Stephany Writes

Categories: Travel

Six Days in Ireland

Hello, my friends! I am back from my lovely Ireland “holiday” (as they say there, hehe) and it was filled with so many highlights. I could have spent another two weeks exploring the country, as there were so many places we missed like the Dingle Peninsula, Belfast, the Aran Islands, Cork, etc. It just means we need to make a trip back to Ireland someday, right?

I’ll be diving into trip recaps later this week, but before I do that, I thought it might be good to talk about some of the things I learned during my first international vacation:

1) Give me smaller countryside towns over busy cities.

My friend Amber told me that she much preferred the smaller Ireland towns over the big cities during her trip to Ireland a few years ago… and I kind of ignored her advice. (Oops!) But it’s good advice, especially for me since I get very overstimulated and overwhelmed easily by loud, chaotic environments. Like Dublin. With more than half a million in population, not to mention all the tourists (especially worse on Saturday as there was a cruise ship in port), it’s a very crowded city. I had some fairly epic meltdowns while we were in Dublin. Sometimes, it was because I got hangry and we couldn’t find a place to eat that had an empty table. Other times, it was because I got us lost on our way to a pub or museum even though I was using my phone’s GPS. I didn’t feel this way at all while we were in Galway or Kilkenny, which just means I’m not into the big city life. I’m glad I visited Dublin, but two days were more than enough for me.

2) Give me trains over cars.

So, here’s the truth: I didn’t drive in Ireland. While everyone I talked to about driving on the other side of the road told me it was easier than it looked, I was anxious about it. My anxiety ramped up when I arrived in Ireland and saw the driving IRL. It looked complicated and the drivers were more impatient than I expected (lots of honking!), so I made the decision to cancel our car reservation and take the train wherever we needed to go. It was the right call and I really enjoyed traveling by train! Although, I did make the expensive mistake of not getting off the train at a connection point on our way to Kilkenny. So, instead of getting off the train in Kildare to take another train into Kilkenny, we went all the way back to Dublin and had to buy another ticket (for a cool 56 euros) to Kilkenny from Dublin. Read the ticket email, Steph! Argh.

3) I get super stressed out when plans change.

I love itineraries and on this trip, I took the lead on planning our itinerary, checking in with my mom every few weeks to review it. And it was fun! I really, really enjoyed all of the planning – finding out what cities to visit, what places to see, what restaurants to eat at, etc.

And when our trip followed my itinerary line by line, I did fine. I had a very intricate itinerary, down to the exact restaurants to visit, and it made me feel comfortable as we traveled around Ireland. And then Dublin happened. We arrived in Dublin earlier than expected (Friday afternoon, not Friday evening), so that threw me for a loop in trying to find something to do that afternoon. (We ended up not doing anything.) Another change was recognizing that we needed to cancel our plans for our day in Belfast on Sunday, and instead spend another day in Dublin since we hadn’t seen half of the stuff on our sightseeing list (like Trinity College and the Book of Kells).

I’m not great at responding well when things change and I have to alter my expectations. It really stressed me out to continually adjust our itinerary in Dublin. I wish I was better at spontaneity and going with the flow, but that’s not one of my strengths. I’m working on it!

4) Restaurant culture in Ireland is vastly different than the U.S.

Okay, this is very dumb American of me because of course it is, you’re in an entirely different country, dummy. But hey, first international trip for me – I learned some stuff!

In a typical Irish pub (and in some restaurants), there’s no waiting around to be seated. Usually, you just have to pray you can find an open table. This is not totally unusual, as there are some bars and restaurants that operate similarly in America, but that’s usually during slow times. When the dinner rush starts, you usually wait for a table. Not in Ireland! You better hope you can find an empty chair or two somewhere around the pub to sit.

The serving culture is also a bit different because often, we would order at the bar and pay at the bar. Sometimes, we would have a dedicated server who would take our order and bring us our food, but it was very rare for them to drop off a check at the end of the meal. We typically had to go up to the bar, point to where we were sitting, and they could magically bring up our entire order that way.

Lastly, tipping! There is no real tipping culture in Ireland, something we learned during our second day, after noticing there was no place to add a tip on our receipt. Obviously, you can tip your server if you’d like and it’s standard to give a 10% tip rather than the 15-20% that is typical in American culture.

The more you know, right?!

