Gourmet Grenadian ~ Boots Cuisine

February 5, 2015 by Candi Licence 4 Comments

Boots Cuisine serves gourmet Grenadian food and is a delightful restaurant in so many ways.

Michael and I love Grenadian food and like to try restaurants that specialize in local food. Last year, we discovered Boots Cuisine. I know I’ve written about how wonderful the Grenadian people are and Boots and his wife Ruby are fabulous examples of Grenadian graciousness. We were heading back from a photo shoot around 8:30 PM and were looking for a place to eat dinner. I called Boots Cuisine semi-expecting that a 9 PM arrival would be too late to be served and Ruby confirmed that yes it would be hard to give us a great meal so late and I said I’d call again. We called again on Sunday night and Boots answered the phone. When we asked if we could come to dinner, he said he was closed on Sundays but he would feed us if we were hungry and needed a place to eat. We laughed and said no, we would come back sometime when they were open. This is so typical of Grenadians – friendly, accommodating and sweet!

Boots and Ruby are the perfect restaurant couple. Boots is the chef extraordinaire and Ruby does all the behind the scenes work and is the hostess with the mostest!

Boots wielding his chef’s knife for the camera.

At the time, I didn’t realize that Boots is a master chef and prepares not just local food but gourmet local food so, of course he would need advance notice that we were coming. We made a reservation calling mid-afternoon and drove over for a fabulous dinner. If you are lucky, you might be the only guests there and have an unforgettable experience of a private dinner. Boots serves a five course dinner for 95 EC (Eastern Caribbean) dollars which is equivalent to about $35 per person. Dinner consists of a soup, a salad, an appetizer, homemade bread, 3 choices of entrees with lots of local vegetables and starches plus a desert. Boots serves some of the best local food on the island.

Lovely Ruby is the perfect server and does all the behind the scenes work so Boots can focus on his fabulous cooking. They are a great team.

Lovely Ruby is the perfect server and does all the behind the scenes work. She makes everything look easy.

We’ve been back to Boots Cuisine twice already this year and have plans for 2 or 3 more visits. We love to bring Grenadians to local restaurants that they haven’t dined at before and have some local friends we would like to delight. We will also have 2 or 3 sets of visitors coming on island and Boots Cuisine will be a must-do excursion. In many respects, Boots has a perfect restaurant. It is a small, intimate setting, set outside on a covered veranda with flowers all around, softly lit, has exceptional food (by Boots), beautiful presentation and gracious service (by Ruby). Boots and Ruby are so welcoming and fun to talk with, plus getting hugs when we arrive and leave (now that we are friends after being there once) is the proverbial icing on the cake that makes each visit special.

For our most recent visit, Boots served Callaloo Soup as a starter. Callaloo is somewhat similar to Spinach but shouldn’t be eaten raw. Cooked either as a vegetable or soup, it is wonderful ~ thick, creamy and delicious. Boots adds a little salt fish which adds a great seafood flavor. I’ve also had it spiced with Nutmeg and Butter which is also wonderful. After the soup, Ruby served Tettrie Fritters. Tettrie is a teeny, tiny fish that is eaten whole. Boots fries these up in a lovely batter and makes a wonderful dipping sauce. I’ve had these twice and have really loved them. After the fritters, Ruby serves a nice, fresh salad of local lettuces, sweet tomatoes, cucumbers and a homemade dressing. Grenadian tomatoes taste like how I remember sun ripened tomatoes tasting when I was growing up (before all the modifications to help them ship better, have longer shelf life but also less tasty and more mushy). They are small, sweet, firm and very flavorful. YUM!

The simple but delightful salad.

The Tettrie fritters and special sauce were fabulous.

The delicious Callaloo soup – a personal favorite

This is the Lobster entrée with Garlic Lime sauce ~ Fantastic!

