https://www.visitbarbados.org Archives - Jim Murty’s TravelTravelTravel

Woah, we’re going to Aerbados

12th February 2026 funtime65

And with apologies to soft reggae revellers Typically Tropical… woah, we’re going to Aerbados, woah, Aer Lingus Airways.

Yes, you read that right… Ireland’s national airline carrier have stepped up to fill the gap.

Where floor fillers Typically Tropical gave us Coconut Airways.

Which Son and Heir and Daughterie will recognise the tune from being repurposed in Woah, we’re going to Ibiza.

Now the Balearic Island has always had its charms which we enjoyed on family holidays long before it became Rave Central.

Bridging the gap

But we have long hoped and believed that the Caribbean could more than match it.

Once we opened it up for Irish travellers with a direct route.

England’s loss here, and more specifically Manchester’s, will be Ireland’s gain.

When Aer Lingus opens up a temporary seasonal route connecting Dublin and Bridgetown from 31 March to 31 May.

With fares available from €229 each way, including taxes, fees and carrier charges and departing Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays.

Now it might be a small window but there’s a world of fun waiting through it once you get out there to Bim.

Just promise us that should you get along to say Club Barbados and you see a dapper dude.

Suited and booted

In penguin suit and bow tie designed on to his t-shirt in the bar chaneling his Typically Tropical then say an Irie from us.

And he’ll be happy to let you join him at the mic.

Now Club Barbados is on Barbados’s prestigious Platinum Coast but you don’t have to be Midas to afford it like you might at next-door Sandy Lane.

And join the Club

Me-me and Dee-Dee: At Crop Over in Barbados

Club Barbados is all-inclusive and adults only and we found a Garden View room for £1830.14 (€2,102.45).

And an Aer Lingus return flight for the random dates of April 7-14 for €449.11.

Caribbean, Countries, Deals

Howzat for seeing Barbados… with a Windies icon

10th December 2025 funtime65

Howzat for seeing Barbados with a Windies icon because unlike Premier League footballers cricket legends mingle.

It is, of course, a two-way street as I found out after being introduced to Brian on Foreday Morning in Barbados’s Soca Carnival.

Only to learn after I’d left him with my slurred words ‘Do you play cricket?’ ringing in his ears.

Tthat this was the great Brian Lara.

Lesson learned, and libations parked, I was on better behaviour when I came across quickie Joel Garner and all-rounder Collis King.

Caught: With Collis King and Joel Garner

On the Barbados stand at the WTM travel fair in London.

And gave them both hearty handshakes although mine disappeared into Big Bird’s shovel hands.

Thang is that Windies cricketers are a different breed from those stuffy sportsmen we get on this island which gave the game the world.

But still hasn’t evolved from its elitist perspective.

Golfing with GG then the gee-gees

Gordon Greenidge, another proud son of Barbados, has seen both sides in his life.

Born in Bim but raised in the Royal County of Berkshire,where I too did my time.

All of which we’re sure he’ll be glad to chat to you about on the pristine golf courses of Barbados and in his private box at the races.

Yes, you read that right, and you have Tropical Sky to thank for this 20th Anniversary Holiday Collection offer.

You’ll spend ten nights on the island and play an intimate round of golf.

And break bread and rum with West Indies opening batsman cricket legend Gordon.

While Peter Odle, chairman of Mango Bay Group, is offering access to his private box along with gourmet hospitality to follow up GG with the geegees.

Sandy Lane is there inside my heart

You’ll also get to ride a luxury catamaran cruise.

But word to the wise slather up with lotion if you don’t want to repeat this leathered traveller’s mistake.

While you’ll also be booked in for afternoon tea at Sandy Lane.

And Sunday lunch at celebrities’ hang-out The Cliff.

And a farewell seafood feast at the waterfront restaurant Tides.

Sands of time

Guests stay at the stylish, all-inclusive The Sands Barbados on the south coast.

Where soft sands, swaying palms, non-motorised water sports and laid-back island living set the tone.

Complemented by smooth VIP service from fast-track arrival to the final farewell.

A 10-night Golfing Glory with Sir Gordon Greenidge and a Day at the Races trip is priced from £8,850pps.

Including international business-class flights, 1ten nights at The Sands Barbados.

All meals as per the itinerary, afternoon tea at Sandy Lane, 18 holes of golf and lunch with Sir Gordon Greenidge.

A luxury catamaran day with lunch, a day at the races with exclusive access to that private box.

Sunday lunch at The Cliff and dinner at The Tides Restaurant.

