The Travelling Nutmeg: Trinbago I dey ya I

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Last year around this time, I booked a flight to Trinidad with my best friend. We hoped it would be a girls trip of sorts, exploring a country together, shopping, cute food and the like. The things they do on the gram. Of course, neither of us were new to Trinidad. We had aunties, uncles, cousins. In fact, I roamed the streets of Arima and Laventille (not so much) as a kid and have distinct memories of buying felt paper, pastries and school books in Port of Spain. I was quite excited to make some memories.

However, due to circumstances beyond our control, we had to cancel/postpone. Thankfully, Caribbean Airlines allows you to hold unto that credit for a year. And for general information, the deadline is the booking date, not the day of travel. So here we are in 2023, visiting sweet TnT,

As of 2021?, there's been 2 major airlines that we depend on for travel, Caribbean Airlines and the newly assimilated Inter Caribbean Airlines. I can't remember the last time ICA was on time for anything so that was never options. But CA turned out to be a huge let down, after waiting almost 2 hours for a maintenance checks to be completed, it was announced that we will be allowed to board. Of course by then, CA to Barbados was ready to leave and we had to wait on them. 

When I tell you the wait was the longer than the flight. I was up in the air for 10mins, when the pilot announced that we should prepare for landing. I was already enamored with the view coming into the country, cherished from a window seat not often used. It means I didn't get to explore the in-flight entertainment. But I was pleasantly surprised to see Sabrina feature in Caribbean Beat 176 July/August issue. In all my years of collecting and preserving those mags, there's never been a prouder moment.

As I mentioned before, this trip was created to use up some travel credit. It means the adventures are unfolding as I go. First I got to meet the parents of good brother of mine. Turns out they actually have Grenadian roots and it's such an amazing reminder of how integrated the Caribbean is. 

By afternoon, I was able to meet with my NZ sister and eat some Chinese food. The joints here are very much like ChopSticks but more variety. And that's expected in a country with at least one percent of Chinese descendants. I immediately noticed that as popular as Fruta is, many persons sold fresh juices that were well packaged and labelled, like the Bare Juice below.

Turn out the Chinese really run things. Instead of going to the bank, I got to change my money for 7.10 at a regular Mr. Wang. I've been picking up Cantonese, not Mandarin so no conversation from my end. But I can't wait to test a little more on the language when the opportunity presents itself.

This trip is gonna be fun!

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