It was close to a year ago my wife Lisa and I had just come back from a Mediterranean cruise and triedto decide where we would go next, neither of us have much money or come from money but…Travel isour one vice, the one thing we truly like to do. We looked around and decided on an all inclusive resortin St. Lucia,it just looked so beautiful we had to go. I am a very free person but I like to plan for tripsthat way when I get to where I am going I can relax, I started looking around on Trip advisor and suchand came across Real St. Lucia Tours,I threw off an e-mail and almost immediatelyJanusfromReal St. Lucia toursreplied we hit it off immediately and started talking about St. Lucia, the tours he offered,and the best part how much fun we we’re going to have.It was a long wait till St. Lucia, had a lot going on in my personal life butthe whole time still kept in contact with Janus.Finally April 4

rolls around we hop on our plane in Halifax, and flyHalifax to Toronto, Torontoto St. Lucia. As soon as I step off the plane I can tell everything about this trip wasgoing to be great, The Sun was shining, the Temperature was right, andTropical smells filled the air.

ED & LISA LUNDRIGAN

We were immediately treated to some of St. Lucia’s great Rum punchbefore being whisked away to our resort. As soon as we arrived at theresort it felt like we were royalty, our luggage was taken to our rooms; wewere given cold towels and a nicely chilled glass of Champagne.We got to our rooms and the first thing I did was contact Janus to be sureeverything was set for our tour the next day ,He said how happy he was wearrived ,and assured me everything was set , now it was time to just relax.We arrived on a Monday evening and the first night was awesome Monday night beach party at theresort , They had those Coconuts with the straws so you could drink the coconut milk(of course Iimmediately filled mine with rum) , tons of great food , and Fire Dancers for entertainment , way tostart the trip off right.The next morning I was up at 5:30 am as I was every morning after to go to thebeach , My wife would sleep and I would head to the beach to swim as the sun cameup , Those mornings were like true romance , the moments you remember when it’s just you and the world.At 9 am Janus sent one of his guides to get us , I see this great Toyota SUV pull up,slick looking the driver gets out , Cool looking kid , dressedsharp, He introduces himself as Stanis Cauzabon , again assoon as I met him I knew Janus had sent his #1 guy, I was right.Being who I am ,I wanted the Real St. Lucia and that is what I got, though thefirst stop I wanted to make was…of course the Rum Factory ,let’s just say by 10am I’m feelin’ fine. Haha.Get back on the road and Stanis pulls over gets back in the car with Fresh bananas, we all share themand…Best bananas ever. We spend the day just going through all these great little towns, through thevalley are, up the hillsides, seeing the Mountains. This place is so Lush green, sogorgeous, amazing views of the teal green ocean, just like you see in Postcardsand Magazines.Stanis is the Man he pulls over to this little bakery he knows ,comes back out withtwo loaves of piping hot fresh bread, he has one and the wife and I share one, Ican’t stop eating it, sooo… delicious, I am still thinking about the bread to thisday.We drive down the side of a hill and bang! What a view great Pitons right before our eyes, truly thisview is something to see. I only wish I would have taken a day to climb them.For Lunch he asks us what we want, of course I say Local, I don’ want to go to such a great place like St.Lucia and have burgers and French fries, I want local food, So Stanis takes us to one of his Favorite lunchtime Stops Gee’s, We all order the Chicken Roti. This thing was big and it was amazing, the smell of thefragrant Curry alone even before I bite into it made my mouth water, delicious.

After Lunch we head to theDrive in Volcano,and Mud baths. If your bodyand skin felt badly before get in the bath, it truly makes you feel like a million bucks.Feels like so much to do and see what a great day we headto the one of the waterfalls where we are able to swim, thisfeels great, nice cool but not cold water running over my head and down my back,truly an awesome way to relax.After the water fall Stanis mentions this great beach he knows of, I’m in, the wife’sin so we go. It’s at this awesome resort called Jalousie Plantation, get down to the beach and Stanis was right on the money , probably one of the prettiest beaches I have ever beentoo, white sugar sand, teal green water , Pitons, to one side, and a mountain tothe other , I’m not sure of too many places that can beat this.We end the day with just a bit of shopping and head back to our resort, at theend of the day I hadn’t spent the day with a tourguide, it was like we spent the day with an oldfriend, Stanis Cauzabon was an amazing guy, and I thank Janus for sendinghim.On Wednesday we head into Castries for a little shopping, get a cab drivernamed Hughlan this guy takes us in town and wait the whole time for us,then takes us back to the resort. We took the rest of the day to just relax onthe beach.Thursday we set out Snorkeling with the Resort boat, we go to Anse Cochonwhich means bay of Pigs , I love to snorkel I myself feel like a fish I could nevercome back up again, the colors of the fish, the coral , they were trulyelectrifying.Take some time again in the afternoon before we headed out on a sunset boatcruise, if you ever want to see one of the most stunning sunsets …this is the way to do it on a boat andSt. Lucia is the place to do it.Friday Morning we got toSt. Lucia’s smaller airport George CharlesI believe it was called and took off on a half hour Helicopter ride, feel like we have done it all now Land, Sea and Air. Another great way tosee the Island.In the evening our resort holds a Friday night Reggae street party , I was excitedthough admittedly ,I really wished I had been going to the Friday night fish Fry InSoufriere , I heard a lot of great things about it and really that’s where you get tosee the real culture, the real people, of St. Lucia. Anyway we stayed on the resortand although not what I wanted to do it was still a lot of fun, cool music, nice