So after spending nine months living in Colombia, the first order of business upon my return to The States was to…take another trip! A week after I came back from Cartagena I was off again. Woo hoo! But this time in a very different fashion. Trips abroad can differ dramatically depending on various factors including: the number and selection of people with whom you roll, the length of your stay, the type of accommodations (resort, hotel, apartment, the homes of locals, etc.), whether the destination is a tourist haven or generally more chartered waters for the average tourist, and how much money you’re willing and able to shell out while there. I realize that my six months of travel in 2014 included and range of trip types. The resort life is not my preferred type of travel experience if I actually care to know anything about a place (as discussed during my trip to Oaxaca, Mexico), but it can definitely serve a purpose. Sometimes you just want something easy, where things are laid out for you and you are there pretty much just to kick it. And I feel like group trips are best carried out in this fashion, particularly because I’m not really trying to coordinate or run around foreign spaces with hoards of people that will hinder my ability to have a particular kind of rich experience.

Me and my girls had gone on an OHPsalms (Hey TRP!) #travelfamily excursion the year before to Curaçao and in spite of some trepidations about joining a group of 100+ people we gave it a whirl and had a ball. We met some great folks, had some great jokes and left pretty stoked. We decided to roll again and island hop with the family to St. Maarten and Anguilla (we skipped the St. Barths option). There's a chunk of this trip that is LIBRO worthy but the rest I feel is done the most justice through pics and video. And these are some g-rated, sanitized pics as I tend to capture folks having a good time and I'm not sure if they want it blasted across the interweb. So full disclaimer: this is a post pretty much of me and my friends going hard having fun. Overall, it looked something like this...

Day 1: Off to St. Maarten! 

Day 2: Partyin' & bullshittin' at the resort in St. Maarten

Day 3: Off to Anguilla for the beach party!

Started rapping with the shuttle driver, Nil, from the ferry port and here he's talking about what happened on the island when President Obama was elected, as well as how constructing and purchasing homes typically work for local residents. I started taping because it was interesting to hear how the Obama presidency was celebrated by others from the diaspora. 

Day 4: The Booze Cruise and party on OHPsalms private island in Anguilla!

Day 4: St. Maarten poolside, town visit, the prom and last night! 

Day 5: Last morning in St. Maarten