iTravel2... Trinidad & Tobago - Blog
The birthplace of Calypso music… and the steel drums – here is my blog on the beautiful country of TRINIDAD & TOBAGO!
We went there May 2017, during our Memorial Day. We flew JetBlue Airways there – we all know, I loveeeeee me some JetBlue! The flight from Fort Lauderdale into Port of Spain was about 3 hours. When we got there, the airport is not that exciting, people are VERY rude, our car service wasn’t waiting for us like they were supposed to, it was over 100 degrees and we were just agitated. It definitely wasn’t a pleasant welcoming into Trinidad by any means. UGH! So, we get to the hotel – Hilton Trinidad, also known as the upside down hotel (they call it this because you go down to go to your rooms, not up). There’s really only two hotels on the island that is worth staying at – The Hyatt or the Hilton. The Hilton check in was HORRIBLE! It literally took 3 hours to check in. This was definitely souring mi taste for dey trini’s at this point. We were hungry and just angry! After we finally got to our room, we could relax – Thank GOD! By the way, I would give that hotel a 1 star – they totally lied on our partnership with Expedia ratings that they were 4. *insert side eye here* it happens to the best of us. Wah!
I believe our first night we just walked around and went to dinner and tried to go to the club. So, tourism is not big here in Trinidad because they are oil rich and do not need to depend on tourism for the economy – like most of the Caribbean. So, they come off as brash a lot of the times. We wanted to find a main street – where restaurants are, so we went to walking around – we found ourselves in the slums with everyone watching us and probably being puzzled as to what are we doing here – they only see tourists during carnival – but, we also could pass for trini’s so no one bothered us. We just looked like the trini’s on the other side – the side were it wasn’t slums LOL. Sooooo this cab driver ended up picking us up and reprimanded us for walking on that side of town (which was literally two blocks from our hotel by the way) and drove us to where we wanted to go and recommended places for nightclubs. We ended up eating and doing hookah for a little bit while people watching and then came back to get ready to go out to the clurb – Rossco’s *insert side eye here*. So – we get into Rossco’s – which we had to pay $100TT to get in – 1st red flag, but we heard this club was ‘bumpin’ – the term they use for EVERYTHING. So, we went in. IT’S FULL OF TEENAGERS! We spend no more than 30 min in this joint, just enough to feel like we got our $15USD worth lol. We come out of the club and people on the street tell us that we shouldn’t be in there because it’s for teens. UGHHHH so, we took that 'L' for that night at the club. WAH
Next morning, we went to Maracas Beach and did a city tour of Port Spain. This was fun, but the tour guide TALKED YOUR HEAD OFF LOL. She was a nice little German lady with a trini accent lol. Anyway the beach was BEAUTIFUL!!! It’s far from Port of Spain – so you definitely need to rent a car or go on tour to get there. The interesting thing about this beach is that they sell SHARK at the beach. No, literally! You can eat shark in sandwich form at the beach. Lol. Signs for BAKE ‘N SHARK are EVERYWHERE. Bake (is fried bread). The beach was a nice experience. Also in this tour we learned how to play the steel drums – YAYYYYYY SO FUN! Like who gets to do that! So cool! When we got back to the hotel, we ‘limed’ – term trini’s use for ‘chillin’. Then we got ready to go to a food tour. This tour was out of my comfort zone as we all know, I’m a very picky eater and trying new things aren’t really my thing food wise lol. Think I tried that shark? Nope. LOL. Anyway, on this food tour we tried doubles (amazing), corn soup (even more amazing), pholourie (even better – this was my favorite – it’s like chick pea balls), and a bunch of other ‘tings. Great experience and the tour guide was able to work with my dietary requirements – no pork and he was funny and showed us around more than just food. Great! :) So, after that, we went back to this Hilton and got ready to REALLY GO OUT THIS TIME! LOL we found ourselves at an adult club this time – Paprikatt. We had fun! There was this live singer that was trying to impersonate Rihanna all night. Hilarious! But the Caribbean vibe was flowing and even some of our US songs came through as well. Everyone was vibing – great night.
Next day, was a hoot! We went zip lining. They have this cool zip line where your last zip will be overlooking the water and you can literally see Venezuela from Trinidad during this zip. Venezuela is just 7 miles away via water. Crazy! After the zip lining we went to the trini buffet for lunch and then went hiking. OH MY GAWDDDDDDDD! This was both crazy and exciting lol. I’ve been hiking in quite a few places. But, this was some real man v wild activity. The route wasn’t planned beforehand. It was made up as we went. I almost fell to my death a good 4 times and I left with thousands of fire ant bites and bruises to show for it. LOL But the adventure was fun. My sister and cousin did cliff jumping here too – me, I watched lol. Oh yea, this was the first time I peed in the wild lol behind some bushes – when you have to go, you gotta go! Sorry - too much INFO lol. Anyway, so when we found our way back to the car, we went to Las Cuevas Beach – even more beautiful than Maracas, especially at sunset. We were stunned :). On the way back to the hotel, I made the tour guide take us to McDonald’s since nowhere sells roti on a Sunday in Port of Spain, which is what I wanted to eat, but McDonald’s would do – I thought. MANNNNNNN he takes me through the drive through and everything I attempted to order was out. Hey um let me get a chicken sandwich – we’re out, chicken tenders – we’re out, filet o fish – we’re out, chicken nuggets – how many you want? We don’t have much LOL Like what McDonald’s has ever said that to you ahahahahahhahah! So, I got chicken nuggets and usually when I try McDonald’s from a different country it tastes different. Not Trinidad, tastes just like our good ole American McDonald’s lol. Aye! Anyway, after that he took us to the hotel and I showered and crashed – I’m sure they wanted to go out and I was being a grandma all sore, bruise and bit up, I just wanted to sleep. Sorry girlsssss LOL. The next day, was our last day, we just had breakfast and shopped for souvenirs in the downtown area.
Port of Spain was an experience for sure. Lol lots of emotions for this whole place. Angry, happy, excited, scared, bored, overwhelmed. Just a bunch of feelings lol. We didn’t get a chance to go to Tobago because the ferries were broken and all of the flights going to Tobago was filled due to it being their holiday weekend. Which was Indian Arrival Day. They have a billion national holidays they celebrate and they don’t go to work for all of them LOL. I liked how we kind of fit in there because of our ethnicity but they are very diverse and appreciate all cultures. I’d like to go back to see Tobago and see what a carnival is like. Nonetheless, this trip was definitely memorable!!!! :) Until next time – peace!!!! Trini dem gyals are outtttt lol.
