The idea of a Winter Holiday sounds wonderful, especially when it's snowing and very, very cold, like minus whatever is at the very bottom of the thermometer. You don't even want to look at the guage.
So you pore over catalogues, wondering why there are no more last-minute deals. Well, now you get rewarded for booking early, and there is some deal where if the price drops after you book, then you can get a refund.
You finally decide on THE PLACE - the Caribbean.
You are determined to not be packing the night before you go on holiday. After all, you don't want to get there half dead, you want to be full of energy, yeah!
But before you go, you start to engage in insane behaviour. ( and I am not talking about you, I know you don't do any of these things)
- cleaning out the inside of your cupboards so your house sitter doesn't think that slobs, and dirty people live here
- you have been meaning to change your will so you drive yourself crazy with that , you never know your plane might fall out of the sky and you may perish in the ocean. Just so you know, stats show you have a greater chance of being killed in your car.
- you set yourself impossible goals - I want to get this done by the time we go on holiday
- you have to clear the desk at work and finish all undone projects
- you have to cancell the newspaper, arrange for someone to pick up the mail, get your hair cut, arrange for a dogsitter, omg, this list is getting longer by the minute
- you may even think, why did I think I could even take a holiday?
Onward to clothes - what to pack. you want to look glamourous, after all you'll be next to those perfect 10's, twenty-something year old bodies that never had any kids and are perfect. No time to shop? Just run to the fabric store, grab 1.5 m of some stretchy fabric, and make a sarong.
Click on the link to find out how to make a sarong. Buy some brightly coloured fabric, none of that black or brown nonsense.
You press on, visions of the beach dancing in your head.
BY SOME MIRACLE, you mange to get out the door, and so you are finally on holiday and it takes you 3 days to unwind because you drove yourself at 150% to get everything done, does any of this sound familiar?
STOP...relax..prioritize
It's ok if your house is not clean when you come back.
No-one is going to look in your cupboards.
The house sitter just cares about where is the food, how to lock the doors, the security system, how to work the TV, and the all important WI-FI PASSWORD!!
Some DO's :
- There have been some cases of Chikungunya virus reported in the Caribbean, it is a mosquito borne illness, that attacks your joints. If you are out in the evening, do use a bug spray, wear long pants and long sleeved shirts . Most resorts fog on a regular basis,
- if you are staying at an all-inclusive resort, and eating from a buffet, you will be serving yourself with the same spoons other people have used. A yoga teacher I met at one of the resorts said : don't use your hands to eat your food, e.g. use your fork to eat a bread roll. Use hand sanitizer before eating your meal.
- drink bottled water, most Caribbean islands have a desalination plant, and the water is probably safe. However, as one pharmacist said, your intestines get used to the bacteria in the water where you live, when your travel you are exposed to different bacteria, so you may end up an upset stomach. Who needs that on a holiday? Take some probiotics with you.
If you see an ant in the hotel, it doesn't mean the hotel is dirty. Expect to see an ant and small lizards.
Beach in Cuba.
No work, no timetables, no meals to prepare, warm weather , sand and sun.
- Enjoy your Holiday! For help in decorating The Island Way, stop in at The Camellia or arrange for an in-home consultation.
The Camellia, 30 Hacquoil Rd. p-(807)475-3551
