Rihanna was there to meet me but where was my party?
Ri-Ri is the first face you’ll see as you walk into Grantley Adams Airport, Bridgetown, Barbados, through its open-air entrance.
She’s there draped on the wall in the arrivals area along with the world’s greatest-ever cricket all-rounder Sir Gary Sobers.
And from this past week she has smiling excited visitors to greet again as Grantley Adams reopens.
Sign here
In the balmy heat of an early Bajan summer evening I found myself spending more time with the superstar than the party I was there to meet.
I hadn’t picked out Barbados tourism’s board or that the blonde Afro traveller a few groups ahead of me in the queue was heading that way.
And so I found myself on my own in the airport long after everyone else had left.
The friendly Bajan airport staff allowed me back through customs to double check if my party were there before connecting me with a taxi firm and my hotel.
That’s far
In said taxi I asked the handsome Twentysomething driver about his family and if he had a partner.
To which he said that the Bajan girls were all after the same thing.
I had heard from my West Indian pal that there were three women to every one man on the island.
I asked him to turn the taxi around to remove me from such temptation.
But I then thought better of it, and besides what would the poor staff at the Grantley Adams Airport make of me showing up again so soon.
Barbados Aer
And, of course, my Rihanna
And for our Irish friends, Aer Lingus are now on board too with new flights through Manchester from October 20. With fares from £199.
And you can attach on the connecting flights from Dublin and Cork from €249 and from Belfast from £239.
MEET YOU AT THE AIRPORT
