Tag: www.visitbarbados.org

Caribbean, Countries, Culture, Ireland

A hug around the world

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There’s a teacher on an Irish advert who promotes health insurance and says what she missed most when she was hospitalised was human contact.

‘I’m a real hogger’, she smiled. It was a visual thing, she wasn’t hoarding mementos.

Instead her animated figure was embracing nursery kids.

Crystal clear: Warm welcome in Barbados

She’s not alone in being ‘a real hogger’. The Irish love to hug and they are all happier for it.

So they’ll be missing hugging friends now that they, and us, are in lockdown.

Because some people are just more comfortable with hugging than others.

Yes, I’m talking about you, Crystal, Ruby, Geraldine, Marsha and Sheena.

On Barbados www.visitbarbados.org and Tobago https://www.visittobago.gov.tt.

Crystal, who taught me how to tie a bandana and unleashed this monster on the world…. Let’s rumba in Barbados

She was choked with the cold but the professional that she is, and perfect host too, she pushed on regardless.

And there was always a hug, as there was from everybody who worked at Club Barbados https://www.theclubbarbados.com on the Platinum Coast.

While Ruby who gave me my first Caribbean cooking class, okra, was in great form.

Delivering a telling-off before a hearty hug and laugh…. My kiss with Rihanna and www.tropicalsky.ie and www.tropicalsky.co.uk.

In safe hands: Geraldine, Jim and Virginia’s Betsy

Auntie Alison (they respect their elders and call their betters Uncle or Auntie) wowed us with her natural rhythm and moves…

As Uncle Kenneth and myself cooked Caribbean Chicken Curry in their restaurant, the Blue Crab http://www.tobagobluecrab.com and https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/2020/03/17/ready-steady-goat-racing-in-tobago/

I’ve been asked to relive those memories this week as part of a video by the Barbados and Tobago boards to promote the islands.

Irie!

Africa, America, Asia, Caribbean, Countries

Where social distancing does not apply

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They are the birds, bees and animals for whom social distancing does not apply.

The pppppppenguins I met in Sea World in Busch Gardens https://seaworld.com/orlando/ huddled together.

For warmth obviously.

And none of their handlers will need P—–PE.

So the tables have turned and now the animals run free and we’re cooped up.

So randomly here’s a celebration of all’s God’s creatures who have a place in my choir around the world.

Pppp-priceless

Hello pppp-al

Penguins in Orlando: And a tale of the handler who takes his penguin home with him.

And shared the story with us of the double take from the gas attendant when he saw the penguin in the passenger sear.

Pussycat, pussycat

Tiger queen: As every second person watches Tiger King a peak into these big cats in their natural environment.

In the Eastern Cape of South Africa… https://www.visiteasterncape.co.za.

Where Iain and his rangers at Camdeboo National Park https://www.sanparks.org/parks/camdeboo/ led us on a game drive.

And we got to see new mum Thandie with her cubs nestling under a tree… from a safe distance.

To thrill a mockingbird

Mockingbirds in Tobago: It’s feeding time at Ean Mackay’s bird sanctuary in Tobago in the Caribbean https://adventure-ecovillas.com/inthepress.htm.

While these chirpy fellas are also the perfect breakfast guests. See https://www.visittobago.gov.tt and Ready, steady GOAT… racing in Tobago.

Cheeky monkeys

What must they think of us?

Bajan green monkeys: Another breakfast guest, and these guys will climb from tree to tree around your Club Barbados billet https://www.theclubbarbados.com.

Steer away, of course, from the unscrupulous hucksters who try to push you into getting a photo with one… they mistreat them.

Stick with the Barbados Tourism Board who will keep you right with ethical itineraries https://www.visitbarbados.org. And also visit https://www.sandals.co.uk/sandals-barbados/ and https://www.eleganthotels.com/turtle-beach.

And Mother Turtle

Smile, you’re on camera

When you’ve got the expanse of the seas you’d imagine you have little problem getting social distancing.

Alas, the turtles’ greatest enemy is not each other.

But humans and the waste, the plastic we dispose of which fills up their living space.

