing leaving such a beautiful city!" Yes, I know, San Diego is beautiful, and the weather is almost impeccably perfect. But, what person would I be if I never left? Boring.

So, as I was saying, I ventured out to the Caribbean. This destination I have to say did not originally top my list of places I'd like to go, but being that my friend's brother lived on the island of St. Thomas, instantly I had my traveling partner! Once we booked our flights and hotel reservations, word spread amongst our friends and our original group of two quickly doubled to four within weeks!

Our flight in was on Spirit Airlines from LAX, through Ft. Lauderdale, and into St. Thomas, U.S.V.I. For those who like to travel but are light on cash, I highly suggest this airline. The flights are cheap when you book early (we booked ours 3 months in advance and paid only $360 total!). The only catch for Spirit Airlines is that EVERYTHING costs extra! You pay $5 each way online for one checked luggage, all food and drinks on the flight must be purchased, and there are no pillows or blankets to use at your leisure.

Once arriving into St. Thomas airport, you exit the plane onto the tarmack, which reminded me of the times I traveled to the islands of Thailand. Island life is so much simpler. St. Thomas is a U.S. Territory and thus you aren't required to use a passport, but I HIGHLY suggest bringing yours if you have one. The flight back requires going through customs, filling out foreign travel papers, etc. It is just a lot less hassle if you already have your passport to simply bring it along.

All of the Virgin Islands roadways are opposite of the U.S. The drivers use the left side of the road just as if you were to be in London, Australia or anywhere in Europe. The obscure difference however is that because all the cars are shipped from the U.S. the wheel is still positioned on the left unlike the European cars. The locals will say that instead of changing the roads to U.S. standards when the islands changed over ownership, they remained the same due to the donkeys on the island who were accustomed to walking on the left side of the hills.

I may never be able to give up my employee benefits of the Marriott after this trip. We stayed at the Marriott Frenchman's Reef & Morningstar Beach Resort in St. Thomas, and boy was that a treat. When asking cab drivers their opinion on the best resort on thfour girls was surreal!
e island, all of them said the Marriott (that includes comparisons such at the Ritz Carlton, Wyndham Sugar Bay, and the Bolongo Bay Resort!). The Marriott is situated on a cliff overlooking Frenchman's bay and offers pools, a day spa, restaurants, workout facilities, shops, shuttles, and much more! The only negative comment I would have to say that I have is that the service was not top notch as I would have expected. The staff definitely does not work for good tips! The information desk seemed to know less about the island than I did!

If you plan on visiting any of the Virgin islands I highly suggest doing all the boat excursions you can. We were lucky to have my friend's brother who worked for a charter sailboat to show us around. During our stay we went out on the Fury sailboat's sunset cruise and the morning snorkeling trip to Buck island. Both trips were extremely different but also both were very memorable. We also went across St. Thomas to Red Hook and chartered the Breakaway motor boat four island excursion. This trip takes you to four of the Brittish Virgin Islands (Tortola's Frenchman's Cay, Virgin Gorda's Baths, Jost Van Dyke's White Bay, Marina Cay's Diamond Reef). We took so many pictures, I'm still going through them all to decide which one's to use in my scrapbook... or should I call it a scrap-cyclopedia!

Six days was entirely too short of a trip. I suggest that if you are planning on taking a trip to the Caribbean to take around ten days. There is just so much to see and do, and if you are trying to squeeze in those relaxing pool-lounging days as well, you will be much happier if you have ten, rather than six days to do it all in.

Ten things you should know before going to St. Thomas...

1. bring lots of extra cash for cab fairs (it's pretty much about $10 per person everywhere you go!)
2. put on your clothes when you are in town (prancing around in your bathing suit will only cause local woman to banter at you like a bunch of old sea-gulls!)
3. order anything with local rum in it at it's bound to be cheaper than a normal cocktail!
4. wear sunscreen!
5. bring your passport
6. remember, it's another time zone away from Florida (or as we say, it's 5 o'clock somewhere!)
7. tip only if you got great service (good luck with that!)
8. make friends with your hotel bartenders (and don't tell the cocktail waitresses you are from San Diego, they won't ever serve you again!)
9. hit up the new Hooter's Restaurant in St. Thomas (help out our friends, they are investors ;)
10. watch out for the iguanas (they won't hurt you if you don't bother them, but we did hear of someone who had to get stitches...)