This post is about my travel to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, a beautiful, mostly non-touristy island(s) country in the Lesser Antilles of the Caribbean. I took a different perspective on this post, seemingly negative, a more positive one will come shortly. In this post, I talk about my worst travel experiences from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. In other words, these are the worst things that can happen if you go to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Read and decide yourself if you still want to go, I bet you will find my experience rather humorous than scary.
We all talk about the good and the glamorous. Hardly ever I see a blog post about negative travel experience. I believe it happens, but we are usually ashamed to shared that or we think it is going to overshadow the good experience.
I, on the other hand, find it useful to read or hear about travel experiences where things were not ideal. I believe it gives us opportunity to learn and be prepared for it. If the negative experience - assuming it was not something that left a permanent damage - can be a good learning experience. It might feel uncomfortable and annoying at the time, but it can also be an interesting memory to share.
In this post, I will not talk about pick pocketing or other travel scams. The reason being 1) I have not experienced those in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, 2) I think there are plenty of posts in general in that topic.
I will talk about not-so-ideal situations I experienced in Saint Vincent that was unique to that place. I also have a lesson learned or a solution for each. So, if you are going to Saint Vincent, do not panic, with a couple of simple steps you can be worry-free!
Alright, this is what happened. Our plan was to hike La Soufriere Volcano from the east side of the island. Based on my research, this meant to take a bus to Georgetown and take a taxi from Georgetown to the trail head. Well, we took the minibus from Kingstown to Georgetown, more on that on a separate post later. We told the driver we are going to the volcano hike. He dropped us off at the last "station" at Georgetown which was basically the end of the bus route, apparently the end of the town Georgetown as well. Even though the point the driver dropped us off is the closest point to the trail head that he can drop us on his route, it was a place with no more shops, there was hardly ever any people or houses around. There was no easy way for us to simply hail a cab from that point.
In short, we assumed we can easily get a cab from the point we got off the minibus to the trail head. In reality, there was no cab on sight and there was hardly ever any signs of life around.
So what happened next? Thanks to nice people of Saint Vincent, we found a way. First we ran into these three friendly men, we asked them if they can call us a cab. They directed us to a house nearby. Either we got to the wrong house, or the person who lives there no longer ran taxi service. At the end, the residents in that house could not help but the lady we talked to called her driver friend who luckily lived two houses away. We walked a little bit more since at this point the houses were scattered around, they were not that close to each other. We met our lovely driver who took us to the trail head at the market value. We also exchanged numbers so we have a ride back to Georgetown after we are done with our hike.
Looking back, we should have gotten off the bus around Georgetown downtown, so we can easily find a taxi to drive us to the trail head. This was our mistake.
Lessons learned
The interesting part is that I was not even surprised. The reason being, when we first got into our AirBnb there was actually fleas on the carpet in the hallway. The owner did a deep cleaning as soon as we brought it up and we didn't have any problem for the rest of our stay. The owner's explanation was previous guests might have brought dogs inside. We also had a dog followed us once we were walking on the beach and a local warned us not to get friendly with the dog because it had fleas. These two interactions already got me thinking the fleas might be common in public areas or among the dogs of the island, so that is why I was not surprised.
Anyways, that one flea turned into 3, or 4. I do not remember the exact number but I ended up taking my clothes off in the toilet on the ferry and checked every piece thoroughly. I was worried that they would hide in our luggage but that was the end of it. We haven't seen them ever again after leaving the ferry.
Lessons learned
I am afraid of dogs in general. This is due to negative experiences with street dogs from my childhood. I did not have any interaction with dogs as pets as a kid, hence never had a positive experience with dogs growing up. Later in life, having lot of friends having pet dogs things got better. But, whenever I run into an unleashed dog even as an adult it brings back my fears.
The first day we arrived in Saint Vincent, I went out for running, which was great because it is a hilly area and it was challenging and interesting to run uphill. I was running in a residential area. At some point, one dog start barking at me behind the fences from the front yard of a house. Then, it turns out the dog was not leashed, and the fences were not really end to end connected, meaning the dog can easily get out of the fenced front yard. And, that is exactly what happened. The dog came start running toward me, and another dog joined him. At this point two unleashed dogs start barking at me and running towards me. I did not really think. I climbed on top of a car parked on the street. I was expecting somebody from the house to come out. Nobody came outside, I don't think they were at home. Once I have time to think, I calmed myself. My plan was easy, wait for dogs to calm down, then walk slowly, and do not run. Yes, it worked. In a minute or two the dogs stopped barking and started walking back to their yard. I got down and walked slowly. Once I was out of their sight, I continued with my run.