Caribbean, Countries, Music

Antigua for the Caribbean Soca Showdown

5th August 20245th August 2024 funtime65

The West Indies are on a roll so ready, steady, go, it’s a hop, skip and a jump to Antigua for The Caribbean Soca Showdown.

Our favourite set of islands in the sun are beloved for their laid-back lifestyle.

But they do, of course, punch above their weight too on the sporting field as they continue to show at the Paris Olympics.

Jamaican flyers Usain Bolt, Don Quarry, Merlene Ottey, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce have led the way over the years.

As have cricketing royalty Sir Garfield Sobers (Barbados) and Sir Viv Richards (Antigua).

And my Foreday Morning mate Brian Lara and his footie pal Dwight Yorke from Trinidad & Tobago among many, many more.

Add to that new Olympic heroes from Paris 2024 in pride of St Lucia in 200m women’s champ Julien Alfred, their first-ever medal winner.

And the island looks like it will never stop partying since the weekend win.

While triple jumper Thea LaFond worked the same magic for Dominica.

Soca not soccer

Of course all eyes are on the Olympics right now but for many of us attention will switch back, and has already started with the resumption of Scottish league football, on soccer.

Soccer has its place in the Caribbean, but in truth, if you ask about it, you’re more likely to be taken to a big field for a Mas (party) and a festival of Soca, or So Calypyso music.

Where there is no tribal rivalry, only peace, love, rhythm and rum.

There will be good-natured island competition across 12 islands on Saturday it is true.

But that just adds to the carnival when the Kari Soca Caribbean Soca Monarch Showdown.

Take to the stage

Empress will proudly represent Antigua and Barbuda, while D Phillip Blackest will showcase talent from the US Virgin Islands.

Christy D will sing for Barbados, and Rae will fly the Trinidad and Tobago flag.

Dominica will have two representatives, Mr Gwada and Benji.

Montserrat have sent Lyrikal, Riggy is flying in from Grenada, and Eazi from Nevis.

Imran Nerdy is St Lucia’s pride and joy, TR Shine represents Belize, and Ras Kelly is St Kitts’ contestant.

None of the names there that I’ve come across and Biggie Irie, King Bubba and his pals will no doubt be jumping at Crop Over in Barbados just now.

So that means new names and friends to jump alongside.

So for a celebration of life and music get out to Antigua for the Caribbean Soca Showdown.

Caribbean, Countries, Sport

Scots bowled ’em over in Barbados

30th April 202430th April 2024 funtime65

As the countdown begins for a cricket clash of the Auld Enemies a cry of freedom from when us Scots bowled ’em over in Barbados.

My old Aberdeen buddy Jevan is a proud Trini-Scot.

So he doubly delights in any victories over the Engerlush.

West-Indian born with a birthright to love cricket he is something of a fixture in around the Oval.

With his dapper dandy schtick while he is also wont to take on a fancy dress mask.

On the occasion he took me along to the Oval it was India who were in opposition on the first day of a Test match.

Howzat for a day out?

When if memory serves me well only three wickets fell all day.

The rum though tumbled all day from the moment we got into our box.

And the host looked quizzically at me when I said I would start slowly with a coffee.

And they turned to Jevan and asked ‘who’s this joker, get him a Mount Gay’.

Watching cricket with West Indians is an education,

Winning a maiden over

Everybody on Barbados has an opinion and an expertise.

And the charming, beautiful woman in our company opined.

On the selectors, the tactics and Bajan, American and British politics without missing a beat.

All the time remaining sharp of mind and style.

While my senses dulled through good rum and my body swelled from the fishes of the Caribbean and the staple Mac’n’cheese.

Holding out for a hero

By the time they called stumps I had had a lesson in life and cricket which to West Indians is much the same.

My charming West Indies cricket fan colleague had relayed to me the joy of a particular roasting an England legend had endured on this ground.

When Michael Holding had Geoffrey Boycott jumping around in his crease before getting done all ends up.

For yesterday’s Boycott, read today’s Joe Root, and a fast-bowling Scot.

And a fast-living, sharp-dressing Trini-Scot cheering on his mother’sland.

Remember too that this is an island with Scotland at its heart, the region named after the Scots who went out there.

And maybe thinking on when me and him, two proud Scots bowled ’em over in Barbados.

Twenty Twenty vision

The World T20 Cup runs through June in the West Indies and the US.

With my own Scotland playing England at the Kensington Oval, Barbados on June 20.

British Airways and Virgin Atlantic both fly nine hours to Bridgetown.

And, of course, you can go high-end at Sandals or Turtle Beach.

Or even take your significant other to a couples hotel at Club Barbados.

