Tobago: A Travel Recap

We are back from our honeymoon! Kyle and I landed back in California on the 2nd of June, and we couldn’t be more happy. Although we had many wonderful experiences on this trip, we are so grateful to be back in our home town with friends, family, and our little apartment.

Tobago was wild. It was definitely one of those things that you do if you’re craving an adventure off the beaten track. It was rural, different, exciting, and quite an unforgettable experience.

I am not sure what I had expected from this trip, but there were many things that happened that I was not prepared for, and many things that I certainly did not expect. Things turned out to be thrilling, unexpected and touching at times. I must say, culture shock was a huge unexpected visitor to us on this trip. Thinking about it now, I am surprised I did not see it coming. In fact, it took quite a bit of talking and mental processing to recognize these feelings as culture shock. During the beginning of the trip I told Kyle that I felt something that I couldn’t put my fingers on it.

There was something about the people in this little village and something about the town itself, I think I explained it to Kyle as "something the locals all had on their faces, and in their step.” I felt it in the air when walking through the winding, hot streets. I felt as if everyone there knew something I didn’t. They knew I didn’t know. And for the life of me, I couldn’t figure it out.

Of course, after talking through it I realized that what I was feeling was, in fact, their culture. Their culture, their habits, social norms, shined through everything, and reflected in the way they acted. It gave them the spring in their step, and the light to their expressions. It was so different that what I was used to. And it was all fascinating.

After any length of time, being in a foreign country and not being prepared for culture shock can really lead to some deep homesickness and feelings of disorientation. During our time in Tobago, everything was so opposite from what I was accustomed to. And goodness, that was healthy. Seeing places and ways of life that are different from yours is incredibly crucial for any type of personal growth. Because you don’t only see things from one corner of the room anymore. You are able to get a taste of differences that make us unique, and begin to understand different perspectives, for the same life we are all living.

This little abandoned flower shop was right outside our house. Every morning we woke up to the sound of mangos dropping on the tin roof of this building, cars honking, and birds chirping. Crazy!

It is because of these differences, that your empathy for others grows, and you realize that some things that you fight your whole life trying to maintain or achieve, are just not as important to others, and what a perspective change that was. This whole trip was a trip of growth and learning new things. But it was also a trip of fun! Tobago will always hold that memory for me. With that in mind it only seemed right to make this post all about what we did, where we went, with a twist of the unexpected lessons, and the experiences.

If you’re planning a trip to Tobago, this might help you prepare a little bit. So here we go, first up-

Where we Stayed

We stayed in just one town on Tobago, during the whole trip. Although we visited multiple other towns, we had an Airbnb in Castara and we loved it! It was small but it was clean, the hosts were so friendly and we were about a 2 minute walk from the beach. Most importantly, our room had the luxury of air conditioning. Which is a luxury that we were so grateful for. I am not sure I would have had as much fun in 90 percent humidity and 90-95 degree heat (even at night). Our hosts were the nicest people, and had helped us on multiple occasions, in finding rides around the island, recommending places to go, and telephoning taxis. The name of our Airbnb was called Baywatch Apartments.

Locking up to head to the beach. Nice hat Kyle ;)

2. Recommended Hikes

One thing we did when we were there was hike! There were a few trails that we really enjoyed. After having coffee one morning, we decided to take a short hike to a waterfall nearby. While we had coffee and breakfast, we met a lady named Suzanne. She was visiting from Germany and was responsible for convincing us to take the hike, as she had just completed it the day before. She ended up coming along with us, and we started up the little road behind the coffee shop with nothing but the sweltering heat, and the overwhelming sounds of local bugs and critters (yikes!). We had so much fun, and we had some pictures taken once we reached the waterfall. On the way, we even saw a green lizard that was changing color as it ran from us. There were countless beetles, bugs, birds of all shapes and sizes, and Suzanne even mentioned she had spotted a snake hanging down from the trees the day before! (Um. No. Not for me, thanks)

That weird shadowing of light on our faces though. So damn flattering am I right?

The other hike we did was called Argyle’s hike, or Argyle’s waterfall. We took a day tour around the island where we made a pit stop to this trail we hiked up, as this was the biggest waterfall in Tobago. The trail was pretty easy and took us about 15 minutes there, and another 15 back. Once we got there, we even looked around for caiman in the water, but to our relief didn’t see any.

We took a lot of other mini trails and did a lot of walking while we were in Castara, but these hikes we would recommend to those planning a visit.