Thankfully, we have Mother Turtle, Vanessa, a German inlander and her poster turtle Selma to showcase her beloved Kuramathi.

Vanessa and Bandanaman

In the Maldives where Island Marketing and Turkish Airlines will give you a holiday.

Which combines pleasure and respect for the natural world.

See https://island-marketing.business.site, www.turkishairlines.com and https://www.kuramathi.com.

And a word from a doctor

Now before we all locked down the film Dolittle, starring Robert Downey Jnr, reprises the story of how a doctor talked to the animals.

If only the animals could tell him how to lick this virus and how us humans could live more safely and with them.

Caribbean, Countries, Food, Food & Wine

Hungry and Thursday – Caribbean Spice Gael

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Five years it’s been sitting in the press and it’s followed me in a box across from Ireland to Scotland… my Bajan sauce.

And now as we muster all the supplies in the cupboards it‘s out.

And inspired by my old West Indian pal and Visit Barbados, www.visitbarbados.org Hungry and Thursday goes Bajan.

Now I’ve also got to give a shout-out to Ruby, my cooking teacher from Club Barbados https://www.theclubbarbados.com on my Tropical Sky holiday https://www.tropicalsky.co.uk.

I’d got a taste for Barbados as a guest of the Barbados Tourist Board the previous year Let’s rumba in Barbados and was back here with Ruby for seconds My kiss with Rihanna.

Yes, as you can see, Ruby sure showed me the ropes… and her paddle!

For the rest I’ll pass you onto my friends at Club Barbados for this culinary and rummery guide.

Gone fishing

Coucou and flying fish: And this is what Ruby had me cooking in front of the class.

And you can check it all out on your Visit Barbados YouTube channel with its cooking tutorials.

While here is your Visit Barbados recipe book.

Shaking it up

You’ll be washing it down with rum punch too.

And, of course, it’s as easy as pie to make, but like everything to do it well then leave it to the experts.

Visit Barbados are also pushing mocktails too (yes, quite) and their Barbadian Pineapple Mocktail.

Again you’ll see it on the Visit Barbados YouTube channel.

And a shout-out to Tobago

Now that I had a taste for it I was desperate for more education.

And I certainly got that from Uncle Kenneth and Auntie Alison at the Blue Crab Restaurant in Tobago… Ready, steady GOAT… racing in Tobago.

Visit http://www.tobagobluecrab.com and https://www.visittobago.gov.tt.

Irie… and Meet you on the Road.

Africa, America, Countries, Culture, Europe

The Old World – a salute to Seventysomethings

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I’ve always hung on the words of the old because they’ve got more, not less, life than the rest of us, and that is even more so abroad.

Where the elderly retain more respect than we give our senior citizens in the Ooo K.

And so as the UK wrestles with what to do with its Seventysomethings – and locking them away at home is being proposed…

Here are some of the older people who this energetic 54-year-old struggles to keep up with.

The Tobago touche

Auntie Ali and Uncle Kenneth: Tobagonians have more uncles and aunties than the rest of us on account that everyone who is old is… it’s a form of respect.

Auntie Ali and Uncle Kenneth run the Blue Crab in Robinson, Scarborough where Ali wiggles her bum-bum and Uncle Kenneth (and me) make the chicken curry.

For more on Tobago see www.visittobagogov.tt and here’s my take on it Ready, steady GOAT… racing in Tobago.

The Barbados walkers

Geraldine and Betsy; The American sitcom King of Queens has Carrie’s pal Holly walk Arthur… for us it at Club Barbados it was Angela around the Platinum Coast.

That’s me and Betsy from the Virginia Ski Club of America.

An education on Virginia and Barbados and Angela even went the extra mile when she burnt a soca CD for me. See www.visitbarbados.org and My kiss with Rihanna.

Swiss seniors

Brigitte the yodeller, Switzerland: It was a stroll in the park on our summer walking trip around Interlaken.

Where 72-year-young Brigitte put us through our paces, stopping only to let us skim our stones and for her to yodel (no, honestly!)