All of Boots’ entrées sound fabulous. Here are some examples – Grilled Marlin, Garlic Lambi (Conch), Curried Chicken, Goat stew, Fried Fish in herb sauce, Boiled Lobster with Garlic Lime sauce. He offers three choices each evening and it is usually hard to decide which one to try because they all sound so great. The first visit this year, I had the Marlin and Michael had the Lambi ~ both were delicious. The second time we dined, we both had the Lobster and it was fabulous. Each entrée comes with a wide variety of small tastes of local vegetables and starches. Tastes may include Pumpkin (a local squash that is different from our Pumpkin), Dasheen, Coucou (similar to Polenta), Christophene (another squash that is great and a local favorite), Breadfruit, Plantain, Cassava, Pigeon Peas, etc. I love trying a taste of all these foods and seeing how Boots prepares them.

Our most recent dessert of Chocolate Mousse with fruit sauces and a sweet Pumpkin bread. Very decadent and good for you, I'm sure.

Our most recent dessert of Chocolate Mousse with fruit sauces and a sweet Pumpkin bread. Very decadent and good for you too, I’m sure.

Dessert is usually a sampler of 2 or 3 sweet things – could be a local ice cream, a sweet bread like Pumpkin bread or a Chocolate Mousse. As you should guess, each was delicious.

Oh, and I forgot their great Rum Punch. Ruby checked to see who was driving and said that person (me) could have two and Michael could have three. The drinks came in short glasses and I was thinking, only 2?, but after savoring both drinks, I realized Ruby was right. They packed a punch and I’m glad I didn’t have third. BUT, I may ask Michael to drive the next time ’cause they were so yummy!

Ruby loves orchids and grows a lovely selection of them and then makes beautiful centerpieces with them.

Ruby loves orchids, grows a lovely selection of them and then makes beautiful centerpieces with flowers from her garden.

Boots Cuisine is the kind of place I love to go with Michael alone for a wonderful, private dinner; to bring Grenadians who haven’t eaten there, to expose them to his great food and to bring our visitors so they can have a taste of Gourmet Grenadian food and experience first-hand the warmth of Boots and Ruby, unofficial ambassadors for the Grenadian people.

Our First Adventure ~ Welcome to Grenada

January 29, 2015 by Candi Licence 8 Comments

Winter, 1986 – Imagine landing in a third world country at 9:30 at night after traveling 12 hours on 3 airplanes, making 6 stops and finding the rental car you reserved nowhere in sight, the airport personnel turning off the lights and locking up as you stand, stranded at the curb. We are the last of the few people who arrived on the plane and everyone else has been picked up. Still no sign of the rental car that is supposed to be waiting for us. I walk back to the pay phone (no cell phones in those days) and try to call a taxi, squinting at the faded number scrawled on the phone booth wall – oh, and did I mention all the lights were off? Welcome to Grenada.

Now imagine a few minutes later – a gregarious taxi driver coming to our rescue, knowing how to get to where we were staying (later we would find out everyone knows everyone and everyplace) and dropping us at the driveway entrance where 3 yellow Labradors come bounding up to welcome us and the resort owner, Joe Gaylord, is following fast on their heels. He takes one good look at us, asks us if we’ve eaten (no) and tells us to leave our bags in the driveway, loads us into his car, and drives us to a restaurant close by. He introduces us to the owners and asks that they feed us even though it is now after 10 PM and they have stopped serving. Joe gives us his number and says to call him when we are finished and he’ll drive us home. Little did I know then that home is exactly what Grenada would become for us. Welcome to Grenada!

We have a GREAT meal, head back to the hotel and Joe escorts us to one of his small, sweet apartments. He’s already brought in our bags and shows us an extensive listing of food products that he has stocked in our kitchen. He says to look over the list in the morning and anything we don’t want will be picked up and we can pay him for the rest at the end of our stay. He’s bought everything we need for the next 2+ days and has added a quart of his famous homemade Rum Punch to welcome us. I’m enchanted.

8:00 AM the next morning (I think it was Sunday) and there’s a knock on the door. A contrite car rental person is standing in the doorway and is apologizing for not meeting us at the airport the night before. He thought we were coming in today. The taxi driver had evidently called him to let him know we had arrived and where we were staying. He had brought all the paperwork which we completed in the comfort of our living room – how bad is that? Welcome to friendly, accommodating Grenada.