I experienced similar scary (at least to me) unleashed dogs during my time in Saint Vincent and Bequia every time I go for a run after that. I applied the same logic. When I saw a dog, I stopped running, and just walked. When there were no more dogs around, I ran. To be clear, this is not common in downtown, happened only in residential areas.
Lessons learned
Positive conclusion to this post
Given that these three things were the worst things that happened to me in Saint Vincent and Grenadines, yes, I actually had a pretty good time for 99.9% of the time. Please see my other posts for where to go in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and regarding the adventurous La Soufrière hike. If you love exploring foods during your travels like me, do not miss my post on what to eat in Saint Vincent.
I hope my post is useful to future Saint Vincent and the Grenadines travelers.
Let us know in the comments, if you have experienced any of the above or another not-so-ideal situation when traveling, and what have you learned from that experience.
[End notes: Traveled in 2019 and posted in 2020.]
We all talk about the good and the glamorous. Hardly ever I see a blog post about negative travel experience. I believe it happens, but we are usually ashamed to shared that or we think it is going to overshadow the good experience.
I, on the other hand, find it useful to read or hear about travel experiences where things were not ideal. I believe it gives us opportunity to learn and be prepared for it. If the negative experience - assuming it was not something that left a permanent damage - can be a good learning experience. It might feel uncomfortable and annoying at the time, but it can also be an interesting memory to share.
In this post, I will not talk about pick pocketing or other travel scams. The reason being 1) I have not experienced those in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, 2) I think there are plenty of posts in general in that topic.
I will talk about not-so-ideal situations I experienced in Saint Vincent that was unique to that place. I also have a lesson learned or a solution for each. So, if you are going to Saint Vincent, do not panic, with a couple of simple steps you can be worry-free!
1. Struggled to find transportation in the middle of nowhere
Alright, this is what happened. Our plan was to hike La Soufriere Volcano from the east side of the island. Based on my research, this meant to take a bus to Georgetown and take a taxi from Georgetown to the trail head. Well, we took the minibus from Kingstown to Georgetown, more on that on a separate post later. We told the driver we are going to the volcano hike. He dropped us off at the last "station" at Georgetown which was basically the end of the bus route, apparently the end of the town Georgetown as well. Even though the point the driver dropped us off is the closest point to the trail head that he can drop us on his route, it was a place with no more shops, there was hardly ever any people or houses around. There was no easy way for us to simply hail a cab from that point.
In short, we assumed we can easily get a cab from the point we got off the minibus to the trail head. In reality, there was no cab on sight and there was hardly ever any signs of life around.
So what happened next? Thanks to nice people of Saint Vincent, we found a way. First we ran into these three friendly men, we asked them if they can call us a cab. They directed us to a house nearby. Either we got to the wrong house, or the person who lives there no longer ran taxi service. At the end, the residents in that house could not help but the lady we talked to called her driver friend who luckily lived two houses away. We walked a little bit more since at this point the houses were scattered around, they were not that close to each other. We met our lovely driver who took us to the trail head at the market value. We also exchanged numbers so we have a ride back to Georgetown after we are done with our hike.
Looking back, we should have gotten off the bus around Georgetown downtown, so we can easily find a taxi to drive us to the trail head. This was our mistake.
Lessons learned
- Get off the bus while the bus is still in downtown, if your next transportation is a taxi.
- In general, do your homework and have local taxi numbers in hand.
If we have done either of the above, we would have a more smooth transportation to La Soufriere Volcano trail head. Of course you can always a take a tour instead of arranging your own transportation, but then where is the fun? 😆
Yes, you heard it right, we've gotten by fleas in public. We have spent 4 days and 4 night on beautiful Bequia island of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. The morning of our last day, we packed and arrived at the ferry terminal. We were early, so we decided to grab some drinks and snacks before getting on the ferry. There is this tiny store almost like a kiosk in a small plaza near the ferry terminal, enjoyed by locals. There are bunch of benches to sit around along with trees. We got our drinks and snacks and sat on the benches. I immediately felt something crawling on my body and yes, it was a flea.