Caribbean, Countries, Deals

Andi Oliver’s food glorious food in Antigua

6th April 20246th April 2024 funtime65

Now it takes one to know one so I’m flagging up my fellow Caribbeanophile Andi Oliver’s food glorious food in Antigua.

You’ll have seen the awesome Andi on British television screens.

Not least on her odyssey of the West Indies, the Caribbean with Andi and Miquita, her daughter and fellow Celebrity Googlebox partner.

Their first stop in the BBC show is Antigua where they meet their eldest relative who retraces colonial days.

Before heading for Barbados ahead of Bim becoming a republic, and getting their DNA results.

Handi Andi

Reckon mine too would show Barbados roots, having found my name on the Building Wall of Barbados.

Next to Robyn Rihanna Fenty.

Antigua was where it began for Andi though through her mum’s family.

And she is heading back there for the Pepperpot Rum Shop pop-up experience in Fort James next month.

The collaboration between Andi Oliver, the Treehouse Beach Club and the Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority launches on May 8.

Andi’s offerings coincide with the Antigua and Barbuda Restaurant Week (May 5-19).

Now you may have sampled Andi’s wares at her London restaurant Wadadli Kitchen, and foodie memoir, Pepperpot Diaries.

Curry favour

Visitors to the pop-up will be treated to some of Andi’s most celebrated dishes, like chocolate curried goat, alongside innovative new recipes.

A sensitive issue here having taken my goat Bandanaman to racing victory in Tobago.

Now having gambolled with goats and I draw the line at cooking them I am available to help Andi out.

Having learned ocra at the hand of Ruby at Club Barbados.

And curry with Auntie Ali and Uncle Kenneth at the Blue Crab in Tobago.

See, I told you I had Caribbean roots.

Pineapple Beach Club

If you want to enjoy the flavours of Andi Oliver’s food, glorious food in Antigua then..

A week at the Pineapple Beach Club by Elite Island Resorts for May 5 to 12 from London Gatwick with British Airways is from £2,061.50 pp.

America, Caribbean, Countries, Europe, UK

I’m a copy Kate too around the world

12th March 202412th March 2024 funtime65

Everyone has their own altered reality of who they are so I admit it, I’m a copy Kate too around the world.

And aren’t we all, airbrushing here and pretending we’re somebody we’re not?

And so for this Irish-Scot, schooled in Classical Greece and Rome, with a tranche of Irish-American rellies I’ve channelled all their icons.

Now, far from wanting to come in and do a fixer’s job for the Windsors.

But I’ve always found that the best way of redressing a pile on is to send yourself up.

Altered images

And so if Kate Middleton put out a Picasso-type photo of herself and her sprogs then she could show that she can laugh at herself.

Now four score months and seven days ago (or thereabouts) I brought forth my Presidency.

See, there I am, writing an order in the White House in DC.

And, I was entitled to do so, having been given the authority by no less a figure than George Washington himself.

The new President of America: In Washington DC

Now, I’ve been photographed with many an American icon over the years.

Martin Luther King, Elvis Presley, Annie Oakley and more recently Donald Trump, although he probably met them all too.

Of course, I fought too in the American Civil War.

In fact much like the Universal Soldier of Donovan’s song or the Rolling Stones Sympathy for the Devil I was there for the major events in history.

My place in history and culture

With the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and Archduchess Sophia in Sarajevo at the time of their assassination which triggered the First World War.

And spooky this, she too like Kate was of ‘common stock’

Then modern rock royalty in Cliff Richard in Portugal and R&B (that’ll be Rihanna and Bandanaman) in her native Barbados.

While I’ve skied with Olympic champions in Gelsenkirchen, won the Open Golf Championship in Portrush in the north of Ireland, run with the Pamplona bulls.

And danced with Judy Murray and sung with Natasha Bedingfield… you can make up your mind on those last two name drops.

Fake it till you make it

Now, there’s the old saying about fake it till you make it.

Now admitting it is the first step which is why I acknowledge I’m a copy Kate around the world.

Kate though has it the other way round down Kensington Palace way as she prefers to make it till she fakes it.

Asia, Caribbean, Countries, Europe

The day the world’s cats are feline good

29th October 20231st November 2023 funtime65

Moggieday, Moggieday, so good to me, and with apologies to the Moggies and Papas, today is the day the world’s cats are feline good.

And we have animal activist Coleen Paige to thank for pushing to have a national day for cats in 2005.

To go along with National Dog Day in 2004 (see, you can love both), and National Puppy Day in March 2006.

Now, we’ve all been there on our travels when we’ve had kitties cuddle up to our legs and made us feel welcome.

So on this, National Cat Day, indulge us while we share some puss pics from our travels.

