Summary

The author is planning to visit five Caribbean islands—Tobago, Barbados, Grenada, Jamaica, and the U.S. Virgin Islands—in the near future, with a focus on budget-friendly and easily accessible options from Trinidad.

Abstract

The author has set their sights on exploring the Caribbean, specifically targeting five islands that are both budget-friendly and relatively accessible from their starting point in Trinidad. The islands chosen are Tobago, Barbados, Grenada, Jamaica, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The author's travel aspirations are fueled by a desire to experience the beaches, cultural sites, and unique activities each destination offers. They have been influenced by a fellow travel enthusiast, Adrienne Beaumont, in embracing the joy of travel planning. The author is particularly excited about the architectural and natural beauty of these islands, as well as the opportunity to indulge in local rum in Barbados and explore historical sites like the Bob Marley Museum in Jamaica. While the U.S. Virgin Islands present a logistical challenge in terms of direct flights, the author is optimistic about the potential for a memorable trip, with the added convenience of using a U.S. passport for easy immigration.

Opinions

The author expresses a strong enthusiasm for travel and is eager to resume exploring after a period of staying in one place.
They value the importance of thorough research and planning before embarking on their trips, influenced by the planning skills of Adrienne Beaumont.
The author is drawn to the natural beauty of the Caribbean islands, with a particular interest in beaches and underwater experiences like glass-bottom boat tours.
There is an appreciation for the cultural and historical aspects of the destinations, including the birthplace of rum in Barbados and the music culture in Jamaica.
The author acknowledges the practical considerations of budget and ease of travel, preferring destinations that are both affordable and convenient to reach from Trinidad.
They are intrigued by the U.S. Virgin Islands' status as a U.S. territory and the potential for a streamlined immigration process due to their U.S. passport.
The author is mindful of the impact of natural disasters like hurricanes on travel plans and the recovery efforts of the destinations.
They invite readers to share their own experiences and tips for visiting these islands, indicating a community-oriented approach to travel planning.
The author endorses other writers from the Digital Global Traveler (DGT) publication, suggesting a sense of camaraderie and mutual support among travel writers.
They encourage non-Medium members to join the platform, highlighting the value of membership for both readers and writers, and the potential to recoup the membership fee through publishing stories.

Writing — Travel

5 Caribbean Islands I Want to Visit Soon

Gathering information is my first step

Tobago’s Englishman’s Bay — Photo by Colin Watts on Unsplash

Given enough time, I would like to visit as many Caribbean islands as possible. However, in the short-term future, I’ve chosen these five to hopefully visit within the next year or two. Most are close to my starting point of Trinidad, which means getting there will be relatively inexpensive, plus all are known to be budget-friendly Caribbean islands.

Considering my wanderlust spirit, for the last several months I’ve been surprisingly stationary. After so many years of living in the American rat race, taking a break has been lovely. However, a true travel bug can never be kept moored for long.

Time to start planning. Never was much of a planner — my former life was too chaotic. These days though I have much more time and energy for such things though, plus Adrienne Beaumont has been a great influence. She’s a whiz at planning her vacations. Planning feels good and exploring options can be rather fun.

The Beach: Being a beach lover, visiting the beaches on each of these islands will be my number one priority — didn’t want to keep repeating this for all of them.
Lodging: Since I’m booking far in advance will be looking out for deals and also considering Airbnb. Seems to be many Airbnb choices available for all places listed.

1. Tobago

Tobago is first on the list. No need to go through immigration, so it’s an obvious choice! Tobago is a true vacation spot — more so than Trinidad, which tends to be more focused on industry than tourism. Tobago is also stunningly beautiful.

In Tobago, we are looking most forward to visiting Buccoo Bay, the Nylon Pool, and Englishman’s Bay.
Taking a glass-bottom boat tour is an absolute must.
Visiting Little Tobago sounds like a great experience as well.
There are island hopper planes and ferries going back and forth between the islands all day every day. One advantage of taking the ferry is that you can take your car.

Looking forward to researching and reporting more details on visiting Tobago in a future post.