5) Irish people are genuine, friendly, and helpful.

We had been told how nice and friendly Irish people were, but I was blown away by their genuine warmth. Every person we came across – from bus drivers and waitstaff to taxi drivers and locals – was so friendly and helpful. They never made me feel like a dumb American, and it really made my time in their country so much better.

And there you go – some of my biggest lessons learned after my first international trip. I’m happy to report that my anxiety stayed pretty even during the trip. I was worried that I would spend the whole time just wanting to be back home in my familiar environment and not fully immerse myself in Ireland and be present on this trip. That’s how I felt on my last big vacation, and I was hoping it wasn’t going to be my new norm. Thankfully, it wasn’t an issue. I remained present in each moment and was sad for the trip to come to an end. Hooray for that!

I’ll have my first two trip recaps up this week, talking about our first day in Ireland and our second day, where we took a tour of the Cliffs of Moher!

What’s something you learned on a recent trip you took?

Categories: Travel

What I’m Looking Forward to Next Week

You guysssss. We leave in THREE DAYS for Ireland! This weekend is going to be a busy one, too. I have brunch plans with friends along with game night with the family. And, oh yeah, I need to pack! I still need to do a Target run for snacks and some travel necessities, as well as make sure I have everything ready for my cat sitters next week (I’m having someone come every day to check on them). And I have a long list of cleaning tasks I need to do. Whew! We don’t leave until Monday afternoon so thankfully, we don’t have to rush out the door at, like, 5am or anything like that. But it will be a very busy, relatively nap-free weekend. 😉

Now, let’s talk a bit about Ireland itself and everything I’m looking forward to next week:

Spending a whole week with my mom

I love to travel with my mom (which is why we take a vacation together every year!) We travel so well together, although we have had some epic fights like the one time in Savannah where we both ended up storming off in separate directions after some angry shouting. Eek. But mostly, we get along! And she’s my safe place so it’s always nice to travel with someone I feel 100% comfortable with and I don’t have to be “on” with.

Visiting bookstores

Ireland has a celebrated literary history and I scoped out some of the best bookstores in Galway and Dublin to visit. I’m planning on visiting Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop in Galway and The Winding Stair and Hodges Figgis in Dublin.

Seeing the Cliffs of Moher

This was the non-negotiable experience on my Ireland to-do list. Originally, we thought about driving ourselves to the Cliffs, but I ended up finding a tour and I am really glad I did. It means we can sit back, relax, and enjoy being driven to-and-from the Cliffs (and some other interesting historic sites) and not worry about the logistics and driving. Yay!

Visiting centuries-old castles and historical sites

I am out of my mind excited to visit sites that are just bursting with history, like the Rock of Cashel, which dates back to the 12th century. And I am really, really excited for all the castles I’m going to see while I’m in Ireland, like Kilkenny Castle, which was built in 1195, and Dublin Castle, originally built in the 13th century. It’s going to blow my mind.

Learning how to drive on the other side of the road

Provided I don’t chicken out at the last minute! I’m sure I will be really nervous until I just get in the car and start driving. Everyone I’ve talked to about driving in Ireland says you get used to it quickly and I’ll be mostly driving on a motorway, so it shouldn’t be too difficult. Plus, I feel like if you can successfully drive in Tampa (or rush-hour Atlanta, which I’ve done before), then Ireland should be a breeze. That’s what I’m telling myself, at least.

Riding on a train

I feel like a child with this one, but I honestly do not know if I’ve ever ridden on a train that wasn’t in an amusement park. To be fair, one of those trains was the Hogwarts Express so it was one of the most special experiences of my life. 🙂 We’ll be riding a few trains while in Ireland, and I’m really excited about them! I can’t wait to sit back and watch the world go by on the train.

Spending my days exploring, not sitting in a cubicle

Listen, I love my job and I don’t mind the cubicle life. But I am really excited to get away from it for a full week. I cannot wait to put on my out-of-office auto-responder this afternoon and not come back to my office for thirteen days. I am excited to spend my days exploring Ireland, seeing new sights, and having new experiences. I’m looking forward to my only big decisions being where we’re going to eat and if we should visit that museum or tour that cathedral. I really need the reset and time away from work. Really, really.