How Bazaar

Istanbul: And our feline friends in Istanbul are the type of learned bunch TS Eliot would take to.

As we found out when we went shopping in the most historic and enchanting row of stores and stalls in this magical city on the Bosphorus.

Where you’ll find moggies sprawled out over books on the counter… cat lit if you like.

The Catmino

Tenerife: And when you need someone to show you the way then you could do worse than follow the cats.

Because they know their way around, of course.

Mind you this furball in Tenerife knew better than to take to the open paths in the baking hot sun of our CaminoWays trek back in the day.

Furza Italia

Rome: Moggie mia… you’ll spot your gatti Italiani because of their swagger.

As they amble past you on your 100km walk from Lazio into Rome on your Via Francigena.

I guess that’s why they call Rome the Eternal Kitty.

Desert cats

Jordan: Now we all know about the camel, the ‘ship of the desert’.

But our furry low-maintenance feline friends we found on our G Adventures adventure are adaptable to any terrain.

And they make a better sleeping companion under the stars in the Wadi Rum.

The Cattybbean

Fur he’s a jolly good fella: Kitty fun in Barbados

Barbados: And we all know that the cat rules the roost, or at least that’s how it is here where the mother-in-law’s moggie Mishka is on holiday.

And it is certainly the case in St Nicholas Abbey, ancestral home of the Cumberbatches (yes those Cumberbatches).

Where I had to give way on my Bajan Scottish odyssey because the top cat on the island is this furry fella.

Caribbean, Countries

Twinning and winning in the Caribbean

28th June 2023 funtime65

Island hopping takes many forms but whichever you take you’ll be twinning and winning in the Caribbean.

Arguments abound as to what qualifies as ticking off a country on your list.

And American states too with my friend and mentor, the inimitable doyen of Irish travel writing, Eoghan Corry telling me he’d racked up 49 states.

My 16 seemed puny alongside that and I confess that some have been fly-through or drive-through.

Plane speaking

While my Caribbean island hopping extends to a flight layover for a clean-up on St Lucia en route to Tobago.

We, of course, don’t want you to have to bump up your experience when you’re keeping up with the Joneses, or Smiths.

When SunGroup Hotels has a Barbados and St Lucia twin holiday which is twice the fun.

Sugar rum rum

Our cup of tea: And sugar at the Sugar Cane

The 4* Sugar Cane Club is located in Speightstown on Barbados’s Platinum Coast.

And you can avail of an all-inclusive or room only option.

And enjoy the in-hotel hospitality and entertainment.

With Sandy’s Chattel Bar and Restaurant serving Oistins Stuffed Flying Fish or the Six Mens Coconut Shrimp.

Bus, bike and boat

You like your rum, and limin’, then Sugar Cane Club offers shuttle services to the Sand Street Beach Club & Bistro.

While for the more active then the hotel offers mountain bikes to explore the island.

And, of course, the best ride on any island is limin’ on a boat and get out and spot you a turtle.

And the Sugar Cane Club offers a complimentary Glass Bottom Boat tour.

For every guest at the Sugar Cane Club & Spa, when staying 7 nights or more.

Hills and thrills

Anyone who has flown over, stopped off, or stayed will wax lyrical about the mountainous marvel that is St Lucia.

And all-inclusive Bel Jou Hotel sits atop a hill with vistas of the Caribbean and the island’s capital of Castries.

Again the tastes of the island are to the fore and we’ll always be taken by a restaurant by the name of Kilibwe.

Creole for Hummingbird, and we do love to share our table with these fluttering fliers.

And Bel Jou also want you to get out to explore the island.

Which is why they offer a shuttle that runs five days a week.

Where sunbeds are provided by a local vendor free of charge.

Guests can even make a whole day of it and organise a packed lunch to take with them for just $10 per person.

SunGroup Hotels are what they say on the tin and they will group your island stays together so check out their site for best offers.

And you’ll be twinning and winning in the Caribbean.

Caribbean, Countries, UK

Windrush Windies change

22nd June 202323rd June 2023 funtime65

Seventy-five years ago Jamaicans were lured from their island in the sun to dark, drizzly Britain beckoning the Windrush Windies change.

Now, of course, we’re all saving like mad here in Britain to get out to Jamaica.

Of course, this observation is in no way to diminish the ignominy done to those who answered ‘the motherland’s’ call.

Only for large swathes to then be told that they had no right to be here and must go ‘home’.

Jamaica, of course, has been reflecting on its relationship with the UK and whether it wants to retain the King as head of state.

Probably didn’t help then to have two entitled and bejewelled young white people thrust on them in an elevated vehicle.

A Windies welcome

It has always struck me in my journeys through the West Indies and dealings with Caribbean representatives.

