The trip of many changes... TRIP REPORT UPDATED 4/25 About This Page:

[Alaskan Mom]

your spa treatment with a full body massage and everything else sounded lovely! I really liked the Dumbo door decoration, very clever. Very rude about changing meeting time and not letting anyone know. I would have been a bit disgruntled.

[chezp]

Originally Posted by Alaskan Mom

your spa treatment with a full body massage and everything else sounded lovely! I really liked the Dumbo door decoration, very clever. Very rude about changing meeting time and not letting anyone know. I would have been a bit disgruntled.

A lot of people were....

[DH1]

Originally Posted by disney_duke

I'm curious about the acupuncture. Where exactly was she puncturing for sinuses, somewhere on the head, or elsewhere? Very nice that they could do that for him, thank goodness for that spa!

Cute doors on your way to the meeting place! Odd that they didn't tell you about the change in time to meet. They could have made an announcement I suppose.

Well believe it or not you strip off, yes I know seems strange when going for a sinus issue. Felt sorry for the girl seeing humpty dumpty (not the smallest of people), don’t worry I kept my modesty.

So with trepidation I laid down on the massage bed face down wondering what the hell I was doing worse what was she going to do? I need not have feared as she was very reassuring, showing me the needle and explaining all about the various sensor points around the body and just tapping into these points.

So with face buried into the cushioned toilet (the hole thing at the end of the bed) I awaited the first needle to be inserted into my back. Now this didn’t hurt just a slight irritation really, and I cannot remember how many I had in my back, legs and neck but it wasn’t as bad as I thought. I was then left for about twenty minutes so the magic needles did their stuff. Now I must admit this didn’t seem to do anything and I was thinking well that’s a waste of money.

She returned and removed them and I had to roll over (poor girl) so she could start on the front. Now this was a little different and some here did cause a twinge shall we say? I now had needles now in my arms, hands belly and top of my head.

Ok the worst bit was to come - the needles in my nose and face now that did hurt or perhaps I’m just a wimp. Anyhow now I must have been looking like pinhead man she left me again for twenty minutes.

Now this is where I could feel the magic work as I could feel my sinus draining and I could breathe, my eyes were watering and it was just a strange feeling. She returned and removed the needles and put a small one in my right ear with the words "just tap it and leave in for seven days" (remember that). I felt so much better and couldn’t believe that it worked, I felt 100% better than I felt before going in.

She did say with another 4 day course, she could really make some headway into sorting my sinuses but at $150 a pot, I said I would see how I got on. Ok the one in the ear... well that fell out in the shower two days later.

I would most definitely recommend this to anyone as it did the trick for me and perhaps if I'd had the other sessions, I might not have got sinus again when back at Disney...

[disney_duke]

Wow, that was quite the answer Mark. Thank you! One stayed in for two days?!? That’s a lot of needles indeed. Glad to hear it helped for awhile. It’s definitely an interesting way to clear the sinuses! And I’m totally reading it in your voice with laughter...

[SuperDave]

Glad the too of you enjoyed your spa treatments. Even better for Mark as this seemed to work for him. Too bad lunch was a bit disappointing for you but at least you had some great shrimp and desserts! Some nice photos of Antigua from the ship and I'm sure these will get better once you go ashore.

[Cam22]

The spa sessions sounded wonderful for both you. How unDisney about the time change on the excursion.

[chezp]

Originally Posted by disney_duke

Wow, that was quite the answer Mark.

Yes, it was - he wrote you a little essay there. He was reading it out to me and I was cringing at the references to the needles.... more detail than I can cope with!

Thank you! One stayed in for two days?!? That’s a lot of needles indeed. Glad to hear it helped for awhile. It’s definitely an interesting way to clear the sinuses! And I’m totally reading it in your voice with laughter...

Oh you should have heard him read it out loud!

[chezp]

Originally Posted by SuperDave

Glad the too of you enjoyed your spa treatments. Even better for Mark as this seemed to work for him. Too bad lunch was a bit disappointing for you but at least you had some great shrimp and desserts! Some nice photos of Antigua from the ship and I'm sure these will get better once you go ashore.

Hopefully.... lots more coming up anyway!

