Part 1: Location
While getting cheap flights to the Caribbean is important in planning your family reunion, there are other reasons to consider. As an example, let me share with you the details of a family reunion my younger relatives are planning.
These cahoots complain they never met many of their relatives (I’m sure some of their relatives think that’s good). Blame this on their relatives who emigrated to foreign lands to better themselves at the time when most people traveled by large ocean liners.
Since the sixties our relatives have been migrating to countries such as England, Scotland, Saudi Arabia, Virgin Islands, United States, Germany, Japan to name a few.
Yes, we’re are a large family. I don’t know the exact number — but when you put all the subfamilies together, we could number about three to four hundred in total (this is only a guess).
Our family have roots in many countries in the Caribbean: Antigua, Barbados, St. Lucia, Union. Yet, my mother’s father is of Portuguese descent. Of course our true roots lie in Africa: many West Africans involuntarily came to the Caribbean to work as slaves. So there is a good chance that we have family in Africa.
So where would you hold a reunion in the Caribbean? You can pick any island — they all cater to fun in the sun.
Should it be held in Antigua? Barbados? St. Lucia? What about Union island? The answer to this question lies in finding some common reason for holding the event.
Since ours is a joining of families, we would pick a place where most of the older members of the family live — at least for the first one.
Similarly, you could find some common motive in the first year. Then use other motives in later years.
Here are some ideas you could consider when selecting a location:
- the best beaches
- affordable catering facilities
- access to transportation
- cheap Caribbean travel
- children friendly
- plenty of activities
- cruising the Caribbean Sea
We will look at when is the best time to hold a Caribbean famility reunion, in Part 2, next week.