Actually, it just keeps getting better. On Monday, we meet our housekeeper. She has cared for this particular apartment for over 10 years and I feel like I am a pampered guest in her home. She makes us breakfast, including fresh squeezed juice and a salad of local fruits AND lunch (I still remember the Pumpkin Soup) AND will cook dinner for us and place it in the refrigerator for us to heat up later. A few days later, we leave our sneakers (that are caked with thick, red rainforest mud) outside the apt. so we don’t track in the muck and a couple of hours later, they are in our closet and they are cleaner than when we arrived. The price for this apartment including housekeeping and cooking is $100 per night. Welcome to Grenada, our secret paradise.

Progress passed by and around Grenada. Even today, when we speak about Grenada, all most people know is that the US “invaded” Grenada in 1983 to help remove the Cuban influence that was overtaking the country. As a result (as you can well imagine) tourism slowed way back after 1983. This is good and bad. The bad is the economy suffered tremendously since all Caribbean islands depend desperately on tourism. The good is that Grenada has had a chance to see how tourism has developed on other islands and is trying to take a more measured approach to protect and highlight the beauty of the country. There is a rule that no building can be taller than a coconut tree that is being “tested” – it’s hard for a small, poor country to make too many demands of large international hotel chains who have a different vision and Grenada needs the money that tourism brings in. Still, they are working hard to preserve the old Caribbean feeling where they can.

When we first arrived, there were hardly any cars on the roads and all the locals walked everywhere. It was also very safe and so it felt OK to pick up people walking on the road. This was an unintended bonus for us. Grenadians are very friendly and want to show people their beautiful country. So, if we picked up someone who was walking to work and it normally took them 2 hours to get there but with us they’d arrive in 20 minutes, their thought was to use the hour and 40 minutes gained to take us to some off the beaten path to see something wonderful. We met many great people and saw many wonderful sights this way. The only “scary” time was when we were driving a local man to work who had a heavy accent – we both kept having to repeat ourselves, back and forth, as we tried to make ourselves understood. At the end of the ride, we dropped him off at the airport – He was an air traffic controller! YIKES!

I have two other great rider stories that have stayed with me all these years. One was when Michael and I picked up an elderly woman. She walked 3 hours, each way, every Sunday to visit with her sister. She had just started her journey when we pulled over and asked if she would like to be picked up. She said ‘Thank you’ about 100 times! The other was one morning when a small crowd of kids called out to us as they were going to school. We stopped to see what they needed and they all piled into the back seat of the car. We were frozen in fear – all these kids were under 8 years old and I wondered if we’d be arrested. We relaxed when a local man smiled and waved at us and the kids. Welcome to friendly, trusting Grenada.

There is a culture of friendliness here – everyone says hello to you and it is considered rude if you walk by someone and do not say hello. An English friend said that when she moved to Grenada, she realized that even if she was in a bad mood in the morning, that by the time she was greeted by everyone at the bus stop and then every person on the bus said good morning, that her mood had changed. Welcome to Grenadian friendliness.

Grenadians are proud of their country and are always ready to share it with visitors. One day, Michael stopped at a roadside stand for a ‘pop’. There was an older woman standing outside and, of course, they got into a conversation. 30 minutes later, Michael got back into the car with an invitation to her home the next day to meet her son who would show us the hidden Grenada. So the next day, we’re driving down a road to the town of Marquis, looking for a green house and asking for Eddie Calliste. And amazingly, we found it and him – of course, with a little help from our Grenadian friends.

Eddie took us out on a boat he rented that had a huge hole in the bottom that was stopped up with a large black plastic bag. Eddie assured us that it wouldn’t sink as long as one of us bailed as he rowed. The day was beautiful and the water was warm so I figured the worst that could happen is that it would sink and we’d swim to shore, so off we went. At one point, Eddie suddenly dove overboard. Michael and I just looked at each – Now what? Then Eddie surfaced with sea anemones that he cracked open for us to eat. Salty! Luscious! He got back into the boat, rowed us to a small island offshore and showed us how to capture lobsters in the rock crevices.