3. Favorite Dishes and Restaurants

Food was something that was a huge contributing factor to the level of culture shock. Although there were many dishes that I liked, being exposed to a whole new palette of flavors and textures for 10 days was a little challenging after a bit. All of that aside, there is so much we tried that we loved! A lot of what we ate was dependant on what was in season. As far as restaurants in Castara that were a favorite, one was the Carribean Kitchen which was connected to a resort on a hill, only a short walk from where our Airbnb was. One of the hosts/owners of this resort was called Porridge. Porridge was amazing! All of the staff and cooks were super casual and friendly, but Porridge was so kind and hospitable, even though we weren’t staying at this resort. He made sure to know all of his guests names, and their reasons for traveling. We must have come here every other night, if not every night. The food was just incredible and the people (not to mention the view!) made it irresistible. Some of our favorite memories of our whole honeymoon were here on this balcony, overlooking Castara Bay.

It was a dream.

Another great memorable place we went to was Cheno’s Coffee Shop (literally the only coffee shop in town). They had breakfast, a simple coffee menu, and a local pastry called coconut bake that was like a coconut scone? Not very sweet, but when it was warm and served with Pineapple Jam, it was like nothing I’ve ever tasted.

Two other restaurants we tried and loved, were a place up the road from out Airbnb called Ria’s Eating Palace, and a restaurant in Englishman’s Bay called Eula’s Restaurant and Souvenir Shop. The fish in both of these places were insane, and the people were, once again, so friendly!

4. Doubles

Now this dish gets its own spot on the list. Doubles is an Indian/Trinidadian street food dish, introduced to us by one of our drivers on our first day in Tobago. It consists of a curry of chickpeas, spices, and chili sauce topping. The curry is spooned into a tortilla-like bread, made from flour, turmeric, sugar, yeast, water, etc. You then pick it up and eat it before the curry spills out. They’re typically served in twos, and once you try them, you’ll be dreaming of them non-stop until you have them again.

Trust me, they don’t look appetizing.. but I am so glad I gave them a go! They were honestly, all I could think about. Please, promise me you’ll try them when if you visit Tobago?

Yes, they’re served from the back of a car. Vendors would travel around the towns and sell them until their batch of the day was gone. We made a special stop on our way back to the airport, just for one last pair of doubles. It was well worth it.

5. Our Favorite Beaches

By far the two favorite beaches we visited were Castara Bay (the beach that was 2 minutes away from our Airbnb) and Englishman’s Bay (the most beautiful beach in Tobago in our opinion). I would highly suggest you make a special visit to Englishman’s Bay. It was the typical ‘island beach view’ that we were hoping for. No one else there, aside from the older snorkeling couple down on the other end of the beach. We did some swimming, took a nap, ate some coconuts, and got some photos. Definitely some of our favorite memories.

Kyle walking in the distance carrying a big bamboo stick to try and knock down a coconut. He was successful.

We even stopped at a restaurant on this beach, where we had one of my favorite meals on the whole trip (Eula’s Restaurant and Souvenir Shop). The flavors were insane! We also picked up some homemade caramel coconut fudge at the counter on the way out.

Fried plantains, jackfruit salad, greens, rice and lentils, and the catch of the day.

Some views of Castara Beach.

6. What You Must Do

Just a quick recap here! All of the things listed above were so incredible! But this is just a small list to keep in mind, and make sure you do if you’re planning a visit.

Make sure you book a place to stay that has air conditioning. Looking back it was honestly the biggest relief to be greeted by cool air that wasn’t humid everytime we came home, or woke up. Especially if you’re not used to the humidity, being able to come home to a cool room to reset, sleep, or watch a movie, was something I would definitely recommend, and would not skimp on.
Make sure you have enough cash in the common currency! I feel like this is basic travel tips that only newbies need to be reminded of, but unfortunately this is a mistake we made on our very first day. Getting no sleep on many connecting flights does that to you. We thought we had enough cash after making a withdraw at the airport, but we made a mistake by paying with cash while stopping at the grocery store when we could have used our card. This made us not have enough to pay our taxi that was taking us to our Airbnb (rookie mistake!).
Luckily, our taxi driver was so kind and just drove us to an atm that didn’t actually end up work for our cards. THE. STRESS.
He was so sweet, he then just told us as long as we book him again and pay him the remaining amount then, he would just take us to our airbnb and we would be straight. Thank you, Kenneth!
But we definitely don’t recommend you try your luck. This is a mistake we’ll never make again.
Connect with the locals! Our Tobago experience would not be what it was if it wasn’t for all of the incredibly kind people who we encountered along the way. Talk to the owner of the coffee shop you visit. Ask him where his favorite place to eat is. Talk to the fishermen on the beach, while taking a walk. Ask them how their day was. Make a visit the restaurant down the road owned by the woman and her kids, and ask her where her favorite places in the town are.
The whole island is filled with such wonderful people that are so influential to Tobago and what makes it home to all who live there. So if you decide to make a visit, just connect.
Ask. Be kind. Explore.
And be prepared to be taken on an adventure of a lifetime. After all, that is what this honeymoon trip was.
A unforgettable and wild adventure.