Visit to the British Virgin Islands
Last week I was lucky enough to have
traveled to the island of Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands for
5 days. It was beautiful. Having only ever traveled to most of
the US and Canada, I was totally enthralled by everything I saw.
Tropical coasts, humid weather, daily afternoon rain showers, REAL
coconuts...It was amazing. There were a few caveats; I was nannying for a
20-month old & a newly 4-year old the whole time, and I was also
super sick. Nausea, vomiting, stomach pain- the whole bit. (The sickness
started before I arrived and hasn't stopped since. I've lost a bunch of
weight and have been having trouble eating most of my normal foods, so
we're trying to figure out what's going on. Blood work should be back
later this week.) Other than that, it was a truly lovely trip.
The family I nanny for was taking a pretty
exclusive vacation on Necker Island. Yup, Richard Branson's private
island. I was lucky enough to get to hang for a few hours over there
and man, oh man: AMAZING. Endless infinity pools, cabanas, swim-up bars,
lemurs, sea turtles, and every water sport accessory you can imagine.
It was the trip of a lifetime- I'm so happy I got to tag along!
The resort, Biras Creek, was beautiful. It
was 'hurricane season', so the humidity was high and there were short,
frequent bursts of showers all morning and evening. I had never
experienced an endless ocean horizon before and it was incredible. SO
bizarre- can we really blame Columbus for thinking the world was flat?
;)
We fed local iguanas hibiscus flowers from
nearby bushes & admired the other native flora & fauna. The
plant below, to the left, was nearly as tall as I was! There were a few
nice hiking trails around the island that the little ones and I
conquered. It was lovely seeing the island from the tippy top.
Below is the sunrise and early evening views
from the balcony of our tiny beachside cottage. The sun came up most
mornings around 6:30 AM and the sun set every evening around 6:30 PM. It
seemed early to me for it to get dark, but it was very helpful in
getting the kids to sleep, and that was golden.
The sunset on our last night was amazing. I
was feeling a bit better and was able to actually enjoy some dinner with
two very sleepy little ones, before heading back and counting down the
hours to my 24th birthday. The next day was full of travel home- a 3
hour boat ride, 10 hours on a plane back to LA with a layover in
between, and finally the 30 minute drive back to Long Beach. I was so
happy to fall asleep, on my birthday, in my own bed, next to my favorite
person. But I certainly wouldn't mind waking up to that view again,
either.