Visit https://www.myswitzerland.com/en-gb/ and Swhisskey on the rocks.

Prague pensioners

Czech your stride, Prague: I’m just getting feeling back in my legs after My guide had walked the bones off me and my colleague Elise in Prague.

She also had a typically Americanised and underplayed way of describing those who had left a trail of destruction through her city… Stalin, for example, was a ‘bad guy’.

See www.czechtourism.com. And Hope springs eternal.

Over the hill in Austria

Ehrwald Presley: And they’re off… the walking groups from Ireland I trekked with in Austria, bombing ahead up the hills as I was just limbering up.

Before settling down at night for some oompah music with Austria’s answer to Elvis Presley.

See https://topflightforschools.ie.

Vegas neon

Liberace’s pal: Well, it wouldn’t be Vegas without the bling.

And Beverley didn’t disappoint, sporting the jewels given to her when she worked at Li’s gaffe while also telling her lots of tales of Neon City.

See www.lvcva.com and https://www.neonmuseum.org and Strip… the light fantastic.

Dresden’s fraulein

A walk through history, Dresden: Schoolchildren wanting to know about history, and Dresden, would do better to talk to Greta.

Than dig out a history book… because Ingrid and her family straddle the Nazis and the Communists.

Visit https://www.dresden.de/en/tourism/tourism.php and Dresden’s renaissance.

Pioneering pensioners

Colorado: There’s a message on a blackboard at the white-water rafting centre near Boulder, Colorado which flags up a nonagenarian

Barbara was in already to go without that challenge… alas, in the churning rapids. And broke her ribs.

Visit www.colorado.com and here’s my ride through the Wild West… The New Frontiersmen.

Even African dictators

South Africa: And in Africa too where no matter who you are you deserve respect when you are an elder statesman, or woman.

Even when that elder statesman is Robert Mugabe.

Which was our big game drive ranger in South Africa Hewurt’s reasoning for why Robert Mugabe still held power.

While it is always worth stopping people in the course of their work, to ask them about themselves.

Like the charming old hotel worker Amos in Cradock in the Eastern Cape who had fought with the resistance and Nelson Mandela.

Visit https://www.southafrica.net/uk/en/ and here’s a nod to those South Africans who really do respect their elderly…. What’s new pussycat?

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Holidos and don’ts – Christmas luggage

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I’m among the hundreds of people waiting at arrivals at Dublin Airport.

Mine’s is Daddy’s Little Girl, on her way home from Edinburgh.

Now Santy is here, there are well-wishers with Welcome balloons and I dare say a choir will appear any minute now.

Have you a giftie for me? Santy at Dublin Airport

And I’m looking at the trolleys of suitcases.

Nothing different there. Only I’m wondering what’s in them.

Not that I’m weird or anything. I’m just thinking that many of them will be packed with presents.

Oh, but that long walk

Which makes me think… why?

OK, there might be that Christmas gift you can only get in that country you’re coming from.

Although you can buy most things over the internet now.

And have it delivered to the family home or a relative to pick up.

Or even tell them what you want them to buy and recompense them when you see them.

Because packing your bags with gifts only means that you have less room for your own stuff.

And if you’re only home for a couple of days and can get away without taking a suitcase at all…

Because rucksacks hold more than you think and then you can always get your clothes washed at home.

Or better still change your wardrobe with some new clothes in the Boxing Day sales.

And then you won’t have to go to the carousel.

And you know what I think of carousels…

Having had to wait a day for my undelivered luggage to be sent to my address. I wasn’t alone.

The smaller the airport, of course, the smaller the carousel and the ANR Robinson International Airport in Tobago is definitely my size.

It even has reminders of home.

Here are a few reminders of some precious memories from that trip… Ready, steady, goat… in Tobago, Give us this Day – Sunday School, Tobago and I should cocoa – Christmas in Tobago.

And www.visittobago.gov.tt.

This being Christmas Eve’s Eve this will probably be my last airport visit of the year.

Although I live in hope!

So a big thank you to all the airports that have hosted me this year, particularly my second home, Dublin Airport… www.dublinairport.com

And while it’s probably too late for you to heed my advice, remember that the best gift you can bring is…

Yourself!

