Well, I’m finally getting around to writing about my trip to Antigua in the West Indies. I’ve only been here for what, five days now? How can that even be possible? I don’t know.

Starting the trip off on only two hours of sleep was not ideal! But hey, you do what you’ve got to do. That took me a few days to overcome and get back to feeling human. (More about that later.)

We arrived in Antigua (AKA paradise) Tuesday afternoon around 4pm after two non-eventful flights. Non-eventful was a very good thing considering my husband and I were traveling with our 17-month-old on his first flight ever. (Not a bad place to take your first airplane ride to, eh?) I prepared for the worst, but hoped for the best. He did amazingly well. I think I got more antsy during our 5+ hours of flying time than he did. True story.

It was really nice to have my husband’s dad pick us up at the airport upon our arrival, and more importantly, just to see him in person instead of over a Skype connection. It was also very gracious of him to play taxi cab driver for us. We were all pretty exhausted from having to be up so early in preparation for a 6am departure that morning that we were starting to drag. We were ready to get to where we needed to be. We called the owner of our villa rental in Jolly Harbour to get directions and let her know that we were on our way.

It was really interesting to maneuver through rush hour traffic on our way to the villa. Are there any road rules here? And if so, does anyone adhere to them? (No and no!)

After a few missed turns, we found our way into Jolly Harbour. A marina, some small shops, a grocery store and restaurants paved the way to brightly colored villas dotted with happily swaying palm trees. We found our vacation-home-away-from-home and talked with the owner to get the rundown of what we needed to know during our time here. She has been wonderful to deal with from the very beginning, answering all of our questions and making sure our toddler had what he needed during his stay.

Our villa was just as we expected (we found it on VRBO.com). The two-level space was just what we needed and wanted. The harbor views are the crown jewel of the place. A nice sprawling back deck overlooking the water and leading to the boat dock is our favorite place to be. There’s also a balcony off the master bedroom on the second floor that echoes the same amazing views. Aaaahhhh! We were not disappointed.

As we were getting settled in, my husband’s sister also stopped by to say hello. We saw her last year in Florida for a short time, but it was really good to see her again. We all chatted a bit and caught up.

The rest of the evening was a blur, quite honestly. I think it consisted of getting settled in, getting an overtired toddler to sleep in a new place, and getting some sleep ourselves. It was a loooooooong day, but we were happy to be settled in and to begin our Antigua adventure.