A Caribbean Getaway...My Vacation to St Lucia.

Well hello again little corner of the internet!
I've been back from sunny St Lucia for exactly a week now and I wanted to share a couple of photos with you from my 10 day trip to this pretty little Caribbean island...

Luxury hot chocolate in Wetherspoons / Allure and snacks on the plane
The best continental breakfast ever! / We're off!

It began with trip to Gatwick to stay overnight in the Travelodge, before moseying around duty free at departures and eating the most delicious continental breakfast in Wetherspoons before embarking on an eight hour flight across the ocean. I was most impressed with British Airways' service - afternoon tea on the plane? Yes please! We were sitting in World Traveller Plus (i.e Premium Economy) and had ample leg room and lots of exciting entertainment to keep us occupied inflight. I was also lucky enough to be treated to a gorgeous Jo Malone perfume by my mum mid flight which significantly improved my inflight pamper routine!

Our little coral pink villa / Jacuzzi bath
Beautiful bedroom / Wet room style bathroom

We landed and took a transfer to our hotel which was at the opposite end of the island. St Lucia is teeny tiny - it only takes left than an hour and a half to get from the south to the north! The whole island is covered in lush tropical greenery, rainforest, banana and coco plantations (Hotel Chocolat even has a plantation and a hotel/restaurant on the island!) and the private homes of the St Lucian's are all painted in pretty pastel colours so as not to reflect the sun too much. They were so cute!

Our hotel was called Smugglers Cove Resort & Spa and it was beautiful, with numerous pools and it's own beach with lots of water sports. My Mama had upgraded us to lush little beach front villas to stay in for the whole trip, and we were treated to a queen sized bed, in room jacuzzi and lots and lots of space. We benefitted from being literally right in amongst all of the hotel action, with the buffet restaurant only a minute away, as well as the Piton Lounge (which had the best bar and wifi!) and the pools.

The beach from my cabana / Cocktail o'clock! / view from our terrace
Relaxing in my doughnut floatie / Wave after wave
Waterfall pool = lush!

The hotel was all inclusive so I indulged in a lot of rum punch, many pina coladas and glass after glass of Sprite (my most favourite fizzy drink of all time!). The food ranged from a buffet restaurant with a different theme every night, to Cafe Asia (a mix of lots of different Asian cuisine), an italian restaurant and a fish and jerk chicken restaurant situated on the water. There was also unlimited soft serve every day, a beach BBQ each lunchtime and an amazing buffet breakfast that served the best fresh fruit and pancakes. I cannot fault the food at this resort at all, we were very well fed indeed!

The best breakfast! / Doughnuts, pool water & palm trees
My little haul / Snack haul

St Lucia is the third Caribbean island I've been to, having visited Barbados and Antigua before, and it's definitely the most quaint. Everyone we met was so incredibly friendly and willing to help out (maybe a little too much so sometimes, especially the people we met at the Friday night street party we went to!), they made it such fun - especially the resort drivers who took us to the supermarket and shopping a number of times. In terms of shopping, St Lucia wasn't the best for me personally, I felt like I started to see the same old souvenirs wherever we went, but I did find a duty free MAC Cosmetics store as well as a small Milani stand in a shop named 'Beauty Supplies'. The majority of the products sold in the drugstores were things I can get in the UK and even the supermarkets were selling Waitrose branded items!

We did three excursions on the Island, one was a whale and dolphin watching experience which was such fun (even though I had to sit in the shade because I burned my back! Factor 30 is just not enough for my skin!) and although we didn't see any whales we did see a big pod of dolphins which were adorable and such show offs! Another excursion was an all day trip around the island in an open top jeep where we visited a cocoa plantation, two waterfalls, botanical gardens, a volcano and finished off the day with a catamaran trip back to Rodney Bay (where a majority of the shops and supermarkets were located north of the island). The final excursion was a trip to Castries, the capital of St Lucia, to visit the markets and experience the local way of life.

Disney, lying flat in the sky and drinks / Airport purchase
1st Course of 3 course meal! / My cabin seat

The weather was incredible and I've come back with a lovely tan! I was initially hesitant because September is right in the middle of the rainy season, but it only rained on our final day and we still went in the pool and sea anyway. We then had to dry off and catch our plane, which involved another transfer back down to the south of the island, and then a magical upgrade to Club World (business class) on the aeroplane with a lie flat bed. Now that's one way to travel home in style...!

All in all, it was a lovely little break away and I'd recommend anyone to go and visit St Lucia if you're up for a good time. Our resort was beautiful, not luxurious, but worth a visit if you're after a resort that has everything you're going to need in one space. I would say that it'd be worth it if you paid to upgrade your rooms like we did to get the most out of Smugglers Cove, but there are plenty of other resorts on the island if ours is not to your taste!

I'm already planning my next vacation, hopefully a mini city break to Paris in the near future, followed by Las Vegas and back to Florida in 2016. I've been bitten by the travelling bug again, and cannot wait to jet away to somewhere new...!

Have you ever been to the Caribbean?
Where has been your favourite holiday destination you've travelled to? I need ideas!