It's feeling like Christmas in Old San Juan.The trees in the park opposite our hotel all have fairy lights, the shops and restaurants are decorated in Christmas hues and there is a 15 minute laser light show every hour projected on the Governor's residence close by. It's a Sunday night and crowds of locals dressed in their best are out promenading on the cobblestone streets to see the lights.It took us a frustratingly long time to get ourselves out ...

We are travelling on our own again!Loving the feeling of backpacks on and negotiating exchange rates and taxi fares. We walked away on the taxi drivers' quoted prices at the airport in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and had them clamoring after us, begging us to reconsider. Finally achieving a driver agreeing to the local price (as opposed to the inflated tourist price) and we high 5'd that we were back to the old A & H travel team. The pampered life of th...

It is a rather bizarre concept. You go on a cruise ship where every wish is catered for. You can lie out by the pool all day, if that is your thing (its not mine) and have food and drinks brought to you. Then you arrive at Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas and not only do you disembark for a day ashore but so does the crew who look after you on the ship. They continue to cater for your every wish - but at the beach! Along with the staff also comes all the food and dri...

When we saw a tour that included a snorkel over a shipwreck in the St. Thomas part of the U.S. Virgin Islands, we were quick to sign up. It turns out this shipwreck, the "Cartanza Senora" has a story that includes illicit cargo and powerful hurricanes.The Cartanza was a 190 foot freighter that was originally used to transport goods during World War II. After the war, she served as an agricultural freighter transporting products from South America up the Caribbean...

Dominica has been called the "anti-Caribbean" island. It does not suffer as much from the mass tourism of many of the other islands. There are no flashy resorts in evidence. Most of the island is mountainous with untamed rainforests and only a few beaches. Cricket is the national passion here and hurricanes are a common occurrence. In 1975 Hurricane David wiped out 75% of the island's homes and killed 42 people and Hurricane Dean in 2007 destroyed 99% of the ...