[chezp]

Originally Posted by Cam22

The spa sessions sounded wonderful for both you. How unDisney about the time change on the excursion.

Yes, that point was made to them in due course... but I'm getting ahead of myself.

[chezp]

Monday 15 January – part three: learning about and seeing Antigua

Eventually, we set off with our Elsa stickers on, relieved to finally get off the ship. There we met Christine and I thought I wouldn’t like her to begin with, as she made us all stand in pairs and it was like being treated as children. However, I soon warmed to her and she turned out to be an amazing guide.







We were accompanied out to the bus, running the gauntlet of traders, including one who after yelling quite a lot about what she was selling, asked if we spoke English. we do, it’s just none of us are interested.



We then boarded the bus and took our 40 minute ride across to the other side of the island.




No I wasn’t sure either…

If I remember right, this is the hospital…

… and you can see what these are!


Antigua is 108 square miles and Christine explained how they’d gained independence from Britain on 1 November 1981, but honestly it’s still got so much of Britain, it was amazing to see. They have the same road signs and when Christine explained about the education system, a lot of it is adopted from us. The legal drinking age is 18 and they still participate in the Queen’s Birthday and New Year’s Honours lists, which is how they have various Sirs and Dames out here.


A British road sign, albeit showing its age!

To give you a bit more history to the place, the island was first sighted in 1493 by Christopher Columbus and he named it Antigua after a church in Seville, his home, called Santa Maria de la Antigua. The British first established a settlement here in 1632 and it was the base for the British fleet in the Caribbean during the Anglo-French wars in the 17th and 18th centuries. It was briefly captured by the French in 1666, but that didn’t last long. The island then became a British sugar colony

We learnt about the various political leaders and who roads here are named after. The politics here hasn’t always been clean, let’s just say. Antigua’s first Prime Minister was Vere Cornwall “Papa” Bird and in 1994, he was succeeded by his son Lester. Critics claimed the family was corrupt, but despite all the rumours, they managed to hold on to power until 2004. Then the rumours became too strong and people decided they wanted a change.

Today St. John’s, where we’d arrived, is home to around 80,000 people and frankly the level of tourism is almost terrifying. You’re talking quarter of a million people by air (Virgin Atlantic run regular flights out here from Gatwick to give you an idea…) and more than half a million come in on cruise ships. When we got home, a friend of mine said she’d heard that when the cruise ships come in here, everyone turns out to try and get whatever they can and that does make sense, given our experiences.

Christine also talked to us about the education system. Good grief, they know how to deal with kids here. If you get involved with any violence at school, you’re suspended immediately for two weeks, regardless of whether it was your fault. You only get to come back if your parents agree to come in with you and you have to write a letter of apology to be read out in front of the whole school. We could do with some of that.

As we travelled along, she passed out examples of the local currency and I found it so weird that they were just like British currency with the Queen on. Well, I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised – we both have the same head of state.




Next: what spectacular views!

[disney_duke]

Some interesting sights on your bus ride. Caribbean islands’ histories all seem similar, yet they’re all different too.
I have to ask, what does that road sign mean anyway, an intersection is ahead?

[chezp]

Originally Posted by disney_duke

Some interesting sights on your bus ride. Caribbean islands’ histories all seem similar, yet they’re all different too.

I hear you on that. There's so much colonialism out there. Even the islands that are independent generally seemed to once be owned by the British, French or Dutch or at least so my guidebook to this part of the Caribbean told me anyway.

I have to ask, what does that road sign mean anyway, an intersection is ahead?

It does - it means major road (the vertical line) with a minor road intersecting it (the horizontal line).

[purplegal]

What interesting history with Britain, I don’t ever remember celebrating the Queen’s birthday in Canada, I do know the official date as my Dad’s birthday was the same day.

[cubfancolleen]

So do they speak the Queen’s English, or more of a patois?
I have such mixed feelings about the formerly colonized islands, and the tourist industry, and peddlers along the streets....very complicated....

[SuperDave]

Interesting beginning to your tour and amazing how much of a British influence there is on the island. Nice facts about the island and especially the disciplinary procedures in the schools. Definitely could use this in the U.S.