Later, we went ashore and he led us to a beautiful waterfall that could only be accessed by walking through the rainforest. Eddie was barefoot and as he walked, he kept cutting fruits for us – star apple, soursop and he “walked” up a tree truck to get us a fresh coconut. If the path was steep, he cut out footholds for us with his cutlass (machete). We got to the waterfall and he showed us how to fish for crayfish with metal cages and chicken necks and then Michael and Eddie swam right under the waterfall and got their heads pounded. I’ll need to dig up these pictures when we get back to the States and post them at some point in the future.

On the way back, Eddie pointed out spices to us. In addition to Lemongrass, and Bay leaves, he showed us Nutmeg. Nutmeg fruit looks similar in size and color to an Apricot with a soft fleshy fruit that has a nut shell in the middle. The shell is covered with red, lacy Mace and the Nutmeg is inside. Grenada harvests a third of the world’s Nutmeg and it is considered the best because it is so moist and fragrant. Eddie also cut a pieces of bark off a different tree and gave it to me to smell – it was fabulous – earthy, sensual and heady. My first thought was this would be a decadent perfume and I loved it so much that I had it under my nose the whole way back. Eddie called it Spice and when we got back to his house he pointed out some more Spice that was drying – it was Cinnamon! No matter how good you think Cinnamon smells dried or when it is in a tea, it pales in comparison to fresh Cinnamon. Someday I’m going to try to make a Cinnamon perfume. World watch out. Welcome to Grenada, the Spice Island.

There are so many more experiences that I could share with you, but this is a taste of why we love Grenada and the Grenadian people. And if you can come when we are on island, it would be our pleasure to welcome YOU to Grenada, our second home.

Making Home ~ Settling into our Villa in Woburn, Grenada

January 27, 2015 by Candi Licence 5 Comments

We are staying in Woburn this visit, a small fishing village on the southern coast of Grenada. I like Woburn. It’s big enough to have a couple of good local restaurants, small enough not to be too congested and well situated to be able to get into town or out to the country fairly quickly.

The entrance to Welcome Villa in the fishing village of Woburn, Grenada

The entrance to Welcome Villa, located in the fishing village of Woburn, Grenada. It truly is a welcoming home and I know we will be happy here.

The refreshing pool, with a wrap around deck, gazebo and the gorgeous view beyond.

The refreshing pool off the back porch, with a wrap around deck, a shaded gazebo and the gorgeous view beyond. Heavenly and a perfect place to ‘lime’!

We were looking for a nice house that had 3 bedrooms, a pool, air conditioning in the bedrooms, would accept a dog, hopefully have a good view and would fit our budget. Since we were coming to Grenada in high season, many of the places we’ve stayed at other times were out of our price range. Our good friend, Marion Pierre suggested we work with Terra Caribbean Realtors after my internet research and inquiries with a few local rental contacts came up short. Terra found two houses that met our criteria and financial range and, after getting more details, we decided on Welcome Villa. The pictures showed a clean, basic villa that had air conditioning in the master bedroom only, but should have good airflow. Depending on the temperature and how much wind there is, we often don’t use air conditioning down here anyway, but it’s a great backup if it gets really hot or still, especially for sleeping. A bonus is that the villa is fenced, so Mick has run of the house and yard anytime he wants.

The jaw dropping view from our back deck, looking west.

We arrived late Saturday night and woke up Sunday morning to this extraordinary view. YEAH! The house is actually bigger and better that we expected. The owners, a Brit couple, have done a good job. The house is nicely furnished with good couches and comfortable beds, has great appliances (which is NOT a given even, in high-end houses), and has all the basics that you’d need – a nice assortment of good towels, beach toys, coolers, etc. as well as spices and condiments, some liquor, suntan lotion, cleaning supplies, etc. The general rental rule is – if you use something then you replace it, which works fine. Having these basics makes it easy to settle in. Often, houses will be stripped of everything except one roll of toilet paper (even salt and pepper are missing) which means you must run out immediately to get every-little-thing to get settled. This allows us a little breathing room.

