We have our next big vacation coming up in just 2 weeks and we can’t wait.  In April 2016, we took off one week to visit Italy and since then we have done a couple of weekend trips here and there (Santa Fe, New York, Austin) so I am ready for 8 consecutive days away!

We’ll be visiting the island of Antigua, which is located southeast of Puerto Rico in the West  Indies.  The island is known for its beaches and they say there is a beach for every day of the year (they claim to have 365 different beaches on the island) and I am currently scoping out 4 or 5 that look pretty spectacular in online pictures.  It’s a rather hilly island and is approximately 100 square miles in size with a population of 80,000.  The main town is St. John’s which sits in the middle of the island.

We leave insanely early on our first day (5am flight) but will land in Antigua around 2:30pm and will be staying 8 full days on island before flying home through Miami.  When I booked the tickets, American was having a sale on Caribbean flights so I upgraded us to first class there and back because it wasn’t that much more and the 5am flight to Miami is not fun.

Our first 4 nights will be spent at a hotel near Jolly Harbour called Sugar Ridge, which is located on a hill with amazing views.  Our room is supposed to have a large balcony and plunge pool which will be nice since we aren’t located directly on a beach but will have to take a taxi or free hotel shuttle to the beach.  After that, we are moving to a hotel on the north side of the island called Blue Waters, which is located directly on the beach and we booked an oceanfront room with balcony.  I can’t wait to sit on my balcony and listen to the waves.

We also decided to rent a car for four days of our trip so we can explore more of the island and its beaches. To be honest, the last few months at work have been brutal so we plan to make this a very, very low-key vacation.  I plan to spend most of my time on the beach with a good book. The afternoons will most likely involve a glass of wine or cocktail, a good dinner and some peace and quiet.  I really, really need some time to decompress.  That being said, we are planning a sunset sail one evening, I have some dinner reservations at local places in the works, we will likely do a hike at some point and we will definitely venture into the main town for some shopping and walking around.

Steve and I used to visit the Caribbean every year but we finally decided we needed a break and have been traveling to other locations recently (Morocco, Italy, Mexico, Spain, etc..) and we realized the other day that we haven’t been to the Caribbean since November 2013 when we visited St. Lucia.  We are definitely feeling the DIF right now (Dreaded Island Fever). Just a few more weeks!