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| View of Georgetown from La Soufriere Volcano hike, Saint Vincent |
2. Got bitten by fleas
Yes, you heard it right, we've gotten by fleas in public. We have spent 4 days and 4 night on beautiful Bequia island of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. The morning of our last day, we packed and arrived at the ferry terminal. We were early, so we decided to grab some drinks and snacks before getting on the ferry. There is this tiny store almost like a kiosk in a small plaza near the ferry terminal, enjoyed by locals. There are bunch of benches to sit around along with trees. We got our drinks and snacks and sat on the benches. I immediately felt something crawling on my body and yes, it was a flea.
The interesting part is that I was not even surprised. The reason being, when we first got into our AirBnb there was actually fleas on the carpet in the hallway. The owner did a deep cleaning as soon as we brought it up and we didn't have any problem for the rest of our stay. The owner's explanation was previous guests might have brought dogs inside. We also had a dog followed us once we were walking on the beach and a local warned us not to get friendly with the dog because it had fleas. These two interactions already got me thinking the fleas might be common in public areas or among the dogs of the island, so that is why I was not surprised.
Anyways, that one flea turned into 3, or 4. I do not remember the exact number but I ended up taking my clothes off in the toilet on the ferry and checked every piece thoroughly. I was worried that they would hide in our luggage but that was the end of it. We haven't seen them ever again after leaving the ferry.
Lessons learned
- Do not touch street dogs or animals during your travels.
- Use a natural flea repellant spray on your self or on your clothes. Rosemary and lemon are known to be natural flea repellants.
- If you get bitten by fleas in a public area, do not panic. Change clothes, and wash the effected clothes in hot water.
- When possible, use a washable luggage like a duffel bag. This way if the bugs hide in your luggage, you can wash and get rid of the bugs, you can avoid bringing them to your home back.
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| Bequia Island, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines |
3. Chased by dogs
OK, I admit this is not exactly what happened. I was not chased by dogs in a dramatic way. I had scary dogs barking at me and scaring me to the point I had to climb on top of a car in one of the cases.I am afraid of dogs in general. This is due to negative experiences with street dogs from my childhood. I did not have any interaction with dogs as pets as a kid, hence never had a positive experience with dogs growing up. Later in life, having lot of friends having pet dogs things got better. But, whenever I run into an unleashed dog even as an adult it brings back my fears.
The first day we arrived in Saint Vincent, I went out for running, which was great because it is a hilly area and it was challenging and interesting to run uphill. I was running in a residential area. At some point, one dog start barking at me behind the fences from the front yard of a house. Then, it turns out the dog was not leashed, and the fences were not really end to end connected, meaning the dog can easily get out of the fenced front yard. And, that is exactly what happened. The dog came start running toward me, and another dog joined him. At this point two unleashed dogs start barking at me and running towards me. I did not really think. I climbed on top of a car parked on the street. I was expecting somebody from the house to come out. Nobody came outside, I don't think they were at home. Once I have time to think, I calmed myself. My plan was easy, wait for dogs to calm down, then walk slowly, and do not run. Yes, it worked. In a minute or two the dogs stopped barking and started walking back to their yard. I got down and walked slowly. Once I was out of their sight, I continued with my run.
I experienced similar scary (at least to me) unleashed dogs during my time in Saint Vincent and Bequia every time I go for a run after that. I applied the same logic. When I saw a dog, I stopped running, and just walked. When there were no more dogs around, I ran. To be clear, this is not common in downtown, happened only in residential areas.
Lessons learned
- If you are wondering in a residential area in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, expect there will be unleashed dogs. It is very common for people to keep their dogs unleashed in their yard.
- Run with a buddy when you can, or walk instead of run, or skip it all together.
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| Calming sunset at Kingstown downtown, Saint Vincent |
Positive conclusion to this post
Given that these three things were the worst things that happened to me in Saint Vincent and Grenadines, yes, I actually had a pretty good time for 99.9% of the time. Please see my other posts for where to go in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and regarding the adventurous La Soufrière hike. If you love exploring foods during your travels like me, do not miss my post on what to eat in Saint Vincent.
I hope my post is useful to future Saint Vincent and the Grenadines travelers.
Let us know in the comments, if you have experienced any of the above or another not-so-ideal situation when traveling, and what have you learned from that experience.
[End notes: Traveled in 2019 and posted in 2020.]
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