Barbados

Country Information:

In the 1600s, Barbados was colonized by the Dutch and became one of the top producers of sugar in the Caribbean. Slaves were brought from West Africa to work in the sugarcane fields, mostly from Sierra Leone, Guinea, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Cameroon. Barbados was occupied by the British in 1627 and remained one of their colonies until 1961 and gained their independence in 1966.

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, 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.

Kosovo

Beautiful mountain vistas in Kosovo Downtown Prizren in Kosovo In 2015, we drove through much of Kosovo and overnighted in Prizren, a quaint and attractive historic city located on the banks of the Bistrica river, and on the slopes of the Šar Mountains in the southern...

Brunei

In 2016, I was incredibly fortunate to be in Brunei on its National Day, celebrating its (33rd) independence from Britain in 1984. Its downtown streets were lined with 33,000 members of the military and students from schools from all over the country. I got a...

Cambodia

Country Information: The capital of Cambodia is Phnom Penh. There are approximately 16 million people living here. The official language of Cambodia is Khmer. The majority of the population practices Theravada Buddhism. Major exports of the country include clothing,...