Since we were arriving so late on Saturday, Marion had the house stocked with basics like eggs, bread, some ham, cheese, butter, milk and a six-pack of Carib (the local beer) so we’d have food for breakfast and lunch the first day. We really appreciated Marion doing this for us as a special favor. This Caribbean custom of pre-stocking the house for the cost of the food is one I have really appreciated over the years and makes you feel at home right away (but usually is not done by a friend – thanks Marion). The first place we stayed at in 1986 even provided homemade rum punch – and that began my romance with Grenadian spiced rum.

After unpacking and taking a quick survey of the house and its contents, we headed out to Windsor Forest to pick up the five boxes of items we store with our friend, Philomena. They hold things like good knives, good wine glasses, basic cutlery and kitchen utensils, ice-cube trays, hand towels, a pack, beach towels, a hammock, a good reading light, UK to US power adapters, battery pack for camera equipment, rope, and other similar items. These are things that might not be in houses we rent or their alternatives are not adequate. These familiar items also help to make each house feel like home.

We had lunch at La Sagesse, a delightful, small resort near our property and were treated to their consistently excellent food in their beachside restaurant and got so see some good friends who have worked there for years. John, the server, told us he is cooking at his house on weekends so we will definitely stop by and try out his local food. We also stopped by a roadside stand that is run by Patsy and stocked up on local fruits and vegetables. A sweet bonus is that since this is a third world country, there is little fertilizer or insecticide used on plants so food is naturally organic.

We stopped for a quick dinner at La Boulangerie a very casual and excellent Italian restaurant. Businesses here depend on each other and can very cooperative. My favorite example is the trio of La Boulangerie, Carib Sushi and the Tortuga Italian Wine Bar restaurants. They sit, side by side, in a small shopping complex and work together to provide a great experience for diners. You can sit in one restaurant and still order from any of the restaurants. This means if I want Sushi and Michael wants Italian, no problem. And if we want a special wine, we can saunter over to Tortuga and order a bottle from there that they will deliver it to the table with glasses. And after dinner, you just settle up with each entrepreneur. LOVELY.

Last, we made a quick run to the grocery across the street from the restaurants to round out what we needed and we’re complete. Next will be a nice relax on the deck to savor the day’s accomplishments.

I love being able to look out over a number of peninsulas and bays while savoring a delicious sunset.

We really lucked out – in addition to a great view from our house deck, the deck faces west so we’ll have more great sunset views. YUM!

Canine Captain ~ Mick’s Travel Adventure

January 23, 2015 by Candi Licence

As you may know, Mick is a rescue dog and is still wary of new people. So, we weren’t sure how he’d do in a crowded airport and in a confined space on the plane where he couldn’t get away from the hustle of the crowd. Bottom line, he exceeded all our expectations.

Mick loves to be with Michael and will put up with most anything to be by his side. He loves me, but Michael is THE ONE. We tried to do everything to make his trip as stress free as possible and he did everything he could to be the best traveler.

Mick and Michael hamming it up in the cockpit

Mick “got into the mood” of being around a lot of moving people when we were in and out of the Sofitel lobby on Friday and Saturday. Everyone thought he was so gorgeous and he planted himself right by our sides and looked regal. As long as he could see Michael he was fine – cautious and alert, but fine. When we were leaving for the airport, we got onto the airport shuttle first so he could be in the back and would be able to see people approaching. We got to the airport 3 hours before our flight to be sure there would be no issues checking us all in and we would have time to walk Mick before he got on the plane for a 3.5 hour flight.

Upon arriving at the airport, Michael and Mick stayed at the curb with our 6 checkable bags and 4 carry on’s while I tried to find a porter. We knew we would have to check-in inside the terminal because of Mick (curbside check in wasn’t an option) but there was no way we could manage all the luggage and Mick. I found a great porter who had a lovely accent and great attitude who managed our mountain of luggage and took us to the front of the line to get checked through. He was from Haiti and we had a good conversation about life while waiting for the agent to free up. We had all our necessary paperwork – Mick’s current health certificate, vaccination records and import permit for Grenada – in addition to our passports, tickets and clearance to take Mick on the plane. There was a slight delay as they checked to see if we needed a USDA seal but it got sorted right out and we were on our way to security.