Plane travel

Most of the travel I’ve done so far in my life is through cruise ships. I’ve been on a few planes: to and from Atlanta, to and from Puerto Rico, and to and from Asheville. But this will, by far, be my biggest flight to date. I’m nervous about the flight from New York to Ireland because it’s a 6.5-hour flight, at night, and I think I’ll spend a lot of time worrying about what happens once we arrive in Ireland. (I’m planning on taking melatonin before the plane takes off, so hopefully that will calm me down and help me sleep!) That said, I’m also really looking forward to the flights. I love airports and the hustle and bustle of them. I love flying itself; I’ve never been one to get very nervous about flights. And I don’t even mind all the waiting around that occurs with flying. To me, it’s all grand!

I’ll be taking the next two weeks off blogging. I’ll be back on May 13th to begin my Ireland recaps but I’ll be providing real-time updates via Instagram if you want to follow along!

Categories: Travel

Traveling While Anxious

I have generalized anxiety disorder and social anxiety, and I am a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP). Put all of these things together in one person, and, well, you get someone who finds traveling enormously difficult. As much as I love to travel and see new places, I also spend a lot of time worrying about it. So much so that I sometimes wonder if it’s even worth it. Is it worth feeling so anxious for this? Sometimes, I think it is, but not always.

For example, my last big trip was the seven-day cruise I took with my mom in May of last year. I have been on many cruises, as is well documented on this blog. But this cruise was different. I spent the entirety just wanting the trip to be over. I didn’t know it then, but I was entering a period of depression, and that’s most likely what led to feeling so anxious on the cruise. We had booked some more active excursions, too, including a zip-lining excursion in Honduras, and I was just so scared something terrible was going to happen to either my mom and me. (And, look, these are not irrational fears: on one cruise, my mom fell off her bike and down a ravine during an excursion and I broke my ankle during a hiking/zip-lining adventure.)

Thankfully, I have more tools at my disposal this time around. I’m on a higher dose of anxiety medication, I’m in therapy, and I know the warning signs to look out for. So I’m hoping my trip to Ireland will go much more smoothly, mentally, than my cruise last year.

Before I head off to the castles and cliffs of Ireland, however, I wanted to talk about some of the issues I experience as a generally anxious person. In doing so, I hope to normalize my anxiety and show others that the worries they have aren’t unique to them. You’re not alone in this. I promise. 🙂

Anxiety Issue #1: Worrying about something bad happening in the days leading up to the trip.

I started feeling this way last Friday, and I could immediately identify it for what it was: the age-old panic I always feel right before a vacation begins, the worry that something terrible is going to happen to either me or my mom and we won’t be able to go on our vacation. I start having to check in with my mom more frequently than usual, and I do it in a very odd way. Like, I’ll ask her a stupid question just to make sure she responds and that way, I know she’s alive. Last year before our cruise, I remember a morning where I checked in with her and didn’t get a response for hours. I was convinced something terrible had happened when, in reality, she had just had a busy morning full of meetings and didn’t have time to respond.

This constant worry can be so exhausting. I feel like I’m constantly on edge and it means I’m spending less time anticipating my trip and more time worrying about what could go wrong beforehand.

Anxiety Issue #2: Worrying about all the things that can go on wrong while on the trip.

Ah, yes. Not only do I worry about what could go wrong before the trip, but also all the terrible things that could happen while on the trip. Some of the things I’ve been worried about for Ireland:

  • Learning to drive on the other side of the road – I am very worried about this! But also excited, which is why I really want to do it. I want the experience of driving on the other side of the road. I have booked a car to take us from Galway to Kilkenny, and then from Kilkenny to Dublin (not all on the same day). But if my anxiety ratchets up too much, we can nix the car for the train. The car just gives us more flexibility and also allows us to stop at the Rock of Cashel on our way to Kilkenny.
  • Making it to the train station on time – Logistics are always a huge anxiety trigger for me. I’m always worried about being exactly where I need to be on time. As such, we’ll be getting to the train station at least 45 minutes before the train leaves so I’m not freaking out beforehand.
  • Getting caught up in customs – I don’t even know what I’m worried about with this. I’ve just never been through the process, so I get panicky about it from time to time.
  • Not scheduling enough downtime – Our days will be busy while we’re in Ireland because we only have six full days to see everything we want to see. We’re basically exploring a new town every day, so there won’t be a lot of downtime. However, there will be some long train rides and I don’t expect us to be out late at night. (Most mornings we need to be up by 7am, which will feel like 2am our time, so I expect many early nights.)

