Reasons to Avoid Vacationing in the British Virgin Islands - Part I

In 2004 my husband and I made plans to go to the island of Tortola in the British Virgin Islands. We both love to snorkel and he likes to scuba dive. Having been to several islands prior to that trip you'd think I would have been excited to go. For some reason I had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. I wasn't excited at all and I wasn't sure why though.

Three weeks before the trip, the television series LOST premiered, showing an entire flight of passengers crashing on a dessert island. This did not help the unsettling feeling that I already had about our trip to the British Virgin Islands. We decided to go anyway and when we got there, I found out what the uneasy feeling was all about. There was a problem with the entire trip in general!

I am always a little nervous when I travel to begin with. There is something about trying to get so much accomplished in such a short time and trying to meet so many time lines that gets me in a twist. So when we landed in the British Virgin Islands I was already a little unsettled. We did our usual routine of getting our luggage and then going to the car rental area to get a car. We're not the type that sits in our resort for the length of the trip, we like to explore. When we got to the desk the lady asked us if we had been there before. When we said no, she asked if we were sure we wanted to rent a car since it's a little mountainous the British Virgin Islands. Sometimes it's tough for tourist to get around. We blew her off and said of course we were sure. We wanted to see the island and didn't want the hassle of renting taxis.

Well, that was the start of our trip and it just went down hill from there (or should I say down mountain). Armed with a map and a vague of idea of where our resort was, we headed out of the airport. It was supposed to be about a ten minute trip. Three hours later we rolled into the resort. Mountainous was an understatement. It was so mountainous and so curvy that I was completely nauseous when we got to the resort and I am not usually prone to motion sickness! Oh, and did I mention that although we had a map, none of the roads had street signs! Very helpful. Very, very helpful. I am not sure how they expect you to find a street with no name on it! So we ended up clear on the other side of the island going in circles and since it was so curvy and mountainous, it took us hours to navigate. We only found our resort by accident. It truly was in the middle of no where. It felt like we were in an uncivilized place with no one around. It gave me the creeps.

We were relieved a little relieve when we got there though because we were so tired. We decided that we'd stay there for the night and have dinner at the resort restaurant. That is until the woman at the front desk told us that it was only open for breakfast. You see that's part of the games they play. When we booked our trip online, the website said that the restaurant was open during the slow season (that's when we went). They failed to mention however, that it was only open for breakfast. Faced with the reality that we were going to have to go "back out there" we were not happy.

We got our place first which turned out to be one half of condo - you know the type that you can share with others, that has a door in between? Well we didn't go with anyone else, yet were sharing a place. The door didn't lock and we had easy access to the other people's thing. They would have the same with our things when we got back. I wasn't even sure where the bed was until I realized it was a paper thin mattress rolled up into the couch. Oh, and you want toilet paper and towels? That's your problem. You don't get that there for the thousands of dollars you pay!

Needless to say we found our way to the reservation desk at 5:50 demanding a different place to stay. After the woman rolled her eyes and told us she was going home for the day, she said we could check the place above us and if were made up we could stay there and just let them know in the morning. Thanks for the help. So that's what we did. We went up stairs to a room that actually looked more like a room with a bed, toilet paper, towels, etc. and decided to stay. There was still no tv, but hey what do you want? We ventured out for dinner and then came back to a room that literally looked we were camping in a poorly put together tent. There were bugs ALL over the walls. Moths covered the lampshades and since there was no headboard on the bed, I got to sleep nice and snuggly with the bugs. Or should I say I lied there reading a book for my graduate course, terrified to move. My husband slept, no problem.

In the morning while we were still in bed, someone tried to get in our room. Apparently the room that we moved ourselves to had been put aside for a customer who was to check-in that morning. There's a surprise. I wonder if they got the room with the "couch bed."

I think it goes without saying that I was Irritable with a capital "I." I bellyached, moaned and groaned. All my husband had to say was not to worry, it'll get better. So I sucked it up as best I could. We were in the British Virgin Islands and that wasn't going to change any time soon. I went into the bathroom and took a shower. It was had a crappy shower head, terrible water pressure and low heat, but at least it was a shower. Nick went in and didn't have any luck. The water trickled out from the water head a drip at a time. We realized at that point that we couldn't even flush the toilet. According to the front desk , they were just filling the large pool and the problem should be resolved later.

We went out for the day and when we came back, still no water. By this time Nick was livid. I think I saw some smoke come out of his ears and nose! Now he didn't want to be there. And wondered out loud what we were going to do since it was only the beginning of the week and we were going to be there another 6 days. I had a plan in place! I told him we were moving to another resort that I saw while we were traveling around. And that's what we did. The place was so much nicer and the people were a little bit more attentive. We didn't go without a fight though because we already prepaid for our vacation.

Sitting in the lobby, we asked the girl for a refund and she told us no as we knew she would. We then asked to see a manager who according to her "Wasn't available." What an odd coincidence when he walked through the door less than 30 seconds later! Huh! How did that happen? We proceeded to let him know were leaving and that we wanted a refund. He told us no, but we didn't let up. We weren't staying there for the week. We gave him all the reasons why - no water, no restaurant, a couch bed, bugs on the walls, people coming in our room in the morning and so on. You know what he said?

"You are insulting my resort! I am not happy!"

Eh, last time I checked, I paid thousands of dollars to get this shabby place as a resort. I AM not happy and I think that's what matters! I've never heard that from a manager and that just torqued me into silence. I had to go there because otherwise my mouth would have been running a mile-a-minute and I would have ended up in jail. I let my husband do the talking since he is more patient than I, and in the end we got a refund. Apparently passengers from a cruise ship were about to arrive leaving the manager with no more time to sit and argue with us. The best part - when we originally booked, the deal was "Stay for six nights and get one free." Not knowing this, the manager gave us a full refund for the seven nights we had booked. The last laugh was on him!

I'll tell you more about horrors that we actually encountered on the British Virgin Islands in Part II of this article.