Tag / tourism

by mirvaonthemove

Get ready: Dirt cheap flights to the French Caribbean are comiiiiiiiing!

Last week I received an email from The Points Guy that said Norwegian Air was starting cheap flights from New York to the Caribbean in December.

“Hmm, that probably won’t impact my life in any major way,” I thought automatically. After all, the only Caribbean island that I fly regularly to is Guadeloupe, a relatively obscure and little-known island in the French West Indies. It seems to be the destination that all major airlines forgot even exists, and it can cost upwards of $700 to fly there from New York. Not cool, especially for me: I currently split my time between New York, Guadeloupe and Finland, as my work, love and family are in these three places, respectively – one of the dilemmas of being a globetrotter! 🙂

Here’s a picture from Gosier Island, off the coast of the “continent” of Guadeloupe (which is actually composed of two big islands together). You can be athletic and swim out to Ile du Gosier from the mainland in about 20 minutes, or take a quick boat for $3 roundtrip. Love that place!

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Sooooooo…. I opened The Points Guy’s chain email without much fanfare. You can only imagine how I felt when I read the blurb about these up-coming Caribbean flights.

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EEEEEEEEKKKKKKK!!!! I COULDN’T BELIEVE MY EYES!!! GUADELOUPE IS ON THAT SCHEDULE!!!

The thrice-weekly flights from NYC to Gwada are starting at just $79-$99 one-way, an incredible deal even from the world’s leading low-fare airline. This means Guadeloupe will go overnight from being just about the most expensive Caribbean destination to get to, to the being the cheapest. Whooooooooa!!! MAJOR NEWS!!

It turns out Norwegian chose Guadeloupe and Martinique because the airline can fly unlimited between the USA and the EU under the Open Skies agreement, and these new Caribbean destinations are officially part of the EU. Sneaky sneaky! As for now the flights are a winter trial, and the airline will see how they go before expanding their Caribbean service.

So get yourself over to Norwegian‘s website and grab some bargain fares to escape up-coming gloomy winter! The price doesn’t include checked-in luggage, so check out my tips for packing light.

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Aren’t those prices just crazyyyyy?? And those are for direct service! The flight only takes 4.5 hrs from NY to Pointe-a-Pitre. Incroyable! Being used to the $700-1000 roundtrips that require changing in Montreal, Miami or St. Martin and take all day (and sometimes require an overnight layover), this is pretty unbelievable.

Here are some more scenes from Ilet du Gosier to motivate you to book a trip before all those cheap fares are snatched:

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See you in the French West Indies! Let me know if you are interested in a tour of the islands – I’m thinking of starting small-group tours that show you the best of Guadeloupe within a few days for those on a tight schedule.

Au revoir!

by mirvaonthemove

Weekly Wednesday Video: A visit to a nursery school in The Gambia

About a month ago I posted a video from crossing the Sahara in Mauritania, inspired by fellow globetrotter Francis Tapon’s 3-year Africa trip. Well, now that Francis is about to enter the The Gambia, it’s only fitting to reminisce about my own visit to the tiny English-speaking sliver of land in West Africa. The country was the fifth and last destination on my West Africa tour last year (not counting my return to Senegal thereafter).

Gambia school

The Gambia is dubbed “The Smiling Coast,” which is funny since it only has about 35 kilometers (20 miles) of coast line. It’s Africa’s smallest nation, shaped like a crooked finger that protrudes into Senegal. Teeny it may be, but it’s still a crowd favorite: this year’s visitor numbers may amount to 180,000. Europeans flock to the Gambian beaches especially from November to March.

Initially I was hesitant to go to The Gambia – I had heard an awful lot about its reputation as a hotspot for female sex tourism. I thought I would need to fight off potential suitors with a stick, and as a solo female traveler, would be a prime target for the bumsters looking for a sugar momma.

Luckily the reality on the ground was much better than I feared. I visited in the off-season, so tourist hassle was at a minimum. Also, for most of my two weeks, I was Couchsurfing with locals and expats. I thus ended up having a pretty different experience to most tourists.

The highlight of my Gambia visit was getting to hang out at St. David Nursery School in Serrekunda, a private school for 3-6-year-olds. The father from my Gambian host family, Abdul, is the principal there, and his daughter Bintou is one of the professors. Bintou brought me along to school with her on three consecutive days, so I got to spend a lot of time in the company of the super energetic students. Whenever the kids saw me,  they exclaimed “Toubab!” (white person) and ran over to hug me. I felt like a movie star. 🙂

This week’s video shows the students going through their morning ritual and studying in math class. With 120 children in three rooms, the noise level at the small school was through the roof. I have no idea how the kids manage to learn anything in that environment, but they all seemed really smart and enthusiastic. Despite not having the best facilities, the were such happy campers. It was quite humbling.

If you’d like to donate money to the school, click here to learn more. The website is run by a German lady who sponsors St. David Nursery.