Just how easy and welcoming they are with white Brits.

Because can you imagine the furore if the roles had been reversed.

And Britons had been enslaved and then exploited in the Caribbean?

Well, the Scots Highlanders were taken from their crofts.

And had forced labour inflicted on them as indentured servants.

As did the Irish which was then also under British rule.

Scotland and Ireland: Me and Michael in Barbados

Of course, the Scottish and Irish experience, as stark as it was, was not on the scale of the slavery the black African had to endure.

And it was conflicted with many of our own acting as overseers and benefiting hugely from the degradations of black slaves.

Something, it is shameful to say we refuse to remove in the statues of slave apologists and in street names.

Now, I’m relieved to have discovered that not all Scots were exploitative.

Our Caribbean dream

And surely the Murtys, who made their name onto the Building Wall in Bridgetown, Barbados were benefactors.

I have an open invitation, well I am on the wall alongside the Fentys (Rihanna’s people) to return to research my family’s place in Bajan history.

Of course retracing your roots can often uncover secrets.

As I found out when I researched my own family tree and discovered that a great-great-something grandparent had another family.

Seventy-five years ago there was a Windrush Windies change which blew our way in the UK.

It is undeniable that we are a better and richer society for those who answered our call in our hour of need and their descendants.

And it is to their eternal credit that despite what we have inflicted on them over generations they welcome us with open arms in their islands.

So Vive La Revolution Jamaica when you inevitably follow Barbados in cutting ties with the British monarchy.

MEET YOU ON THE ROAD

America, Countries, Europe, Ireland, UK

Dragging up the statue debate

9th April 20239th April 2023 funtime65

News that 70,000 fans have signed a petition to have an erection of Paul O’Grady (he’d appreciate that) put up in his hometown Birkenhead sees us dragging up the statue debate again.

Whether the proposed O’Grady statue over the Mersey from Liverpool would be of pets’ pal Paul with a beloved pooch.

Or his beloved alter ego, Lily Savage, a celebration of this towering figure would be most welcome.

We make no apologies for dredging up this contentious subject again because simply put statues are a fixture of every tourist’s city break trip.

And it is our mission to redress the balance.

By putting up more cultural figures on pedestals to match, replace or overtake the mystery military statues that look down on us.

Who’s a hero?

A horse, a horse: Stonewall Jackson at Manassas

Statues was all the talk in of all places Barbados a few years ago.

When the Ski Club of Virginia made their annual pilgrimage down to the Caribbean.

And our new friends from the Deep South were alerting us to the gathering storm.

Over the statues of the Confederate leaders proliferating there.

Which I saw for myself when I went out to Virginia.

And visited Manassas, site of the first fighting in the Civil War, and home to Stonewall Jackson.

And alas the fighting was to resume not long after on the streets again.

I was fortunate to illicit the opinions of those on both sides of the divide through further adventures in the Deep South.

And meet the likes of Dr Martin Luther King and his unfinished statue in Washington DC.

And Fannie Lou Hamer, the little big woman who got tired of being tired in Mississippi.

The extraordinary ordinary

In the name of dog: Greyfriars Bobby in Edinburgh

Of course for every celebrated soldier, conceited king or quaffed queen there are real heroes and heroines who have rightly been placed in marble and stone.

Such as Anne Frank in Amsterdam, Workers’ champion Jim Larkin in Dublin or devoted doggie Greyfriars Bobby in Edinburgh.

Ah yes, you’ll see the message we’re sending out here, more children, women, working-class heroes and animals.

Gay giants

And LGBTQ+ champions and more drag queens.

Our trawl of statues turns up unexpectedly and disappointingly precious few of either.

Again our beloved Ireland leads the way somewhat and in spite of its repressive Catholic past.

With the louche and lounging statue of Oscar Wilde in Merrion Square.

While he is lauded and lipsticked in his gravestone in the Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, his last resting place.

Where Wilde led, the likes of Harvey Milk, the ‘Mayor of Castro Street’ in San Francisco.

Whose bust smiles at us from its plinth in City Hall, followed.

And Greenwich Village in New York, spiritual home for the Gay Liberation Movement, made a statement with a bust to Marsha P Johnson.

All of which makes the case for more statues which truly represent the people who live among them and represent them.

Redressing the balance

Alas, here in the UK as in most places representation is in short supply.

With only Alan Turing, the decoder who helped defeat Hitler, represented long after he was vilified and criminalised for his homosexuality.

So let’s hear it for the real heroes and heroines of our society.

Those we can identify with and look up to.

And that’s who I want to be looking at it on my city breaks.

And why I’m dragging up the statue debate again.