Unless you can persuade Rihanna to visit… A kiss from Rihanna.

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Hungry and Thursday – Ainsley, cooking and the Caribbean

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There are few people who could leave TV chef Ainsley Harriott gobsmacked.

Septuagenarian mine host ‘Auntie’ Alison is one.

West Indians give their seniors respect (remember when we used to do that in our society).

So everybody has hundreds of aunties and uncles who are just as precious to them as their own kith and kin.

I wasn’t there when Ainsley popped by the Blue Crab http://www.tobagobluecrab.com in Scarborough in Tobago this year to film his Caribbean Kitchen TV series… https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=9T5VZU-Kxp4

But I was there last week to hear Auntie Ali tell us the secret of her 50+ marriage to Uncle Kenneth.

Put your underwear in the bottom drawer to show off your bum-bum we were told, complete with demonstration.

The same goes for grating cheese.

Of course what works for Auntie Ali doesn’t necessarily work for a Fiftysomething beardie Scotsman with no rhythm.

And besides I had to keep my mind on the job.

As Uncle Kenneth allowed me to give him a helping hand as he gave us a cooking demo of his chicken curry special.

Of course I had form having been taught how to make fried okra by Ruby at Club Barbados https://www.theclubbarbados.com… and here’s where it went https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/my-kiss-with-rihanna/

And it wasn’t the first time, nor will it be the last time I savour the pleasures of Barbados… https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/rihanna-in-barbados/

I was all over Tobago, Robinson Crusoe’s island last week. Quite literally. And I have been sharing…

I’m a Tobagonian

Check out https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/2019/09/11/tobago-ready-steady-goat/, https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/2019/12/05/robinson-crusoes-tobago/ and https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/2019/12/03/i-should-cocoa-christmas-in-tobago/

And also check out these recipes I found in my last billet Kariwak Holistic Haven in Crown Point, ‘just around the corner…’ http://www.kariwak.com.

There I found one of the barmen referred to by the manager as Mr… and my waitress at my local boozer calls me and my family ‘goys’. Mmmm!

For more on Tobago visit http://www.visittobago.gov.tt and look out for my review in the Sunday Times Ireland soon.

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Holidos and don’ts – late nights

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One of the best things about a holiday has always been later bedtimes and not having to get up for work or school.

Unless, of course, you’re Irish where 4.30am is the time to leave a party.

As it was explained to me after one Christmas party when I asked the next day why it was 4.30am?

And I was out of there by 11.30pm.

‘Too early,’ said my colleague.

‘So why not 5am?’

‘Oh, that’s just taking the piss.’

Late nights and through-the-morning benders raised their head when a reporter I sent away pulled such a stunt.

And let down the holiday providers by falling out with the hotel in the early hours and then going AWOL.

Now I’ll get back to you in a future post on my favourite people in the Travel business – holiday providers.

And my least favourite, entitled journalists who call Travel assignments ‘junkets’ and treat the holiday providers with disdain.

Now that’s not to say you can’t have fun.

On my first trip to Barbados my old University pal and proud West Indian Jevan took me out on Foreday Morning.

Which was after the planned itinerary.

It got messy, yes, a mud and paint Soca and rum party through the streets of Bridgetown.

And I got no sleep but I did meet up with my group the next day to go catamaranning. Let’s rumba in Barbados and My kiss with Rihanna.

And visit http://www.visitbarbados.org and https://www.visitbarbados.org/crop-over-festival.

Treat your reps and hosts well, no treat them better – after all they’re babysitting you.

And they will allow you up late after your bedtime… if you behave yourself and are there the next day.

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Hungry & Thursday – Dishy Rihanna

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I was happier behind the video camera which is unusual, I grant you.

After getting my hand smacked the last time there was a Bajan cookery lesson.

My Bajan friends were back in town, cooking, mixing cocktails and dancing.

So it would have been rude not to join in when the music started.

Particularly as I’d some spicy Bajan food and rum punch to burn off.