My favorite airline perk

Yeah for TSA Precheck. As you can imagine, the security lines for American Airlines in Miami are huge. American is the airport’s largest airline and takes up 2 terminals and 70 gates. We waltzed right up to the Precheck “line” and there was no one in front of us. We got our tickets and passports reviewed right away and then breezed through to the monitor screening. With TSA Precheck you do not need to take out liquids, you can keep your shoes on and computers can stay in your carry-on luggage – YES! Michael buzzed when he went through the screening machine, as was expected, because of his knee replacement. Mick and I sailed through and I just needed a quick swipe on my hands to be cleared.

Next we headed to the gate to drop our bags and to figure out where we could walk Mick. The airport has a few pet relief areas but most are not fenced and are in extremely high traffic areas (people and cars). I thought Mick would be too “alert” to relax and do his business while being kept on a short leash. There was one fenced-in area two terminals away, between Terminals E and F. We were at Gate D9 and had to pass 20 more gates just to get to the beginning of the next terminal. Talking with airport personnel we figured it would take 15-20 minutes each way, plus whatever time Mick needed to go to the bathroom – it was 3:10 and our flight was leaving at 5:00. I left Michael at the gate with all our carry-on luggage and power-walked Mick through the terminals. We were moving!

The funky (and fabulous) pet relief area at the Miami airport

The pet relief area was on the island between the commercial and passenger vehicle lanes so traffic was zipping by on both sides. The space was about 20 feet wide at one end slivering down to 5 feet at the other end and 30ish feet long – small! It had a fence that was about 2 feet tall, no double security gate, part of it was paved and part had some grass, trees and plants. Not ideal, but I was thrilled to find it and to be able to let Mick off the leash and roam about. Mick relieved himself and we wouldn’t need to worry about him being uncomfortable while on the plane. We power-walked back. Mick was panting and I was sweating, but mission accomplished!

Checking the view out the front window was part of Mick's pre flight procedure

Checking the view out the front window was part of Mick’s pre flight safety check procedure

Our great friend, Dan Carey, is an American Airlines pilot and he contacted the pilot flying our plane to let him know we would be on board. As we were being paged by the pilot, Dan’s wife Alison called and said she was just a few gates away and would stop by. I was astonished. Dan and Alison live in New York, not Miami. Dan had flown into Miami the night before and was on a layover before flying to Europe. Alison flew down to meet him for dinner and was on stand-by trying to get back to NYC. Wild! It was so great to see Al – she and Dan are wonderful friends and this really made the trip extra fun.

Mick checking out the Captain’s seat

We met the pilot and he invited Mick into the cock pit. He was so excited and said he’d had a lot of kids in his seat but this was the first dog. Mick made himself right at home. I’m not sure what the other passengers thought as they boarded the flight. After his photo-op, Mick settled right down into the bulkhead floor space and cautiously watched everyone board, but seemed quite relaxed overall.

We had a great dinner in Business class, with real silver. YUM!

The flight was great – We were flying Business Class in order to get the bulkhead seat with extra leg room so Mick could lie in front of us and not spill into the aisle. The bonus was we got to check 6 bags, they fed us a real meal (!) and had Sapphire Gin and tonic for Michael, good wine for me, all at no extra charge – we were living large!

Since we were in the first row, we were off the plane first which worked well for Mick. In Grenada, you need to walk down stairs and cross the tarmac to get to the terminal. We got right through immigration, got our bags and then got on line for customs. We were in the red line because we needed to declare Mick. It was a long wait because all the students were coming back from the holiday break and needed to also get their electronics checked through. Mick’s paperwork checked out fine and we just needed to pay a one-time VAT tax to get him into the country.

Mick’s executive seating on the bulkhead floor

We were out the door, into the sweet Grenada air and jumped into a king cab pickup truck driven by Marcus Gabriel, the gentleman we are renting our 4 wheel drive from, to be driven to our new home in Woburn. We got to the house around 11:30 PM and were on the pool deck by midnight, just in time to see spectacular fireworks for Sir Royston’s 70^th birthday (the owner of the fabulous Spice Island Beach Resort). We joked that it was staged for our benefit and it was a wonderful way to be welcomed home to Grenada.