Those are some of my biggest worries and they really aren’t anything like my worries for my last cruise, where it was more like “will I die on this zipline excursion?!?!” And I have a plan in place for every worry, which eases some of my panic.

Anxiety Issue #3: Feeling uncomfortable in new settings.

This worry falls under: Traveling While Having Social Anxiety. Feeling uncomfortable in new settings is a hallmark of social anxiety, and I expect to feel a lot of that while I’m in Ireland. There will be loud pubs and a new bed to sleep in nearly every day and new sights to see. I’m going to feel very out of my element, and that’s not my favorite thing. And when I feel that way, the only thing I want is to be back home, in a familiar environment and in my comfy bed. That’s how I felt last year on my cruise, and I really do not want to feel this way in Ireland. I want to enjoy each day. I want to be present, not looking ahead to what’s next and how many days until I can be home.

I’m not exactly sure how I’m going to remain present during this trip, other than trying to be very mindful of my thoughts and journaling when I feel the anxiety creeping in.

***

So, that’s how my anxiety manifests in the days and weeks leading up to a vacation. There is a lot of anticipation and excitement, please don’t think there’s not! I can barely sleep at night because I’m so excited about what awaits me next week. I spend all of my free time looking up restaurants to visit in Ireland and have worn the hell out of my copy of Rick Steves Ireland. But I wanted to write all this out as a way to normalize it. This is just the way my brain operates; it doesn’t mean anything other than that. And, hopefully, if your brain operates similarly, you can take comfort knowing you’re not alone and we’re in this together.

What do you get anxious about before a trip?

Categories: Travel

Anna Maria Island, FL | A Beach Weekend

Our third annual girls’ weekend is in the books! We took a short getaway to Anna Maria Island, which is a sleepy little town an hour south of us. We stayed in a cute condo that was steps away from the beach, and it was actually a super chill weekend. Of course, considering the majority of us are introverts and all of us are major book nerds, it makes total sense that’s the kind of weekend we had.

We arrived on Friday and started our weekend by taking a walk on the beach (and our first group selfie!) and then ordering pizza. We played games, went back down to the beach to watch the sunset, and played some more games before calling it a night by 11 p.m.

The condo we stayed in slept eight – three bedrooms with queen beds and a pullout sofa in the living room. I took the pullout so I could sleep by myself (and because I’m self-conscious about my snoring) and also managed to wrangle six pillows for myself. I love sleeping with a ton of pillows and found four extra ones in the closets and had two friends graciously give me a pillow of theirs since they only wanted one. It was divine. I also took melatonin both nights to help me sleep since sleeping on vacation often isn’t easy for me, and that helped me get two great nights of sleep.

On Saturday, we were surprised by a clear forecast! The night before, I had looked at the weather and it showed 80% chance of rain all day, so we were prepared to spend the day inside. Two of my friends cooked breakfast for the group and then we packed up and headed down to the beach for the morning. It was a beautiful day and I spent it finishing the romance novel I was reading and chatting with my friends. I also ventured into the ocean for a bit, but the waves were crazy and kept knocking me down.

After a few hours on the beach, a few friends and I headed back to the condo where I rinsed off the sand and ate leftover pizza for lunch. When I found out my other friends had relocated to the pool, I couldn’t get my swimsuit back on fast enough. 🙂 I spent a few hours down at the pool, chatting and playing pseudo-volleyball.

Then I took a real shower and got somewhat ready for the evening. We went to a taqueria for dinner, and rode in style! While Anna Maria has a great trolley system, we decided to take the “monkey bus,” which is a free ride system that will take you anywhere you want around the island. (They ask for tips for the drivers.) It was a lot of fun and nice to be picked up and dropped off right where we wanted. The food at the taqueria was divine and I loved my tacos and most especially the tub of guacamole we ordered. 🙂 After dinner, we walked around the island for a while before stumbling on an ice cream shop. I mean, you have to have ice cream while you’re on the beach, right? Right. I ordered a chocolate chip brownie topped with ice cream and it was a very good decision.

We took the monkey bus back home, and this time it was a crazy ride, as they packed us in there. At one point, there were 20 of us crammed into a tiny bus! It was not the most fun for my friends with claustrophobia, but we tried to make the best of it. (I had to laugh, though, at everyone getting on the bus to go to dinner while we were coming back. Wild and crazy, that’s us!)

