Antigua and Barbuda

Brief History: 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.

Cuba

In 2017, went to Cuba with my son Kenan! We had such a blast traveling to this quirky and cool destination. Here was our itinerary with Cuba Adventures Travel: Day One: Took a private walking tour of Old Havana with our guide. Checked out the art, architecture,...

Indonesia

In Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. There are approximately 260,000,000 people living in Indonesia. The official language is Bahasa, but English, Dutch, and Javanese are also widely spoken. There are more than 700 hundred languages spoken in Indonesia! The majority...

Djibouti

Lake Assal, the lowest point in all of Africa Jim's Perspectives: Djibouti, uninterestingly, translated means "the pot" ... and this is one of those countries that is mostly unremarkable. It is a molten waste land: miles and miles and miles of nothing but black...