A travel experience to St. Lucia

As the world

A look at what travel looks like now and how to do it safely Reopens

BY » Trevor Burton PHOTOGRAPHY BY » Trevor Burton

Fact: no cruise ship, resort or travel destination is going to put itself at risk of any guest becoming sick with COVID-19. That would be an economic disaster for them—kind of like a “going out of business strategy.” Because of that, the key approach to today’s travel and travel in the immediate future is this; gradually, safely, and wisely. 2020 was been brutal. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused many, too many, deaths, and sicknesses. It has taken away lives and, in many ways, has put people’s lives on hold throughout the world. Given all that, it may be trite to bemoan the fact that travel has been essentially shut down. However, people have missed it and we’ve missed it. There’s a huge pent-up demand. We couldn’t wait to get started.

A, much postponed, trip that we had planned to a resort in Saint Lucia is a great example of what you can expect as travel opens up. In a nutshell, you have to pay attention to details and pay very close attention to small details. We originally booked our trip to the Sandals® Resort in Saint Lucia before the world shut down in 2020. Since then, we or Sandals® postponed the trip numerous times. Finally, in March of this year, vaccinations in hand (or, more precisely, in our arms) we found a glimmer of light at the end of COVID19’s burdensome tunnel. Off we went.

Travel requirements

We went over all the requirements for the trip, deeply understood them and then completely neglected to pay attention to them. Shame on us, our assumption was that the world was back to normal and we could go on the trip just like in the “good old days.” Dumb assumption.

Detail number one; Saint Lucia requires everyone 18 years and older must be authorized to enter the country—kind of like an entry visa. Guests have to submit a Travel Registration on-line. We knew about this and then immediately forgot about it—the “good old days” mentality.

Detail number two; we knew that we had to have a negative COVID-19 test and, dutifully, went about procuring our tests. Small detail, major error.

The problem; we realized, the day before our flight, that we didn’t have our Travel Registrations. Panic set in and we went about registering. This included uploading a pdf version of our COVID-19 tests. One of us was successful—more on that later. My wife, Mary Ellen, was listed as “pending.”

So, off we went to stay at a hotel close to Charlotte-Douglas airport for an early flight the next day. Blissful, brimming with confidence and excitement. Then the sky fell in.

Part of the sky falling in was that we were denied boarding the flight due to Mary Ellen’s “pending” status. The silver lining behind the fallen sky was that pesky small detail that we didn’t pay close attention to—the COVID-19 test. When we got back home and tried to clear the pending Travel Registration, we got an e-mail back from Saint Lucia that they would not recognize an Antigen test, it had to be a PCR test. Pay very close attention to small details.

Silver linings

The silver lining was that if we had both cleared the registration requirement, we would have been denied entry in Saint Lucia due to having the wrong COVID-19 test. Not a good thing. The Travel Authorization system was not smart enough to recognize the type of test and airline boarding regulations required simply a test, not a specific kind of test. Disaster averted.

So, we quickly got the correct test and quickly gained our Travel Authorization. We lost a day, but we went on our way. Lesson learned? Don’t make any assumptions and, in a nutshell, pay attention to details and pay very close attention to small details.

Gradually, safely and wisely—just because we longed for a Caribbean sea breeze doesn’t mean we threw caution to the winds. We were very careful. Saint Lucia has strict COVID-19 health requirements—very strict. And we had to heed them. And Sandals® has requirements, too. All the numerous staff wore masks throughout our entire stay. Very reassuring but it made it difficult

when we asked people to smile for a photograph. Also, their cleaning regimen was, to say the least, very rigorous.

Our goal at Sandals® was simple, celebrate, a year later, Mary Ellen’s birthday. We spent a little over a week wining, dining, catching up on reading books and relaxing—not to mention enjoying those Caribbean sea breezes. Our dining was at some of the resort’s 12 restaurants—some beachside places and some more on the fine dining side. Simply put, being able to travel was an absolute blast.

Sandals® was the perfect place to come out of that COVID-19 tunnel. We like, very much, that the resort is all-inclusive. No annoying nickeland-diming that usually ends up inflating the total cost. In addition to inflating costs, it’s simply annoying to be constantly signing chits for everything—we signed just a few for some great bottles of wine. All we had to do relax and enjoy ourselves.

Know the resort precautions

was a burden but absolutely important. Sandals® has a “security bubble.” Guests are not allowed to wander outside of it. No private car hires, no private excursions. The only wandering was that authorized by the resort—gradually, safely, and wisely.

At the time we were there, in April, CDC regulations demanded that, to reenter the United States, we needed proof of a negative test for the nasty virus. Sandals® took care of it, easily, painlessly and efficiently. No problem, whatsoever.

So, the glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel is also a glimmer of hope. Travel is opening up —gradually, safely and wisely. Goody for us; travel is an integral part of our lives. Saint Lucia was a pure joy. It was a taste of travel freedom but with restrictions that will be, probably, around for a long time. That’s the safely and wisely part.

As the chanteuse, Stacey Kent, warbles, “I Wish I Could Go Traveling Again.” If you haven’t heard the song, check it out; it’s quite something. It kind of encompasses what we feel. As the old cliché goes, “2020 is hindsight”—good riddance.

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