Once back at the condo, we had a little celebration for our bride-to-be, B., who is getting married in November. We popped champagne and took it down to the beach to watch the sunset.

Afterward, we went back to the condo to play some games, which I think was the highlight for all of us. We played a game that had all of us rolling on the floor with laughter, tears pouring from our eyes. It’s the kind of memory that makes me start giggling every time I remember it. 🙂 Those are the best kinds of moments.

Our last day was Sunday, and we had breakfast at the condo before taking a walk down the beach one last time. Then we just sat around the condo for a while, reminiscing about the weekend and making plans for our next girls’ trip (we’re thinking Boston next fall!). I feel so very grateful that I have these women in my life, women who make me a better person, and that we’re able to take this time together. I know it’s unusual for women in their thirties to have these kinds of weekends – they’re usually reserved for bachelorette parties – but it’s something we all prioritize because it’s important to us. We need these weekends together, and it’s amazing that this all started due to a book club that has morphed into something more than my wildest dreams. While we still meet every month for book club, we’re more than that. We’re best friends, confidantes, travel companions, and sounding boards.

I wish I could tell my younger self to be patient, that the friend group that I desired so badly would find me in time. And that what I imagined couldn’t come close to the magic that this group of girlfriends gives me on a daily basis.

Categories: Travel

Isla Roatan, Honduras | South Shore Zip-Line Adventures

Day 5 of our cruise was my moment of truth. It was the moment I had been worrying about for weeks and the anxiety came on strong that morning.

It was the day we would be zip-lining in Honduras, but more than that, we would be doing the first-ever forward-facing zip-line. To say I was nervous would be an understatement.

I had a really bad feeling about the day, but when you have anxiety, that usually means absolutely nothing. I had to remind myself, “Steph, you sometimes have a ‘bad feeling’ when driving to work. You can’t trust your bad feelings.” And I knew I couldn’t. I have bad feelings all the damn time, and nothing ever comes true. It’s just who I am as a person and I’m learning to accept it about me.

So, stomach churning, I got ready for the day in our cabin. We went to the lido deck for breakfast and then got off the ship and into Isla Roatan, an island off the northern coast of Honduras. We met up with our tour group and I started feeling a little bit better about the excursion, mostly because there were young kids in our group (the youngest was probably 8!) and because some of the other people mentioned that they were a little scared about the forward-facing zip-line. Whew… glad it’s not just me!

We made our way onto the bus that would take us to South Shore Zip-Line Adventures, where we would enjoy our excursion. It was a 45-minute drive to the park, but it went by fast as our tour guide told us all about life in Honduras. Some interesting facts:

  • Honduras has two official languages: English and Spanish
  • The last hurricane to hit the area was 1998. Hurricane Mitch came wailing onto the island, leaving a path of destruction in its wake. As if that wasn’t terrible enough, the hurricane went back into the ocean, gained strength, and hit the island for a second time. Can. You. Even. Imagine. It killed 7,000 people in Honduras alone. I dearly hope hurricanes stay out of their path from here on out.
  • High school students take classes in shifts: 7AM-12PM, 12:30PM-5:30PM, or 6PM-11PM. This was super interesting to me, and it made me wonder which shift I would want if I was a student in Honduras. Probably the first one!

Once we got to the park, we were told we could rent a locker for $5 to put our belongings for safekeeping. I opted to also leave my phone in my bag because I was too nervous about dropping it, which means I don’t have any photos of the forward-facing zip-line.

Anyway, we were suited up for this zip-line, which they adorably call the “Zuperman” because of the fact that you’re basically flying in the air like Superman when you take off. (Superman + zip-line = Zuperman!) It was basically like a full-body harness that allowed the guides to clip you in at various spots: your upper back, lower back, and around your legs.

My mom and I were last in the group to go, which means we got to see everyone else do it! That was really helpful for my nerves because I got to see everyone else make it to the next platform without dying! 😉

We got clipped into the harness and then off we went! And, guys, it was incredible. It’s so hard to describe how amazing it felt to fly through the air like this. And I think it was because of all the worrying I did beforehand that it felt even more awesome. Like, I had conquered this major fear and punched my anxiety in the teeth. It’s just another example I can turn to when my anxiety wants to rear its ugly head and tell me not to do something.

