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Steply!

Arrived by ferry at Tortola, British Virgin Islands!

Only got three days here. I thought I'd have up to thirty days.

Small place, basically like the USVI but a somewhat more British accent, and somewhat different population and geography.

Like the USVI, BVI is scenic but not of much other interest to me. Now prepping to leave ASAP!

Kind of fun to have so short a time to find another place!

[Ed.: Also kind of not.]

I made up a word that seems to match the Caribbean, and my schedule:

Exactlyish (adj.): At precisely the appointed time, more or less.

Out of battery, found a café to charge up. Had a bacon butty with HP sauce. Bland. Get me to the French Caribbean!

By the way, I can't count the number of times I've thought to myself recently: I can't wait to get to Venezuela!

I'm feeling like an experienced traveler.

Reciting my recent countries at yet another immigrations officer.

Struggling to book another ticket, things going wrong again.

Hanging out at different transportation stations.

I think it's a normal part of travel, or anything really, for things to seem to be going all wrong for a while. It's important to keep at it, working towards success.

Things come and go in waves.

The southern Caribbean islands are next. There are several different island groups. I started in the northwestern ones, near the US, which happen to be the larger countries. I've worked my way down through much of the mid-Caribbean. Now I'm looking to get to the southern islands, near South America. Not going to every island, I feel like I've had a taste of the culture and geography of the main island groups.

The locals in BVI often seem rude to me, but some visitors and immigrants have been quite nice.

I now have a ticket to Guadeloupe. Hoping I get in, and a decent duration of stay!

Got a lift much of the way through the rain, to Beef Island, BVI.

Camped out right near the airport!

In the morning, went in.

I still haven't received the final confirmation of the ticket from the vendor. I'm getting nervous, but excited to (probably) get out of here!

There was a chicken walking around the airport, and now I've seen a cat walking inside the terminal!

Got to the counter before they had started checking in my flight. The woman let me through anyways!

Relieved, I went through security. They complained about my wet, dirty camping gear. Still, I got through.

While waiting at the gate, one of the staff came and asked me to go back to check-in.

There, they asked if I had a return ticket. I explained that I was going to ferry to other islands.

They told me that I couldn't take the camping gear as a carry on, so I had to repack it with my other checked-in baggage. They also said that I couldn't board without a return ticket. They asked where I had a reservation. Then they had to make a phone call.

After a nervous wait, the woman came back. She said that the place where I had a reservation didn't even exist! I said that it did, and showed her the reservation on my phone. Meanwhile, I had repacked my stuff, with some tape and assistance from the staff.

Finally, after some more questions, she let me through again!

After she reprinted my boarding pass, she had to load the repacked luggage. It was too heavy, she said. I lifted it up to show her. She asked me to put it on the conveyor belt. So I hopped over the scale, behind the counters, and loaded my luggage onto the belt!

Flew through stops in Sint Maarten and Antigua and Barbuda, to Guadeloupe!

The planes had nice aromas, not sure if they added those, or if I just sat near people wearing perfumes on all flights.

When I landed, It was late, I didn't see any messages from the place where I had a reservation, nor did I see any shuttle buses, so I decided to camp by the airport!

Jusqu'a maintenant, j'adore Guadeloupe!!!!!

Les personnes me parraient plus gentilles, respectueuses, interesantes, belles, et plus.

Le pais aussi me parrait beau.

Presque parfait!

Je veux voir plus!

Je doix pratiquer mon francais.

Il y'a des signales pour les activités de vélo!

Beacoups de cyclistes qui vont passant!!!!!

Je suis en amour, son nom est Guadeloupe!