Antigua
When I started researching Caribbean islands to visit for my birthday, I came across Antigua and Barbuda - one of those places I heard in passing but really knew nothing about. So mix a magical new island, my birthday, and all my travel points and you have an accidentally-super-fab-honey-moon-esq-dream-vacation.
But first, let’s talk about these friggin’ POINTS. I’ve been saving my Expedia points and JetBlue card points to blow all at once on a ridiculous trip and this happened to be the right moment. Once you’re “Gold” status on Expedia, your points are worth double at “VIP” hotels. So of course, we sprung for Cocobay Resort - all-inclusive, adults-only, couples-only, stunning, on the beach, and thanks to all these points, super cheap. This combined with a free flight with JetBlue points made for one bougie ass trip… and I was liiiiiving for it.
One of the resort pools at sunset
St John’s Cathedral
View from bed
‘Antigua and Barbuda’ is it’s own countries made up of two islands, but Antigua has most of the population and tourism. Antigua’s known for having 365 beaches - one for each day of the year (though most are just different sections of big beaches). Still, the message stands: you got beaches for days, literally.
We flew in St John’s, a quick 4 hour trip from NYC, and we were immediately smacked in the face with humidity - which given the drop in temperature in the city, I was totally fine with. We got picked up at the airport by someone from the hotel (they had our name on the board?? Like in the movies?? Wtf??) and during the ride over, I was mostly just shook at how insanely vibrant the island was. The homes were all painted in these bright pastels that stood out against the greenery around them. It was a gorgeous ride.
Ready for kayaking
Pathway between the cottages
Whatta place to chill!
Then we got to the hotel. I don’t wanna spend a whole post just raving about a resort but hooooly crap. Each “room” was actually its own little cottage with a picturesque winding path that connects them all (cute, but hard to navigate while drunk). So we had our own private cottage with a living room, our own plunge pool, fancy room, and balcony with a view… essentially, a slice of heaven. Combine that with delicious meals (despite only having one restaurant the food was always different and with Caribbean-style options), endless alcohol, a few pools, and beach access? They basically had to throw me out of there at the end of the weekend.
A funny thing about these “all-inclusive, adult-only, couples-only” resorts: we were so blatantly out of place that it was actually kind of funny. All the other couples were opposite-sex couples and most were twice our age. The ones closest to our age were all on their honeymoon. It was super interesting to meet and talk to other couples who were really living very different lives than our own, and I was pleasantly surprised at how down to chat everyone was with the only gay couple at the resort.
Speaking of which, it always makes me slightly nervous traveling to countries where being queer is essentially illegal. I end up doing research on whether other queer tourists have had problems and I found that Antigua, while an LGBTQ+ community is basically non-existent, is pretty passive - no one will get in your face, but it’s not like they’re passing laws in favor of LGBTQ+ people. It’s a hard balance to strike between wanting to see the world and just wanting to be yourself. But shoutout to Cocobay, because not a single person, guest or staff, blinked an eye at us prancing around in our speedos - it made the trip much more relaxing.
Oh I’m just chillin’
‘Wadadli’ is Antigua’s original name
Posted up on the beach
So obviously, this was one of those vacations where we barely left the hotel (did I mention the private plunge pool), but we did take a day trip out to town - St. John. We wandered around the crazy, vibrant city and stumbled across tons of fresh fruit carts, cute little shops, the beautiful St John’s cathedral perched on top of a hill, and the Museum of Antigua and Barbuda. The museum is small but was super interesting - as you walked around, the entire history of Antigua and Barbuda was laid out. We learned about the truly fucked up outcomes of colonization on the nation and how the culture that thrives today was formed (this Wikipedia article doesn’t exactly do the best job of breaking down but the overview is there if you’re interested!). St John is the largest city in the country, but it feels small and explorable - definitely worth spending some time.
Like a lot of the Carribean, Antigua is noooot messing around when it comes to bugs. Even with bug spray, we got lowkey eaten alive… but you can always fix that by diving under some water :) And bugs aside, it was definitely the most romantic, luxurious trip I’ve ever been on. Another birthday trip for the books!
Been to Antigua and/or Barbuda? Have some fave spots? Drop a comment!
Monument for the 1st prime minister
Our gecko friend
Just chillin’ in the sea
‘Town’
This iPhone 11 camera is no joke
Our plunge pool doe
