Our first long haul trip without the children

My husband and I found ourselves in that glorious position of being able to go on holiday on our own.

The children are all grown up and left home, so this would obviously mean it will be super cheap. So we thought ?? ……………… We started our holiday search with a few days in the Canary Islands to a week in Greece and we ended up booking ten nights in Antigua.

We went in November 2022; it was less expensive than December due to the weather being a little up and down. We decided on the Royalton Hotel. It had plenty of bars and restaurants a beautiful private beach, only a 30-minute transfer and entertainment in the evening if we felt like joining in. We always go somewhere with a gym and fitness classes. I always take my gym clothes, which seem to be the only ones that come back clean! The hotel overlooks a bay and the sea, so we reserved a room at the end of floor 6 with a partial view of the bay and a sea view.

As the holiday was fast approaching, I went on my annual diet to try and lose a little weight to put it back on whilst in Antigua. My husband and I started our holiday countdown a week before, by drinking wine on school nights and convincing ourselves that takeaways were the best option so we could avoid going shopping and wasting food. All the weight I lost as normal was back on before we left the UK ????

On arrival at the resort, we were met with beautiful smiles, a well-deserved cocktail and headed down to the beach. The beach was beautiful, the bay was calm and the views were stunning.

The most important part of our holidays is always the food! We had a selection of restaurants to choose from: The buffet restaurant – standard buffet serving pizza, salads, and pasta and each evening would have a theme. The seafood restaurant- not much seafood but the food was lovely, and the menu was varied. Caribbean restaurant – this was my favourite; I had some excellent fish with delightful Caribbean flavours. Italian Restaurant – we were given some lovely focaccia with oil and vinegar to start, and the pasta was perfect. Steak restaurant – this was always the busiest restaurant. We did not try it but judging by the number of people queuing; we presumed it was good. Coffee shop – excellent for your first coffee of the day; they also served pastries. Sports bar and grill – serving American fast food.

So there are plenty of places to choose from. But, unfortunately, you could only prebook if you were a Diamond Club member. You had to arrive and wait for a table, but they operated a buzzer system, so we could go for a drink while we waited. We managed to get into all the restaurants we wanted to try with no more than an hour’s wait. The Italian and Caribbean restaurants overlooked the bay and were the perfect setting for a romantic dinner for two.

Where did we visit? We met a lovely man named Frenchie on the beach who sold us a wonderful Catamaran 360-degree circumnavigation tour of the island. We stopped for some amazing snorkelling opportunities, ate some fantastic food and did a good job polishing off the rum punch. The boat was not overcrowded, the staff were friendly, and the views were stunning.

Frenchie also told us about the Antiguan Independence Day event. We took a taxi down to the event; we watched some cricket walked around the vast array of food stalls, and decided on freshly grilled lobster. The event continued into the evening with live music and a big party. I highly recommend it to everyone visiting Antigua at this time, even if you do not like cricket. The atmosphere was amazing.

Unfortunately, the weather was not kind to us, so we could not visit the Sunday night barbeque up at Shirley Heights. There is live music, food and a beautiful sunset. I will definitely be going on my next visit. We had a lovely holiday and a few wet days, but it did not ruin it for us. I do not enjoy the going home part of any holiday. However, I suggest you try the sushi at the airport. It was the best Sushi I have ever tasted??