Now the thing I found out in Barbados is that rum can be a vital ingredient in the food. https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/rihanna-in-barbados/

And https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/my-kiss-with-rihanna/

Breakfast of champions

I even found it in the sweet treats at the breakfast buffet on my first trip to Barbados (and the bread) for Crop Over, their carnival.

The best breakfast I had was made by my friend Donna who hosed myself and her husband Jevan down, washing off the paint and mud, after Foreday Morning. Before filling us with carbs.

And I then went down to Sandals for my second breakfast http://www.sandals.co.uk/barbados.

Now over to Ruby, and a cookery lesson at Club Barbados http://www.clubbarbados.com on the Platinum West.Coast on my Tropical Sky http://www.tropicalsky.ie trip to the Caribbean.

Cou-cou is on the menu. It is Barbados’s national dish.

The thing is that you stir the cou-cou, okra or cornmeal, with a 1ft cricket bat-style (it’s their national sport) cou-cou stick.

Which is what Ruby is wielding here.

Eat your cou-cou as an accompaniment to flying fish.

And here’s some rum punch which will be thrust into your hand the moment you land on the island.

As made by our cool as ice mixologist on the night in Dublin this week.

It’s about three minutes so you might want to get your Mount Gay, which means rum, out and pour yourself a rum and coke while you watch.

Now there’s a lot going on in Barbados, culinary, slow tourism, adventure tourism (scuba, snorkel, in fact any kind of water sports).

It is 10 years of Barbados Food & Rum from October 24-27 http://www.foodandrum.com. Also visit http://www.visitbarbados.org.

And check out the road tennis!

As they say on Barbados…

MEET YOU ON THE ROAD

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Holidos and don’ts – bathrooms

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An ill-chosen bathroom can spoil what I’ll grudgingly call Paradise… as can the lazy use of the word ‘Paradise’.

I used to ban my writers from employing the word at my last newspaper although that didn’t stop some contributors.

I mean unless they had actually been to Adam and Eve’s gaff then who’s to say whose Paradise is Paradise.

It is the biggest cliche in Travel and its original meaning has become diluted by overuse.

And you know what they say: avoid cliches like the plague.

Champagne o’clock: Sandals, Barbados

So, back to bathrooms.

There are only two things I need in a bedroom… a good bed (there’s a clue in the name of the room) and a good bathroom.

Oddly it is no longer compulsory for there to be a bath in a bathroom.

If I were to choose the favourite bathroom I have stayed in I would definitely opt for Majorca.

Long after I’d got out (probably after an hour and a half) and returned home I was waxing lyrical about it.

Can I remember the name of the hotel? No! But it had a spectacular view of the Med. Perhaps you can find it for me http://www.infomallorca.net.

And jets. You press a button and it shoots out water.

It was so good I got out, dried myself down and got back in again.

Now, you don’t need to see pictures.

But you need to see these images.

In a hot tub in Sandals Hotel in Barbados https://www.sandals.co.uk/sandals-barbados/.

Oi, your time is up. Photo by Jonathan Andrew on Pexels.com

With the bottle of Champagne that they leave in your room every morning.

And a little birdie, Rihanna, who pops by too… although that might just have been me.

Duck your head in

You don’t have to go to Barbados for a good bath, although it IS Barbados http://www.visitbarbados.org. And this is what I thought https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/rihanna-in-barbados/ http://My Kiss with Rihanna

One of the best bath experiences I’ve had in this country is at the Powerscourt Hotel in Co. Wicklow .

Where I laid back with a malt whiskey and watched the Masters on the TV screen on the wall. http://Flowerscourt

While visitors to the North of Ireland will know all about Hastings Hotels’ schtick, their rubber ducks, among them Rory Quackilroy http://www.hastingshotels.com.

And let me tell you how good Hastings are and how my stay at the Grand Central was https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/belfastvanmorrison/

I have my collection, fronted of course by Hastings’ quackery (main picture), but it seems you have some of your own too.

Judging by these pictures below.

Rubber duckies, but Hastings are better. Pixabay on Pexels.com

Now I must go and have a soak.

