Barbados
After a couple of lazy days, I suddenly realized that I was running out of time to make my next travel plans. My stay at the Airbnb room could not be extended; the host was expecting another guest. I had to either move to a hotel in Barbados or to go elsewhere. Stricken with panic, I assessed my options.
Barbados was not a dream paradise tropical island as I imagined one. I know that many people disagree but to me, Barbados beaches did not stand out among the others that I saw all over the world from Australia to Iceland.
Those who are crazy about Barbados, please forgive me that I do not share your love for it. I also would like to remind these people that if they were on the island before the pandemic it’s a different picture during it. After doing some thinking, I dismissed the idea of staying. So, where should I go?
I still was not ready to return home and wanted to see another Caribbean island since I was already in the region. A quick check of travel restrictions showed that almost all the islands required a negative PCR test done within 72 hours before arrival. Only St. Lucia accepted visitors with test results obtained within 7 days. This meant that if I left in one day my test done in Barbados was still valid for going to St. Lucia.
The protocol required a printed copy of a negative PCR test which I had plus approval to travel from St. Lucia’s Ministry of Tourism and another from Ministry of Health. The forms for approvals were to be submitted online 7 days before the travel date or, in case of emergency, 3 days. I did not have that much time but I decided it to give it a try anyway.
On Sunday, I bought a ticket to fly to St. Lucia on Tuesday and filled out both online forms right away. One form asked to provide the address of my accommodation. I was reluctant to book a hotel in advance – they are pricey in St. Lucia and I was not sure that my request to travel would be approved. I picked at random a hotel from the list of approved accommodations – it happened to be Marigot Beach Club – and entered its details into the form hoping that nobody would actually contact the hotel to verify my reservation with them.
I went to bed that night being very worried and hardly slept. However, both ministries replied next morning with approval and no reproach for the late submission of the forms.
It was a great relief to see that the regular rate at Marigot Beach Club had dropped from $250/night to $85 for a studio room. Probably, the lack of vacationers in St. Lucia made the hotels to compete vigorously during the pandemic. I’d not be able to afford the regular rate at this hotel. Also, I was making a reservation for the following day, i.e. on a short notice, and the hotel management was happy to get at least something for their vacant rooms. Now, my hotel reservation matched the information on the approvals. I found a printer shop nearby and printed out both approvals. St. Lucia required hard copies of them.
With everything resolved, the stress was gone and I spent the rest of the day on the beach.
An InterCaribbean Airways agent at Bridgetown airport asked to see my ticket for onward travel. I did not have one. Fri st, I was not sure that St. Lucia would accept me and, second, I had no idea how long I’d stay there if accepted. I explained my reasons to the agent. He was patient and courteous but reluctant to check me in. I politely insisted that I could travel to St. Lucia without an onward ticket.
The agent disappeared behind the door with a combination lock, then reappeared and asked me how long I stayed in Barbados, about my plans in St. Lucia and so on. He kept leaving me and coming back with additional questions. I answered that buying tickets in advance could be a waste of money during the pandemic because airlines frequently changed or canceled flights. I had no intention to overstay my visa-free 30 days in St. Lucia and promised to buy a ticket to my next destination as soon as I could.
Half an hour later, the agent gave up. He said that it was recommended to have an onward ticket stressing the word “recommended”. So he would check me in but warned that I might have issues with that on arrival.
The flight was only 30 minutes and the island views from above were magnificent. St. Lucia’s irregular shoreline, green hills and waterfalls looked far more interesting than Barbados.
Nobody in St. Lucia cared about my onward ticket. Their only concern was COVID-19 and how I would comply with quarantine restrictions. A 14-day quarantine was mandatory for all arrivals. The hotel staff would explain the dos and don’ts to me. With that, I was allowed to take a taxi to Marigot Beach Club.
These hard restrictions are really something that one does not expect in that sleepy Caribbean paradise. But everything changes and one wonders, how the world and the travelling will look like in 2021.
It is true that these travel restrictions are tough but they work. These islands have a very low infection rate and almost no deaths from COVID. Let’s hope for the better in 2021, stay healthy!