Photo courtesy of Caerula Mar Resort.
Sarah Greaves-Gabbadon
The Points Guy
2020 definitely hasn’t been “business as usual.” So at first it seemed to me that spending the holidays as usual — gathered around my family’s South Florida Christmas tree — would be folly. Honestly, I’d rather not even try to force jollification in the midst of what is for me and for so many others a season of profound loss and uncertainty. Instead, deposit me on a beach in the Caribbean, where December 25 can come and go like any other day — mostly sunny with only a slight chance of showers, that is.
But I’m an only child and to skip spending the season with my parents (now in their ‘70s and 80s) who I adore and who live only an hour away just isn’t an option. As a travel writer who specializes in the Caribbean, the months since March have been tough, as the industry — and my work — ground to a halt.
But now, with almost every island reopened to U.S. visitors, the invitations to travel have started to trickle in. And after tentatively taking my first steps back to work in November by accepting an assignment to Grenada (which has no recorded COVID-19 deaths), I’m less ambivalent about what, for me, is essential travel.
So when, just before the holidays, I got an invitation to travel to a new boutique property in the Bahamas as a guest of the hotel, I accepted. It seemed like the perfect opportunity not only to get back to work but also to top up my intake of Vitamin C (for Caribbean!) before honoring my Christmas commitment to my parents.
Truth is, I’d always anticipated that the Bahamas would be the first place I’d visit once borders opened. It’s the closest Caribbean country to the U.S. (Bimini is a mere 50 miles away), so my time spent inflight (the segment of travel that makes me most nervous) would be minimized. Read more >>