Bridgetown, Barbados, is a beautiful place full of rich culture and warm weather, unlike the frigid rain Charlotte hasexperienced lately. The island in the heart of the West Indies is a popular destination for those looking to thaw out in the middle of winter, and people hail from all over the world. Subsequently, there are a lot of things to do as a tourist here in the land that gave the world the gorgeous pop singer, Rihanna. Here are some of my recommendations.

Take in a sunset overlooking the water: The pink coral sand, the quiet sea breeze, white noise from the waves on the shore, the blueness of the water - they all make this a spectacular sunset spot. Some of my travel companions reported seeing the green flash, a split second of green light that flashes before your eyes as the sun dips below the surface as it hits the blue water.

It's easy to feel centered and happy when taking in a Barbados sunset. There are a lot of places that offer epic sunsets - this one is in my top 10.

Visit Harrison's Cave: This cave, hundreds of thousands of years old, features stalactites, stalagmites and other curious structures that have been slowly forming since the creation of the island. The cave itself is developed now, and tours are offered on the hour during most of the day.

Barbados is a hot, tropical place. One of the best parts about taking a cave tour is the opportunity to not only feel young and small in the presence of such old ecological structures, but it get out of the sun for a while. People of all ages will enjoy this. As it turns out, Earth science is cool in more ways than one.

Sip rum punch, Rasta-style: This stuff is everywhere in the Caribbean, and it's no wonder everyone is so chillaxed. The fruit juice and rum seems to simply melt cares away. This is a great drink to sip while taking in the amazing sunset mentioned above. Mount Gay Rum is made here, so if you like rum, be sure to pick up acomplimentary red Solo cup of this. It's free or next to free almost everywhere and often is accompanied by lovely, exotic-sounding reggae.

What not to do: There's really only one thing I would not recommend, and that's to take the Jolly Roger Sunset dinner cruise. It's just not worth the money or the time. This "sunset" cruise leaves the port well after sunset and while the pre-dinner, on-shore entertainment is hilarious, subsidizing everyone else's drinking means eating shitty, low-quality food on a paper plate on your lap. It just isn't fun. And, what's worse, you leave the ship basically deaf from the blasting, cheesy noncultural music. "Gangnam Style"? Really? There's nothing to see and nothing Caribbean about it. It's a touristtrap.

I wound up camping out in a tiny corner of the ship as far away from the music as possible because the music was so loud that it made my eardrums ache. This would have been a great cruise in 1977 if I was under age and wanted to get wasted, but frankly, at $75 a head, this is a huge rip-off. I don't usually disparage businesses in reviews, butthis gets an F-. You're better off taking that $75 and spending it on something else.

All in all, Bridgetown is a lovely island with really nice people. If you're keen on taking the family somewhere relatively inexpensive (compared to the rest of the Caribbean), direct flights from Miami come in often and this is the place for you.

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Zero, zilch, none and no part of this post is sponsored by any of the above mentioned company or companies, nor would I ever present such a thing.