Antigua and Barbuda

Country Information:

Christopher Columbus came to Antigua in 1493 and the Spanish settlers grew sugarcane and tobacco there. It was colonized by the British in 1632 and remained a British possession until 1981.

Jim’s Perspectives:

In 1993, my wife (who I was then dating) and I took a cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Monarch of the Seas and we had a wonderful time. Went snorkeling and toured through the market in Martinique, and then went to a beach party in Antigua. The island of Antigua has the nickname “The island of 365 beaches” because they have so many beautiful beaches. And I can verify that we saw a few really pretty ones while there!

Our next stop was in St. Maarten and hung out on the beautiful beaches on the French side (in St. Martin). Note: I was so impressed by the beautiful beaches in St. Martin in 1993, that 4 years later I booked St. Martin for one of our stops on our honeymoon! Afterwards, our next stop was Barbados where we walked down their unspoiled white-sand beaches and checked out the caves.

Samoa

In tropical Samoa (known as Western Samoa until 1997), founded on New Year’s Day in 1962. About 191,000 people live here (2013), and the official languages are English and Samoan. Most Samoans are Christian, Catholic, or some other Christian denomination. Its main...

Vanuatu

Not my favorite destination in the Pacific, although I likely might’ve felt otherwise had the weather cooperated and I had been able to get to the rim of the famed Tanna Volcano, on which you can feel it rumbling with molten lava spitting from its cone. While it...

Central African Republic

At the waterfalls ... the only viable tourist site within 3 hours of Bangui Country Information: The capital of the Central African Republic is Bangui. There are approximately 6 million people living here. The official language of Central African Republic is French,...