How to rock a 4 hour layover in Barbados!

One of the best things about travelling in the islands can be a stopover or even a lengthy delay. Now if your flight is delayed by 2 hours, then you wont have much hope of doing anything but waiting in a generally crappy Caribbean airport. However, if you have about 5-6 hours between segments, then you can leave the airport and head to the beach for some swimming and maybe a couple drinks.

Think about it … why stay in the airport when great sand and beaches are simply a 10 minute taxi ride away? As it stood, I had a couple hours in Barbados and there are a couple reasons why hopping to the beach in Barbados is a good idea … aside from the fact that it is Barbados :

  • Taxis from the airport are cheap – if you walk outside the airport, you can be at Hastings for as little as $3USD in maxi taxi.
  • Barbados is safe and no one will try to rob you upfront unlike Jamaica or Trinidad
  • People are actually really friendly upfront in Barbados unlike Jamaica or Trinidad – there is no culture of fear or suspicion.
  • Did I mention a beach in Barbados … see below

So if you have 4 hours to kill in the airport in Barbados … here is a sample plan.

  • Head to any hotel and ask if they will keep your bag in storage for you. I happened to use my Marriott Platinum status at the Courtyard Marriott – Bridgetown – simply showing the card got me fantastic service. They offered me storage for my bag, a travel bag and a beach towel to use, along with use of their facilities … for FREE!!
    • Note : I only went to the Courtyard with the expectation that they would treat a Marriott Platinum this way … but I assume that you can try this at any hotel but the Accra Beach Hotel – since they wanted to charge me 25$USD to store my bag – they can “haul dey ass“. I’ll be writing a “nice” note on Travelocity … you can bet!
  • From dropping your bags off, take a wander along the boardwalk from Hastings to Rockley Beach. There are a couple bars along the boardwalk … the water is phenomenal and the sand is awesome.

Walking along the boardwalk is awesome in the sun with the water at your beck and call, with a police presence patrolling the boardwalk … you don’t have to worry about anything else!

Finally, at Rockley Beach … head over to one of the stalls and grab a cold one … or 6 … tell Tara at the “De Rock Beach Bar” I sent ya!

About Rishiray

Rishi Sankar is a Cloud HRMS Project Manager/ Solution Architect. Over the past 15+ years, he has managed to combine his overwhelming wanderlust with a desire to stay employed, resulting in continuing stints with 3 major consulting firms (IBM, Deloitte, Accenture). He documents his adventures around the world on "Ah Trini Travelogue" with pictures and stories from the road/tuk-tuk/camel/rickshaw. You can follow him on Twitter at @rishiray and on Facebook at "Ah Trini Travelogue . He doesn't like Chicken Curry but loves Curry Chicken and is always trying to find the perfect Trinidadian roti on the road. He also doesn't like cheese and kittens ... and definitely not together. E-mail from his blog is appreciated like a 35 yr old Balvenie at rishi@rishiray.com