Jaiya Lauren
- Jan 10, 2019
- 4 min read

Giving Island Gal Teasss

I SPENT CHRISTMAS IN PARADISE, and what kind of blogger friend would I be to not share the details with you all?

But First, Happy New Year!

To begin I want to put it out there that St. Thomas, St. Croix and St. John (The Virgin Islands) are U.S. territories. If you are a U.S. citizen all that you need to make a trip to these places happen is an I.D. and to book your ticket! No passport is needed, no need to worry about currency exchanges or worry about language barriers. I would recommend traveling to your U.S. owned islands if you are new to traveling internationally or just need locations to add to your list of travels. I just wanted to share that because of the many inquiring minds and questions I got as I posted on Instagram throughout my trip. I've also always known that so many Americans have no idea about their U.S. owned territories. These are places where you can invest in and travel to with no trouble. I want people to expose themselves to these opportunities right in our back yard.

Ok, now to the good stuff...

During the last full week of the year 2018 my mom and I took a trip to the U.S. Virgin Islands, St. Thomas, to be exact. Here is where my mother was born and raised majority of her childhood. This is also the place where my mother and father met as high school sweethearts. Even my older brother was born here. This is also the home to many of my family members presently and in the past. Our trip down was to visit family consisting of my aunt, cousins and my grandmother who was also visiting for the holidays. I was there for five days and I left feeling so full. I needed that trip more than I knew or ever anticipated. Keep scrolling for a recap!

Day 1: December 25th, 2018

This was a travel day that began at like four in the morning. We landed in St. Thomas around 3:15 ish and not much happened after. A cousin picked us up and showed us around just a little before taking us to our final destination where I was happily and eagerly greet by my cousins, auntie and nana. We ate Christmas dinner and in great Caribbean tradition the family had to get the domino games going and that's how we ended the night.

Day 2: December 26th, 2018

My family asked me what I wanted to do and I immediately said "beach"! So, we got ready and piled up in the jeep to go to Coki Point beach which was literally a hop and skip from the house. A good time I had and got some fire pictures for the gram per request of my friends. I think I did them justice. When I requested the beach I had all intentions of going full on swimming. I ended up snorkeling near the rocks and reefs by the shore and saw so many fish. It w as so relaxing and I did that for a strong 45 minutes to an hour. No pictures though because although my phone is "waterproof" i don't trust it, hence the quotation marks LOL.

Later that night... we took a sky ride up to Paradise Point, that over looks the entire harbor of St. Thomas and the downtown area, where we had dinner and had to take over the aux at DJ table with the best dance songs to get the party started because he had the restaurant snoringgg.

Day 3: December 27th, 2018

Day three was for memory lane. My mom took me to her old high school, her old neighborhood as well as my dad's, which were literally across the main road, how convenient? LOL and the beach her siblings and mom, my nana, would take them on Sundays to chill out and enjoy the day. We also played Bean Boozeled with my younger cousins which was so funny but also so ewww and if you now anything about that game then you'd completely understand where I'm coming from.

Day 4: December 28th, 2018

Day four was a shopping day. We got souvenir's for the family back home. I was on the hunt for a new gold anklet, but batted zero because of budget -_- On a positive note one of my cousins is such a socialite in these St. Thomas streets and got us free rum punch and pearl earrings along with free baked goods from another spot where he knew people. Main street is where the shopping goes on for many tourists and locals and its located on the waterfront of the harbor, so the aura while shopping is on point and such a vibe. We also visited the exact place where my grandmother and grandfather held their wedding reception. My NaNa was so hype to see this place again and it sure was beautiful.

Day 5: December 29th, 2018

On our last full day we took my mom out to see one of her best friends from high school. After that we drove up one of St. Thomas's tallest hills to experience the mountaintop view on the highest point of the island overlooking an amazing view of all three U.S. Virgin Islands. There was also much shopping to be done up there as well.

Later that night we had a family dinner night out at a waterfront restaurant where we once again had to get the party started and gave the DJ our phone to plug the aux up. Nonetheless we had a great night just enjoying each other's company and being ourselves no matter the weird looks we got LOL. One thing about my family is we're going to do us regardless. Ok?