Visiting information for Tobago:

2. Barbados

My husband lived in Barbados for a while, so I will have an expert guide. Relations between Barbados and TT are bilateral, which means they are practically cousins. The island is of course also well known for its majestic beauty. After Tobago, it seemed like the logical next choice.

Checking out the architectural highlights of Barbados will definitely be on the agenda, and of course, taking plenty of photos.
There are also botanical gardens to visit.
Barbados is said to be the birthplace of rum and it was originally called “kill devil.” As a rum lover, I’m highly appreciative, and wouldn’t mind going on a rum tour.
Something else to check out is the Atlantis Submarines tour where you can see underwater caves, coral reefs, and marine wildlife. This looks absolutely awesome!

Looking forward to making future plans to visit!

Visiting information for Barbados:

3. Grenada

Grenada is a logical choice to visit as well as it’s very close in proximity to Trinidad, travel-wise. Grenada is made up of several islands, the big three being Grenada, Carriacou, and Petite Martinique. All are part of a chain of islands known as the Grenadines.

This poses a problem only when it comes to deciding which one to visit first.

There are ferries that go between the islands. Grenada to Petit Martinique is only around 30 minutes, while Carriacou takes less than three hours. Not sure if visiting all three in the same trip would be too exhausting. Will have to look into this further.
Top attractions to check out will be coral reef boat tours and glass-bottom kayaking. Too cool!

Lots more fun research to conduct before making decisions.

Visiting information for Grenada:

4. Jamaica

Treasure Beach, Jamaica — Photo by Caspar Rae on Unsplash

Who doesn’t want to visit Jamaica? The culture, the food, and the rhythm of life are intoxicating enough.

Jamaica is further from Trinidad than my other choices — plane tickets look to be about twice that of going to Grenada or Barbados, but overall still not too crazy.

Our number one priority in Jamaica will be to relax, eat, drink and enjoy.
Of course, will have to check out places like the Blue Lagoon and Montego Bay.
The Green Grotto Caves look great for exploring and reportedly there are many beautiful waterfalls on the island to be visited as well.
My husband and I are huge Bob Marley fans, might have to consider a visit to Trench Town and the Bob Marley Museum. Yes, I can very much see that happening.

Many more options to explore!

Visiting information for Jamaica:

Visit Jamaica | Island Culture, Things to Do, Hotels & More

5. U.S. Virgin Islands

I’ve never been to a U.S. “territory” before. Always been a little mystified about how this relationship works. The most important thing for me though, is that thanks to my U.S. passport, immigration will be a snap.

One big downside might be getting there. An initial check of airfare does not show any direct flights from Trinidad, nor does Caribbean Airlines appear to have any of the U.S. Virgin Islands on their service list. Not sure if this is a holdover from COVID restrictions or because of ongoing hurricane recovery. Definitely something to look into before making any serious plans.

Between snorkeling, visiting botanical gardens, and taking the skyride to Paradise Point, I believe we will have plenty of enjoyable things to do.
Visiting Blackbeard’s Castle would have been way fun, although according to their website they never reopened after the terrible hurricane season they had a few years back. Sad. This prompted me to do a little research to see how they are doing now. It seems pretty well, with a few exceptions.
With the three islands of St. Thomas, St. Croix, and St. John and ferry service between them, I’m sure we will find plenty of other things to do and see.

We won’t be planning this trip for quite some time, so plenty of time to explore options. Hopefully, by then it will have been added to the Caribbean Airlines service list.

Visiting information for the US Virgin Islands:

So there you have it. The beginning of my travel plans to explore other islands in the Caribbean. Technically we are in hurricane season, and it’s been very rainy off and on the last month or so, so this may well affect any imminent travel plans… just more time to plan I guess.

If anyone has personal experience and tips when it comes to visiting these places, feel free to pass them on.

Thanks to Gerald Sturgill for running this pub. Do check out other superb DGT writers like Jillian Amatt - Artistic Voyages, Linda Ng and Robert Knight.

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