It’s a good day for the ducks, but then isn’t it always?

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Festival time – music gigs

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Summer is drawing to a close and it needs to be marked in the ancient manner – a music festival. Daddy’s Little Girl is off with her pals again to trudge through the mud to listen to her favourite beat combo band.

Rave on as nobody other than Dancing Dads might say… here are a few random festivals…

Electric Picnic

Not your typical picnic, folding tables, stools, tuppaware and stools. This is Electric Picnic, Ireland’s answer to Glastonbury.

Of course, the festival in Stradbally Hall, Co. Laois in the middle of Ireland, is on a more intimate scale but it has that same indie vibe.

With a Body and Soul tent with the obligatory bean bags (my entire furniture in my first flat), massages and tarot cards (I still have my pack). There’s also a comedy tent.

You want to know about the music. Choose from any of these from yesteryear… Nick Cave, New Order, Bjork, Aracade Fire. The Flaming Lips and the Sex Pistols. While this year Florence & the Machine are the big draw.

Holiday in the Sun, guys!

From Friday, September 30-September 1. Visit http://www.electricpicnic.ie.

The Reading Festival

One close to my heart and my work… my first writing job was just across the road.

And it was while I was there that Meatloaf had a bottle of urine thrown at him which hit him square in the face. He got off that stage like a bat out of hell but not before giving the crowd the finger.

Now play nice, boys and girls!

The Reading Festival has been built on its rock foundations but in truth it has been a magnet to all the big Festival acts.

Both British: The Rolling Stones, Fleetwood Mac, The Kinks, Pink Floyd, The Who. Genesis, The Jam and Pulp and Oasis. Heavy metal is big here with Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Status Quo.

And international: Alice Cooper, Iggy Pop, AC/DC. Metallica. Guns n’ Roses, Foo Fighters, Green Day, Red Hot Chili Peppers. And, erm, Eminem.

Reading has just packed away last weekend where The 1975, The Foo Fighters, Post Malone and Twenty One Pilots were the headline acts. Next year will be from August 28-30. Visit http://www.readingfestival.com.

T in the Park/TRMSMT

Scotland in the Seventies was a bit of a cultural wasteland.

Sure there were the good jobbing bands like Nazareth, my first big boys’ concert and The Sensational Alex Harvey Band.

But generally Scottish music wasn’t promoted as it should have been.

Now Tennents has a lot to answer for for its fizzy electric lager but it does deserve credit for championing Scottish music and international maps and putting my wee country on the gigs map.

And of course it received the ultimate recommendation when the world’s greatest band The Killers headlined.

Now revived as TRNSMT and held on Glasgow Green http://www.trnsmtfest.com, its last iteration was from July 12-14 and was headlined by among others George Ezra and Stormzy.

The Montreaux Jazz Festival

A place of mythical proportions on account of Frank Zappa burning a mobile recording unit to the ground and Deep Purple immortalising it in Smoke on the Water.

In its 53rd year, it is held in Vevey, Switzerland, and yes, Purple in whatever line-up they are on by now, are regular visitors.

The festival includes blues, soul and rock music in addition to jazz. And as you’d expect it is quite pretty too. And Frank isn’t around anymore with a box of matches. Visit http://www.montreauxjazzfestival.com.

Coachella

OK, so this is not a summer festival but it is America’s favourite, or certainly the celebs’ favourite.

So if you like a bit of a celeb spotting then the Empire Polo Club in Indio in the Coachella Valley in the Colorado Desert where Pearl Jam first played.

Over two weekends in April it is one of the most profitable music festivals in the world, but heck, that’s not what we’re interested in.

It’s all about the music. This year was the 20th anniversary with Chidish Gambino, Tame Impala and Ariana Grande all performing. Watched by a host of celebs. Visit http://www.coachella.com.

Your favourite

Of course, you’ll all have your own favourites. I loved, loved, loved Machel and Friends at the One Love concer at Crop Over in Barbados in 2016. Here are my thoughts https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/rihanna-in-barbados/

And for news on the Crop Over festival http://www.cropoverfestival.com and http://www.visitbarbados.org.