Barbados Holiday Prep

[FlashPan]

Hello all,

To celebrate the amazing fact the Mrs and I made it to our 10 year wedding anniversary without becoming a soap opera body under the patio storyline, we are off to Barbados this weekend for a week.

Now when we travel which is 2 or 3 mini trips abroad a year mainly to Europe I always have a little kit with me. Just for the day to day happenings.

On this occasion I thought I'd beef up a little more but now looking at it I may keep this as a more permanent holiday carry . Please do not get me wrong am not expecting a hard time but am just thinking of the hotter weather, smaller population and infrastructure but from what I read the place is quite modern with good services etc. As we will be doing a bit of wandering away from shops and whatnot, not just lazing on the beach and also this is my first time there I though to put something smallish together.

So the green pouch is a Russian army cotton belt pouch type thing (maybe for 2 x grenandes?).

Contents are from left to right:

Pouch
Bite relief roll on
alcohol sanitizer
5000mah USB battery
Survival whistle and extra long shoe lace to be used as lanyard or shoe lace
Notebook
Pen
Mozzy spray (am taking a bigger bottle to hotel for a topup if needed)
Mozzy spray for kiddies (just Mrs and I but sometimes just in case to help out other holiday makers).
US army bottle 1l I think (maybe overkill but just though a little stronger than some disposable types plus as it has the carry handle/case so easy to keep on hand).
Black pouch, swiss army knife, think it is the Traveller
Basic medical pouch, added compeed, ibruprofen, allergy tabs, having the squirts tabs.
Basic sewing kit
AA battery Pen torch
Not in the pic, sun tan cream and a cheapo water/rain proof phone case for when on the beach, sun glasses and 2 x disposable ponchos.

In the past I've always taken the smaller blue backpack for carry towels, water, sun tan cream, medical pouch and general bit and bobs, shopping.

As said before I think I may carry the pouch with above on future holidays, really not that big or heavy.

I'll need to buy a new hat as the one I normally take is the wide brim 90s desert army cammo type. Apparently it is illegal over there to wear cammo gear!

Comments always welcome, Have I missed anything?

Cheers

[grenfell]

We've just had our 18th anniversary but 18 years ago we honeymooned in Barbados. The island is only around 20 miles long or so not huge by any stretch of the imagination but if you are entering the interior more than possible to lose one's bearings. It may have changed now but when we went we found that the coast road has signposts but thee arre non on the interior roads and no names on the villages either so a map and perhaps a compass might not go amiss. We also found that it was a good idea to stay off the roads come evening too. Very lax drink driving laws and it was common to see young men on the backs of pickups "partying" . When we hired a car we asked about the drink driving laws and the response was a shrug and " if you can drive then you're ok" .

[Arzosah]

Hope you have a great time! I'm wondering about airline and country regulations (eg if you have a stopover somewhere as well as going to Barbados) for the Swiss Army Knife ... that could get quite tricky.

Tissues/toilet roll are essential extras for me

Are seatbelts compulsory over there? (and do they actually wear them? which is a different question). If so, you might still want a seatbelt cutter.

ETA - a couple of torches. Between the long hours of darkness, being the latitude it is, and possible power cuts (I was on a cruise ship recently, and there's an awful lot of square footage with no natural lighting).

[grenfell]

It was an interesting place . Some things like really tatty houses with tarps on the roof but with a whopping big satalite dish just seemed a tad surreal but the food and such like were good.
Penknives are always going to be a problem in anything other than the luggage hold which is where I normally place one and extra toilet roll never goes amiss although there seemed to be no problems in that respect.
Torches are probably a good idea although there is some street lighting but night does seem to fall very quickly probably on account of it's nearer proximity to the equator. Seat belts were optional and I don't recall many being worn. I seem to recall a problem with some of the trees that overhang the beaches in places or rather the fruit was the problem which I think had fine spines that break off and we were warned not to walk under them barefoot . I could be wrong about the spines but I'm still pretty sure that there was a warning about the trees for something. And while on the beach we were also warned that topless bathing was against the law and that the police did at times take action.
As I say it was 18 years since I was there so I wouldn't be surprised if there has been some changes . It'd be interesting to hear what has changed.

[FlashPan]

Thanks for the advice, appreciated

The pen knife will be in the hold luggage with the rest of the kit. Carrying while there I do not think will be a problem. It's in a pouch, in a pouch, in a bag. So am not really waving it about plus am thinking that in countries/climates like this having a knife is pretty normal/common?

Good idea on loo roll, although I'll pack a bag of tissues in the pouch as still room.

As for torches, well I've the one in my pouch, we both have phones that can double up and the Mrs always carries a small battery bank that also doubles as a powerful torch.

Think it's too late getting a seat belt cutter but good for future. Now that's a question. Can you carry one of those as your carry luggage on a plane? As you may only use these once, are the cheapo ebay types ok?

How the place has changed is from only what I have read. Wifi is common but they are trying to get the whole island covered, contactless is just being introduced, cash is still king, most places still prefer you to use that, some places that have a card reader do not like to use them (sounds like they do not like banks?) but if you do pay by card, do not be surprised if asked for photo id. This last bit is quite a surprise for me and a struggle as the only ID with a pic I have is my passport, don't wanna carry that around so hopefully they will be ok with a colour photocopy.

Lucky for me though, the receptionist in my office is Barbadian so if I get in a real jam I can always call her for help It's not what you know it's who you know

Cheers again.

[Arzosah]

Not sure about carrying a seat belt cutter on a plane, though I doubt it. On that recent cruise, we were all searched every time we came back on board, and one time my seatbelt cutter was given the onceover very carefully. Once they could see the "blade" was on the inside and it couldn't possibly be used as a stabby thing, there was just interest, and I kept it. And that was a stainless steel one - it *looks* absolutely vicious I used to have a pink plastic version, but it broke. Stainless steel was cheaper too.

Lucky you having a local who knows you on the other end of your phone

[Deeps]

Enjoy your hols mate, sounds great. Can't really add to what others have said, I'd reemphasise the cash being king thing. Never been but been to plenty of places around the world and cash is universal. It might be worth looking into US dollars too, some places prefer it and you can get a better deal although I've no idea about Barbados.

[grenfell]

Again might be out of date information but we found Bajan dollars are only any use on Barbados itself . Might sound obvious but it wasn't accepted on air flights or on board the cruise ship we also went on.

[FlashPan]

Thanks for the tips.

We both have a pre paid Visa debit cards. Mine is Revolut and the Mrs is Caxton. You preload them with sterling and then use in more or less any country and currency you wish. They do not charge fees just make money from the exchange rate (which is very good or you can change all your money on the card to the currency you want to spend). You can use cash points and add cash via your phone app/web connection as you like. Mine's also contactless and bitcoin is coming on them soon as well.

Nothing stopping you using them in the UK as well as long as you have cash on the card.

So on the plane for example I can pay in UK, US, EU, Barbadian, or what ever other currency they need.

Already used in Europe a lot, quite handy and super simple.

The Barbadian $ is linked to the US$ at 2 to 1

[grenfell]

Thanks for the tips.

We both have a pre paid Visa debit cards. Mine is Revolut and the Mrs is Caxton. You preload them with sterling and then use in more or less any country and currency you wish. They do not charge fees just make money from the exchange rate (which is very good or you can change all your money on the card to the currency you want to spend). You can use cash points and add cash via your phone app/web connection as you like. Mine's also contactless and bitcoin is coming on them soon as well....

What a wonderful future we live in