Learning patience on island time

Well hello wonderful people who took the time out of your crazy hectic schedule to read this blog... I am going to talk to you today abut something that I have the biggest love/hate relationship with... patience... and how island living can cure the worse cases of impatient people.

Some of you may have read my first post about some of the negatives of the island, number one being island time! Yes, it's still a thing and it will always be a thing.

BUT...

It's not always the worst thing in the world. In fact this island can take the most impatient people in the world and well change them. I am an example of that..

Ask anyone who knows me and they can confirm I am so impatient. Like I don't even let the microwave beep when my food is ready because by the time it gets down to 1 second the food is already in my hands, that's how impatient I am. This lesson, you know this whole patience is a virtue thing, took a LONG time to learn.. actually it took a whole year.

On May 9th last year something that happened that started a snowball effect of my learning of patience. I missed my flight. I remember the date because it was my one year anniversary and I was moving to the virgin islands.

I missed my connecting flight.. meaning I would spend 12 hours in the Miami airport. If you have ever been stuck in the Miami airport you would know... they don't offer free wifi.. well, they do.. but only for the first 30 minutes! Just enough time for you to get wrapped up in a Criminal Minds episode and right when sexy Morgan is about to save the day BAM $6.99 for another 30 minutes... so lame.
I had just stayed up all night being stuck in the middle of two large men on a red eye flight from SLC to Miami, I was tired, took a nap on the floor and woke up in gum.. my patience was shot...

BUT lets rewind.. to about 5 minutes before I had missed my connecting flight. We ran to our connecting gate only to watch the gate agent shut the door and as she was shutting the door she pointed to customer service so we could be put on a different flight.. the local who was waiting to go home to St. Thomas looked at me and said "sweet now we don't have to go to work tomorrow"

I was so confused, instead of being upset or aggravated (like me) she was relaxed, calm, cool, and collected. I guess she could tell by my confused look because she laughed and said "sweetie, it happened there aint nothing we can do about it, might as well just relax"

That's when it all started. 

Being on island time for a year has changed me. Nobody on this island is in a hurry so why should you be? and if you are why? Whatever is meant to get done will get done, and time doesn't exist here so ya might as well not stress over it.

If you ever come to the Caribbean don't try to rush the locals, you can't change the culture.. and quite frankly you should take home some of the island vibe with you. If something happens to screw up your schedule RELAX. Be patient. There is nothing you can do to change it so why spend time complaining about it?

If the people around you aren't in a hurry.. then why should you be? Just think.. Will it change anything to worry or complain or yell at the person who made you late? What would the Caribbean locals do??

So next time you schedule gets messed up and you get stuck somewhere... enjoy it. Relax and take some time to enjoy alone time with yourself or enjoy the company of those around you because "Sweetie it happened there aint nothing we can do about it, might as well just relax."

3 things to know when shopping in the Caribbean

Well I am back!

So in my last blog post I posted about some things that make Caribbean living a little rough and I know it shocked a lot of people that Caribbean life isn't paradise 24/7. But most people had the question of how I got down here..

A cruise ship. My life revolves around cruise ships. I work for a company who's target market are cruisers. We are open when the ship is in and when they leave we leave. I revolve around floating hotels essentially. But what kills me is on an average day about 12,000 tourist come to the island by ship and only about 15% know where they're at or what they are doing. So here are 3 things locals would LOVE it if you knew before shopping.

#1- Know where you are
I cannot stress this enough.. seriously. When you brook your cruise they give you an itinerary and there is this wonderful tool called google. Put it together. I'm not asking you to know each islands history and their currency power. Just know the basics, the first line of google should be enough. When I was living in Grand Cayman (which is owned by the UK) people would constantly ask why we don't offer a military discount. PLEASE know where you are. Understand when you are international and when you are in the US. And if you don't know then just ask, locals are proud and will be happy to inform you. Or just turn on your cell phone and your next bill will inform you.

#2-Know where and when to bargain
Okay so this one may be purely for my sake. When you cruise to the Caribbean and if you are looking to shop someone on that ships sole job is to help you. They're called shopping guides. In order for a company to be listed as a "preferred shopping" they have to follow ethics rules and laws. Stick to these shops if you want to shop with confidence. Go to a ma and pa shop if you want to never hear or see them again once you step back on the boat. I am talking big purchases such as diamonds not just a typical hoodie. We are not all tents outside in Mexico. If you go into one of these preferred stores and try barginning you aren't asking the employee to help save you a couple dollars.. you're asking the employee to put their job on the line. If an employee says no we can't bargain here.. do not push it. Also you look like an idiot when you are buying $40 worth of stuff and are asking for a discount and the person next to you is buying $500 and hasn't asked for a thing.

#3-Don't let the free stuff ruin your vacation
I like free just as much as the next person, but don't waist your entire vacation going into various stores looking for free stuff. Sure it's just a tactic to get you into the stores and occasionally it can turn into a sale, but you would be surprised how many people come in full force demand their free stuff and bee line it right out of there. If you just want free stuff that's fine, but I will be the first to tell you, you are waisting your vacation. Don't pull up a map of all the stores and outline where you are going in order to get the most free stuff. You paid for a good vacation, not for cheap free give a aways. Go enjoy the beaches, culture, excursions, or go see the sights. That's the stuff you'll remember and you'll want to take home memories not free stuff.


I know I am completely biased on this stuff because I live in it. I don't mean to lecture anyone by this blog post some people just don't know. Don't know how to shop in the caribbean so this blog is to just inform you how to get the most of your vacation while picking up some stuff as well. I am all for shopping in the caribbean because well it's what gives me a job. Most people shop in the caribbean to avoid duties and taxes so it's not a bad idea at all to shop! Just be open to advice.