Operation Grenada ~ Moving Ourselves to the West Indies

January 21, 2015 by Candi Licence 6 Comments

My fantasy of living in the Caribbean is coming true – for 3 months at least. We’re traveling to our heart home of Grenada and, for the first time, it will be more than just a couple of weeks. We think we’ve been coming to Grenada for 25 years. Not every year, but most years, and some years more than once when we were trying to launch our idea for a Villa resort (see the post The Original Dream ~ a Boutique Villa Resort in Grenada West Indies for more background).

After abandoning that dream, being in Grenada is more relaxing. Before it was lots of meetings – with our Lawyer, architects, the Government, construction manager, etc., etc., etc. Now it is just a few meetings to move our personal lives forward. Last year, we became Permanent Residents of Grenada and, hopefully, on this trip we will become Citizens and will maintain dual citizenship with the US and Grenada.

Packing for Grenada has always been a challenge. Luggage can’t weigh more than 50 lbs. and we’re only allowed 2 bags each before hefty charges are levied. This has marginally worked in the past with each bag at its weight limit, plus heavy, carry-on bags all filled with photography equipment, computers, presents for friends, as well as our personal items squished in. This year, being here longer, we need/want to bring more with us, plus we have Mick and his stuff.

Figuring out how to get Mick to Grenada was a real challenge. The openings to the cargo area in the airplanes that fly to Grenada are too small to take a crate large enough to hold Mick – we tried flights from both Miami and New York – no go. I tried looking at coming down by boat but couldn’t find anything workable – freighters no longer accept dogs. We even tried the option of flying to Barbados (on a larger plane) but couldn’t get Mick from Barbados to Grenada at a reasonable cost, plus we heard some horror stories of animals getting caught in quarantine there.

Finally, we worked out a way to have him accompany us on the plane and I upgraded our seats to Business Class bulkhead seats so he could lie at our feet and not spill onto the aisle. More on that adventure in another post.

We also had to figure out a 3 month storage option for the things we travel with in the US and a place to store our car. We definitely didn’t want to leave our car at the Miami airport for three months. Michael had a great idea to store everything in Venice (where they have car as well as regular storage because of the snowbirds) and we would loop back that way after Grenada, on our way to New Orleans – our next stop. Great idea. Next, we would need to rent a vehicle one way to get from Venice to Miami. We needed to rent a van because we had so much luggage, plus Mick. All doable, but lots of planning, logistics and coordination. In the end, it looked something like this for a Thursday departure from Venice –

Monday – pack for Grenada,

Tuesday – pack up our house items and pick up a local truck from the storage facility (leaving our car there),

Wednesday – load the truck with help from a local man, drive to the storage facility, load everything into the storage space, return the truck, pick up our car, and clean the house

Thursday – final cleaning, pick up rental van to take us to Miami, drive back to house and pack van with all our Grenada bags, drive the car and van to the storage place to put final items in our unit, leave our car, give Mick a quick dog park run and head to Miami.

PHEW! Usually, we leave a day between packing the storage unit and leaving to allow for more leisurely cleaning and final organization, but after we had everything scheduled and planned, we decided to leave on Thursday, a day early. We wanted to see an outdoor Chihuly exhibit near Miami in both daylight and at night and the exhibit was only open in the evening on Thursday night, so things were a bit rushed. Plus, I had a really bad head cold so I wasn’t fully feeling well. Fortunately, we’ve now got packing/storage down to a science and we were still able to get everything done and get on the road in time to see the Chihuly exhibit so Michael could take pictures in the late afternoon light as well as after it got dark.

Another thing we did to prepare for this trip that ended up being brilliant was signing up for TSA Pre-check which assigns you a known traveler number and allows you to bypass the regular security line and procedures at the airport because they have already checked you out – including fingerprinting you during the application process. I had been getting this perk for free the past couple of years because of my previous business travel but it is hit or miss and when it was a miss at La Guardia airport and, horrors – I had to wait in a long line, take off my shoes, pull out my liquids and my electronics after being spoiled by the luxury of fast security pass throughs, I knew I wanted this perk, guaranteed, every time I fly. Michael wasn’t thinking he’d sign up since he travels so infrequently now, but thinking about bypassing the security hassle in Miami when we also had Mick was too good to pass up. TSA Precheck is a wonderful option that is $85 for a five-year clearance and it made all the difference when we were in Miami. If you travel with any frequency, check it out. You can pre enroll online and make an appointment to finalize paperwork and to get your picture taken – the appointment takes about 15 minutes if you pre enroll. Very Cool!

