2012: A Year in Travel: Part 3

Oh. Hi.

Please excuse a slight lull in scheduled programming. Festive over-eating, champagne drinking and bed-hopping (in the least interesting sense of the word possible) may have gotten in the way...

So where were we?

I remember - October:

In which I was lucky enough to visit my newly-relocated, and newly married, friends in the Cayman Islands. Grand Cayman, to be precise.

Despite the minor fact that Hurricane Sandy decided to start its progression through the Caribbean just as I arrived, it was a pretty freaking awesome week.

We ate, drank, played board games, swam and snorkelled our way around the entire island.

Oh. And we paid a little visit to Hell.

And did I mention there were cocktails?

November was largely spent watching Homeland, baking up a storm and fantasy trip planning

But in December I made another trip back across the Atlantic, to spend Christmas back in Suffolk with my family.

Not that I went straight there - en route from the airport I stopped in with my friend N and her adorable baby boy Noah. Then it was time for a belated 60th birthday present to my mum - a weekend spa-ing it up in Bath.

I finally got back to Suffolk just in time to hang with my favourite ladies, prop up the bar at my local pub, and learn some weapons-craft (more on that later...) before heading off to the Netherlands to see in 2013, Damnam Style (geddit? Yeah. Yeah. I know).

In case you ever wondered what the optimum number of people for a truly raucous dance party is, I can definitively provide that answer.

Eight.

So that's 2012 all wrapped up. Bring on 2013!

Luke vs food

One absolutely amazing thing about Cayman is how adorably tiny it is. Within 10 minutes of being picked up from the airport, we were parking at a beach-side bar and I was rummaging around for my bikini.

Within 20 minutes I'd shed my flight ensemble (leggings. Always leggings) for something more tropics-appropriate, and had a Dark and Stormy in hand. Nothing shouts 'Welcome to the Caribbean, Celia!' louder than rum, if you ask me.

Less than an hour after my delayed landing (actually that's a whole other subject. American Airlines, I HATE YOU) I was enjoying a late-night dip in the sea.

So by the time my first morning in Cayman rolled around, I was already in full holiday mode. And you know what's a really strong indicator of holiday mode? Morning drinking...

And some serious eating too, to be accurate.

The Westin Hotel, on Seven Mile Beach, offers a weekly all you can eat champagne brunch which is, or so I'm told, a staple of the island's social scene.

And all of us, but particularly my friend Luke, see the magic words 'All you can eat' as a challenge of sorts.

This is Luke:

This is Luke's first course:

I'll add a spoiler at this point, and mention that there were six more courses, one of which was a (very unseasonable) full roast dinner.

By the time we reached dessert and cheese, even Luke was flagging.

And all any of us were good for was an afternoon of beach-side lounging, some very lazy floating around in the sea and, for some of us (OK, fine - me) a little afternoon nap in the sand, before settling down to watch the sun set.

Cayman

When I booked my flights to Cayman, I was fully aware that visiting a Caribbean island during hurricane season (albeit the tail-end of the season) was a slightly high-risk choice.

But I still hadn't anticipated that Hurricane Sandy would be making its presence felt - strengthening and becoming a very serious proposition indeed as it headed for Jamaica, Cuba and Haiti and then up towards the east coast of America.

We were really lucky. Sandy only turned from a tropical storm into a hurricane as it moved further away from us, and, whereas some Caribbean islands were directly hit, with a high death toll in Cuba and Haiti, we just had some rather changeable weather, rather than any risk to our safety or to the island's infrastructure - and for that I am very grateful.

The day after I arrived, the normally tranquil Caribbean suddenly started to rival the Pacific in terms of rather intimidating waves, while freakishly sudden rainstorms drenched everything before moving on again just as quickly as they'd arrived.

The giant seas put the kibosh on a couple of the bigger activities we'd scheduled, including a snorkelling trip to Stingray City and a trial dive. But there's something very freeing about being on holiday with two of the people whose company you most enjoy, and feeling no pressure to run around being the World's Best Tourist.

Instead, our days tended to begin in leisurely fashion, with some midday beach action.

Then lunch - usually jerk anything.

Maybe some drinks. This, my friends, is a Mudslide. The low-calorie afternoon beverage of choice.

Then some afternoon swimming or snorkelling.

A little more beachside drinking.

And one last sunset swim.

If you're a big old geek like me, any rain-enforced breaks from the water can be easily filled with board games. And of course, catch-up chat with Fi and Luke, friends that I  used to see every day, and now might not get to hang out with for another year.

It was so amazing to see their new lives in the Caribbean, meet their new friends, pad around their fancy new home and see for myself how happy they are in chilled, friendly Cayman.

I'm also very, very grateful that Sandy largely bypassed us, and hopeful that it doesn't cause too much more damage before it runs its course.

Now I just need to work out when and how I can make it back for a return visit...

Holibobs: Cayman

One very good/very bad thing about hitting my late 20s is that gradually, lots of my favourite people have started to leave London life far behind.

My beloved friend S is happily ensconsed in Amsterdam, which I still think might actually be the world's coolest city. Two more of my friends are thinking about abandoning south London in favour of a spot of travelling in the new year.

And this summer, two of my old friends, former housemates (and most fiercely competitive Risk opponents) decamped to the Cayman Islands for a prolonged spell of Caribbean living.

I can't imagine why they would favour coral reefs and fresh seafood over the Victoria Line and Nando's. Ahem.

This is bad news (on a purely selfish level) because I'll be deprived of their company on future trips back to England. I might even have to find other Nando's companions.

But.

Los Angeles to Cayman really isn't very far at all, in the grand scheme of plane-hopping antics. So in a months' time I'll be jetting off for a few days of sun, sea, stingrays and Scrabble (see what I did there? Alliteration, baby!) in Grand Cayman.

It is entirely possible that I am counting down the days on my calendar in coloured pencil like the big old geek that I am...