They have two Zuperman zip lines at South Shore, so it was fun to get to do it again! This time around, I wasn’t nervous at all… just incredibly excited to fly through the air for a second time. (Honestly, I wish I could have done another round of the Zupermans! They were just way too much fun.)

Once we were done with the Zuperman zip-lines, we boarded a bus and headed back to the top of the park where they took off our full-body harnesses and put on a regular zip-lining harness. This was my fifth time zip-lining, so I kinda felt like an old pro at it! We had to wait for another group to head out before we started, so there was some time and sit around and take pictures.

Oh, and at this moment the guides suggested bringing our phones along for zip-lining. They said that they would make sure we didn’t lose them, so I decided to trust them. Until my mom and I were standing at my locker and she kept telling me that I should just bring my phone because I “never drop it.” She kept repeating that phrase until I said, “Okay, you’ve totally jinxed me. We’re bringing your phone.” LOL. She has insurance on her phone and I don’t, so I figured it was a safer bet. (And spoiler alert, no phones were dropped during zip-lining!)

The next part of our excursion was the regular zip-lining and after conquering my fear of the Zuperman, I had no fear of this part. We would traverse eleven zip-lines, which is way more zip-lines than I’ve ever done on an excursion so it really felt as if we got our money’s worth. With some zip-lining excursions, I feel like I want to go back and do it all over again, but with this one, I felt pretty satisfied and tired and ready to be done by the time we came to the end.

Zip lines come in two forms: the ones that stop on their own and the ones that require the individual to slow themselves down using a glove. This one was the latter and I was a little concerned about it because I remember how difficult it was to stop the last time I had to use this method. This time, though, it was easy-peasy! I think the lines were easier to navigate and I got the hang of it pretty quickly.

And I just need to take a second to talk about the zip-line guides at South Shore. They are amazing. They just had a blast the entire time and made me feel super comfortable and safe. One of the guides even held my mom’s iPhone for the majority of the excursion and got some great pictures of us! I was so grateful to him for doing that.

This adventure was one for the record books, too, because not only was it my first time doing a forward-facing zip-line, but it was also my first time zip-lining upside down! The guides offered this option for one of the lines and I was the first one to volunteer to do it because when else am I going to get a chance to do something like that?! I felt completely safe because I was strapped in with another guide. He told me to let go and I did and there I was, zip-lining upside down through the jungle. WHAT. It was such a cool experience, made even better that the guide captured it all on my mom’s iPhone. (My mom also zip-lined upside down because she’s ridiculously cool like that.)

Anyway, I think it’s safe to say that South Shore Zip-Line in Honduras is my favorite zip-lining experience to date. There was very little hiking involved (just some stairs to navigate from time to time, but there was always a rail to hold onto) and all of the zip lines were so different and made each experience feel unique. I already know that I want to go back soon and do this adventure again.

After zip-lining, we boarded the same bus from before to go back up the mountain, but our excursion wasn’t over – nope, we still had a nature walk to do. It’s funny; I was actually more nervous about this than the normal zip-lining because it would involve some hiking and walking on suspension bridges. And the nature walk began by walking down 200+ steps, ack! I knew I held a lot of people up as I walked down those steps, holding on tightly to the rail and taking my time. Oh, well. I’ve learned my lesson and it’s that I cannot trust my feet. 🙂

Anyway, the nature walk was okay, but nothing spectacular. I wouldn’t have minded skipping it because I don’t feel as if I learned anything new and our tour guide was a little underwhelming. Plus, we had to climb up those 200+ steps at the end and I was not a fan of that, especially since my legs were tired.

All in all, though, I want to shout about this excursion from the rooftops. It was perfect and everything I wanted it to be. I’m so glad I faced my fear and did the forward-facing zip-line because it was an experience I’ll never forget. And I highly recommend South Shore Zip-Line if you’re ever in Isla Roatan and want to do something completely out of the ordinary.

South Shore Zip-Line Adventures offers various zip-lining and eco-park tours. They are the only zip-line company in Isla Roatan that is fully certified by the Association of Challenge Course Technology (ACCT), which means all of their zip-lines and gear undergo yearly inspections. It is located on the southwest tip of the island, just five minutes from West End and West Bay.