We also needed to find a pet friendly hotel near the Miami airport for Thursday and Friday night and schedule a Venice hotel for our return. This has been our most intricate logistical move to date. We ended up staying at the Sofitel – Miami airport, a completely lovely hotel that was very accommodating. Fortunately, they were running a weekend special so it was also affordable. On our way back, we will stay at the Holiday Inn in Venice. The Holiday Inn hotel chain has upgraded their facilities nicely in the last few years and they are a great, pet friendly option. We’ve stayed at their other locations and have been very satisfied.

We had a good reminder to always be ready early in case of a problem when we both went out early on Saturday – Michael to mail a package back to Venice storage of things we needed for our 2 days in Miami but didn’t have weight allowance to take with us to Grenada and me to walk Mick. Evidently someone tried to access our room which had an electronic lock and double locked itself when they made multiple attempts to enter. I came back first and my key wouldn’t work. I thought my key was deactivated because it was our last morning and it was 11:30 AM. We had asked for a late checkout at 1:00 PM and I thought it was just a timing issue. After going back downstairs and getting new passkeys made – twice, I knew we had a bigger problem – one that we found out was more complicated than we expected. The bellhop’s master key didn’t work and engineering’s magical override gadget didn’t work either. They eventually had to disassemble the whole lock to get us in. We had plenty of time – we were all packed and were catching the 1:30 airport shuttle, but I could easily imagine the stress if we were pressed for time as the engineer tried to hurry through the long process of disassembling the lock mechanism. Good planning averted a potential disaster – Thank you Michael for always wanting to be ready early! Clearly, the adventure was beginning.

The Original Dream ~ a Boutique Villa Resort in Grenada West Indies

March 1, 2014 by Candi Licence Leave a Comment

Grenada aerials -11 Michael and I love the Caribbean and traveled extensively to find an island to create a business so we could live there full-time. After much research, we chose Grenada, a lush volcanic island with an unspoiled, original Caribbean feel. The people are wonderful – welcoming, friendly, open, easy going and always ready to laugh. Through masterful planning, Michael pulled together 8 pieces of property so we could have 50 acres of virgin land that had 2 huge ridges with a sloping valley ending at a sweet, protected beach. Check out Michael’s photography website for more great pictures of the property. And let us know if you have someone who is interested in purchasing the property. You will get a finder’s fee.

Our dream was to build a small villa resort and employ our neighbors from the surrounding communities to provide an unparalleled local experience of Grenada. Our vision included creating a artisan’s showplace where local artists could work and sell their creations, farming our own fruits and vegetables, creating a microbrewery and working with local fishermen to provide the daily catch to both our villa guests and visitors who would come to spend a day on the beach and eat in a floating restaurant in our bay. The thought was that people would be attracted to come to see the art, micro brewery, spend time on the beach away from the crowds, eat in the restaurant and say why aren’t we staying here instead of a tourist hotel?

Fast forward MANY years – we bought the land, worked with the government on our ideas, created the architectural plans, rough cut roads but we were not able to attract the right investors due the uncertainty and changes in the world economy over the past 15 years. We never wanted to take out a large bank loan and risk our hard work and investment and boy are we glad we didn’t do that and put ourselves in a position to lose the property. To make a long story short, we no longer are actively pursuing this idea and the property is for sale.

The new dream, which this blog is dedicated to, is to travel for the next 3 to 10 years – visiting places we have always wanted to see. We plan to travel primarily in the United States first while our sweet Irish Setter can be part of the adventure. Sometime in the future when he’s no longer with us, we plan to travel internationally. Please join us as we chronicle our adventures.

Candi and Michael ~ On The Move

Tales from Grenada and Beyond