Mr. Topp and the Big Bad Blog

Travel can be hazardous. While we might like to poke a bit of fun at the questions that we are asked when crossing international boundaries, these are moments where something can go horribly wrong and your plans can fall apart in an instant.

On one end of the spectrum, you can find yourself thrown in prison and charged with a crime. For instance, doing something as innocent as packing a poppy seed bagel to eat on your trip might get you a four-year jail term in Dubai. At the other end of the spectrum is the simple denied entry. For these reasons, before travel you should always review the rules for the country (or countries) to which you are travelling, no matter how many times you have visited previously.

This was driven home to me this week, in a quite personal manner. My mother and step-father have been spending a lot of time in Switzerland lately — they had rented an apartment there, and we spent Christmas with them there. They had just taken a short trip back to Canada, and after their return to Switzerland I received this e-mail from my mother:

Well – we arrived safely in Zurich this morning, and I am now back in Bern, BUT – Tom is in JAIL~! Or rather, being held at the Zurich airport by the security police for at least one more day.

The cause of this is the Schengen Agreement. In previous trips to Switzerland, the country had not signed the agreement, which provides a set of shared entry rules for European states. But on signing it in late 2008, the rules for entering Switzerland changed. And my parents, who were acting on information from time spent living there a decade earlier, were left out in the cold. Or one of them was stuck at the airport while they figured out what to do.

Being the nearest (non-Schengen) port in a storm, Karen and I now have some surprise guests while the issues are sorted out. If you see a dip in blogging, you now know why — the room from which I blog has been transformed into a temporary bedroom.

Borders, it seems, can interfere with blogs too.

Previously on To Saint Lucia …

Part One – We get stuck in Miami.
Part Two – The Fond Doux Holiday Plantation.
Part Three – The beach.
Part Four – Castries.

Welcome to the final chapter in the To Saint Lucia series. We have covered the vast majority of the holiday, leaving just one major event.

On the first morning of our holiday, I proposed. Karen laughed.

Then she said yes.

Previously on To Saint Lucia: Our intrepid couple attempted to make it all the way to St Lucia, but were instead stranded in Miami. Later, in part two, they arrive in Saint Lucia and explore the Fond Doux vacation plantation. Part three brought us to the beach.

And now for the exciting penultimate episode of To Saint Lucia …

The highlights of a Caribbean holiday are evident, and already visited. We stayed at a resort and we visited the beach. But Karen and I refused to visit a country and never visit a city in that country. So we decided to take a taxi across the country one day and visit the capital city Castries.

NOT Castries

As Castries is on the north part of the island, and Fond Doux in the south, it meant crossing the country completely. When we arrived, Castries was not what we expected.

There were — as we had been told to expect — three cruise ships in port. If you have never seen a cruise ship, it might be impossible to properly relate the size of the things. They are, quite literally, giant hotels that float. Thousands of passengers had flooded out of them, and were eagerly buying things in the nearby duty free shops and marketplace.

Karen and I wandered around these, and through the small town — less than half the size of Kingston, Ontario, where I grew up. There was little of note outside the area that catered to tourists who visited on the cruise ships, and when they began to move out of the harbour just after four in the afternoon, the entire city shut down. The shops and restaurants closed, and we were forced to find a local bar and drink rum until our taxi arrived to bring us back to the resort.

Yes. Forced to drink rum. Life is hard.

Forced! Look:

Previously on To St Lucia: In part one, our vacationers get stuck in Miami en route to their final destination. In part two they make it to their resort.

Although our resort was inland, it did not deprive us of a beach. Instead, it offered a free shuttle to the beach of a nearby resort. While the shuttle was actually a taxi, and only free until four in the afternoon (thus either requiring us to pay, or miss the sunset), it was a holiday in the sun, so Karen and I took advantage several times.

The beach itself was absolutely gorgeous. Between the two Pitons on the Caribbean coast, it was an idyllic location, with an uncrowded beach — which might have had something to do with Karen and I having beat the tourist season by appearing a few weeks early.