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Outside the Resort is a travel blog where we share our family's experiences and tips from our travels around the world. Hopefully our firsthand experience can help you plan your own adventures, particularly ones where you stay and play outside the resort.
We update Outside the Resort regularly, at least once a week. Sometimes, we may post more frequently if we have a lot to share, or less frequently if we are traveling or busy with other projects.
At this time, we are not accepting guest posts or contributions to Outside the Resort. However, we appreciate feedback and suggestions for future blog posts or topics to cover. In the future, as the site grows, we may look into guest posting.
That is a tough one. The Caribbean holds a special place in our hearts. But we do tend to seek out islands with a variety of activites - beach, jungle, history, hiking, to name a few. Good food is a very welcome plus. The French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe fulfills all of these very well.
Every island has something unique to offer. If you are looking for absolutely pristine white sand beaches and beautiful water you can't go wrong with the Bahamas or Turks and Caicos. The snorkeling is a plus. But they have less variety of activities to offer than the jungle islands like Puerto Rico, Guedeloupe, Martinique, Dominica, or Roatan. We love swimming in jungle waterfalls. For the best food we adore the French inspiration on St. Lucia, Guadeloupe, Martinique, St. Martin, and St. Barts. Every island we have been to has fascinating history to experience.
The first consideration should always be what you want to do. Are you looking to relax on the beach? Do you want some outdoor adventure? Historical experiences? Do you want to be with other tourists? Or get away from the crowds? A combination of any of these? Then think about how much you are willing to spend, and how flexible your travel dates are. Flights and accommodation prices can vary greatly between destinations and times of year.
Lots and lots of research. Hopefully we can be a helpful part of that process and give you some good ideas and a starting point. Please reach out if you need help finding other information and sources.
Lots and lots of research and planning. And communication. We have found the right balance of downtime and activities is crucial. Staying in the right place with easy access to water helps a lot. We make our expectations for their behavior clear as well and make clear exactly what we will be doing so they know what to expect. Starting to adventure with them when they were young was helpful. They just didn't know any differently. And let's be honest - there is a lot of screen time during car and airplane travel. We have found that our kids pick up on our energy; so if we are nervous or anxious they are too. When we exude joy and fun, even in less than ideal circumstances, we all come away with wonderful memories.
Being flexible in travel dates and destinations makes a huge difference. We like to look at Google Flights and find the cheapest dates on the calendar and then see if we can make those dates work. Or if we can't be as flexible with the dates we look up any and all destinations we are remotely interested in to see which is the cheapest for that timeframe. Signing up for fare alerts for bucket list locations can help you be in the know for the best time to travel. Flying midweek helps a lot too. We use airline credit cards that give us free checked bags and companions fares; and we use miles to purchase tickets as well. Staying outside the resorts, having a kitchen where we can cook some meals, are other ways we make it work. Some places that have expensive flights have super cheap accommodations and vice versa.
Plan for the worst and then live for the best! Also, be flexible. What can seem like a disappointment can turn into a grand adventure and precious memory with the right attitude. Make sure to book all of your activities and accommodations through reputable sources. We have found people to be very understanding and responsive. Make sure you have a good map. We have personally contributed to Apple Maps and OpenStreetMap in our travels. They are improving all the time and routing is possible in more and more locations all of the time.
Yes! We would love to help. Reach out anytime with any questions and we will do what we can.
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