Travels Information

During our six and a half year circumnavigation in Dolphin Spirit we visited 56 countries and ate in 50 of them. The only time we were ever sick was after eating at a McDonalds in Egypt - that exotic food will get you every time.

In fact that bit about exotic food is totally untrue. After having lived and worked in more than 100 countries over more than 30 years, I have had food poisoning just three times, the above incident being the second. The third was in France where I dined one night on fish soup followed by fish in puff pastry.

I attribute my survival to one simple rule - eat the food of the country you are in. In Sudan I ate lamb tartare (minced raw lamb) regularly, with occasional side dishes of sheep eyes and testicles, and suffered no ill effects. When in Brazil, I ate lamb tartare at an Arab restaurant, and spent the next two days unable to leave a bathroom. That was the first food poisoning, and the one from which I developed the “eat local” rule.

In the south of Columbia we stopped for lunch at a roadside “restaurant.” An open drain ran through the middle of the dirt floor under the open-sided thatch roof. Chickens, dogs and children chased around the few tables, which had the beneficial effect of keeping the clouds of flies in constant motion. We ate steak, well done, with boiled yams, washed down by beer directly from the can, with no problems.

Which brings me to the first codicil to the rule - grilled meat, well done, and boiled, skin-on vegetables, can be eaten anywhere. Unless you have seen the steak cut off the just killed beast and placed on the grill, then rare is an invitation to disaster, outside of the better restaurants in the cities. If refrigeration is rare, then the meat should not be.

During a visit to Asmara, the Eritrean capital, by good fortune we stumbled into a room reserved for locals. It had weapons and game heads on the walls, low tables, stools and couches each covered with an individual baby goat skin - a wonderful ambience. Dinner was a four foot diameter platter, lined with pancake like sour bread, and covered with heaps of various local dishes, all meat, mostly goat. Correct procedure was to tear off a piece of bread and scoop up some food with it, all with the right hand of course, as the left is reserved for more intimate cleaning functions. Left-handed me had some etiquette problems.

That introduces the second codicil - learn the local customs in advance. In Taiwan, when you are asked to pick the snake you want to eat from out of a slithering heap, just go ahead and pick one. After cooking and smothering in delicious sauces, it will taste just like the delicious sauces, and you know it is fresh. It is perfectly okay to decline to drink the warm snake blood you will be offered, but very bad form to not select the snake.

I have eaten almost every type of meat there is from rat to elephant and turned down only a few. Raw monkey brains is not something I even like to be in the same room as, particularly when they are still attached to the monkey. For some reason, I cannot stand rabbit - yes, I comfortably eat rat, snake and flying fox, but won’t eat rabbit.

Travel is about broadening knowledge and gaining new experiences and this includes experimenting with new foods. In other countries there are hundreds of fruits and vegetables with tastes that range from bland to delicious and which are never seen in the US. So, even if the thought of eating meat that may not have come out of a US supermarket is revolting, try a new fruit a day. Do remember to eat only fruit you have peeled yourself, never pre-cut, pre-peeled or un-peeled.

Oh, yes, I was poisoned a fourth time, through eating an already cut watermelon I bought at an Indonesian market to quench my thirst. Break the rules and you will be punished, even if they are your own rules.

Article by Lawrence Pane
Lawrence Pane circumnavigated with his wife and young son, and his expertise in the areas of sailing, cruising and travel, expressed through two books, numerous magazine articles and very popular seminars, has informed, assisted and entertained a wide audience of sailors and non-sailors. Visit Chasing Sunsets to enjoy the photos, buy the books, and check up on coming seminars.

If you want a good idea for a great family vacation spot in Barbados, then why not check out the Pirate’s Inn at Christ Church in the south end of the island.

A Family Vacation Spot in Barbados isn’t really any different from anywhere else in the respect that it needs to be near enough to walk to a beach or beaches. There needs to be watersports plus proximity to golf, tennis, squash, and other dry land sports, and of course shops, restaurants, banks, and supermarkets. In addition there is the safety element both in and out of the water. Choose the Pirate’s Inn, and you will be more than satisfied on all these counts, which makes it the right spot for a great family vacation.

Another couple of points to make in that all the rooms have a kitchenette, which means there is a self catering option which is often much better for a family vacation, so you aren’t necessarily tied to meal times. Children get hungry and tired at the most inconvenient times in a hotel!!

The rooms in the Pirate’s Inn come as Studio Suites with a generous 360 square feet of space, or 1 bedroom apartments which are big enough for families. It is also fair to regard the Pirate’s Inn as a cheap hotel with an average price of around USD90 per night.

Guest satisfaction is high at this family vacation spot, and one of the main reasons given was that Pirate’s Inn is different to most hotels. Many guests feel almost paralyzed by inaction when they stay in a hotel. It’s like having the power of choice removed the second you walk through the door. What with meal times, and the almost sheep like behaviour of guests, with everyone doing what everyone else is doing. By comparison arrival at the Pirate’s Inn and the fact you can have a mobile phone issued to use, then the realization that you have a kitchenette opens up a world of possibilities, and so you view your holiday quite differently.

As an example you are now very much more likely to get out of the hotel and mingle with local people. You will be going quickly to the local supermarket, and realize immediately how much cheaper everything is there, from the booze to basic foodstuffs. Whilst not suggesting for one second you are going to eat in, at least you have another choice of what to do. Statistically you will eat out more, you will travel around more, and you will really appreciate how nice it is to return to Pirate’s Inn, instead of spending your entire holiday complaining about shortcomings in your family hotel, because you haven’t been anywhere, or seen anything.

This may seem like a rant, but sadly it is all too common with any family vacation spot if you are stuck with it because you have a meal deal. Even the best food in a hotel becomes repetitive after a week, but if it is prepaid or you are all inclusive, then you have to lump it.

Not so at the Pirate’s Inn, where you have a hotel with a great pool, perfectly located for anything you want to do.

The staff are warm and helpful, as well as being efficient, understanding and kind. You will be more than reassured by the high level of security with 24 hour staff on duty for this purpose. You won’t ever feel unsafe at night because the hotel is locked up and guards are there. For a relaxing family vacation spot you can’t really ask for more.

The cleanliness is also above reproach, so if you just continue to remind yourself that the Pirate’s Inn is a cheap hotel, and is not The Hilton, you should be well pleased with this as a family vacation idea.

Article by Andrew Watkins
Andrew Watkins is the owner of Barbados Vacation Spots as well as being a contributor on occasions to Worldwide Vacation Spots and he thinks it would be worth your while to check out Caribbean Vacation Spots especially any information you can find about Barbados.