My journaling reads:
Wed been to Barbados before, way back in 1993 for our honeymoon. That time round, money was very tight, we were newly married, had only been living in the UK for 5 months and in my case, had only just started a new job. We were so pleased to be able to afford to travel to the Caribbean, even if it was just on a self-catering basis! We stayed at the Asta Beach Hotel near Hastings and we thought it was the bees knees! Even today, I can vividly recall standing on the beautiful soft white sand, looking out over the crystal clear, sparkling blue sea and thinking we had arrived in Paradise.

For your 40th birthday, you said you wanted to spend it on a beach, somewhere warm, away from the cold grey British January weather. We had plenty of time to plan it, but it still ended up being a last minute booking. It was my fault, my passport had expired in June 2011 and I completely forgot about it until Christmas. We had just over one month to renew my passport, find a destination, pick a hotel and book the holiday. Eeek! In the end, we chose Barbados again. With average daytime temperatures in the high 20s, it was a no brainer really. We wanted to book in the Bourgainvillea Beach Resort near Oistins, and with just 6 days before we were hoping to travel, we visited out local travel agent and provisionally booked the holiday. I say provisionally, because it was a Saturday morning when we booked it, but the travel agent wouldnt know for definite until later that day or even Monday, if wed been able to secure a room there. As it happens, we got a phone call later that same day with news wed dreaded, the Bourgainvillea was fully booked. There was however another resort near-by called the Amaryllis and they had a room available. Now because time was running out, we said book it [DanO] without really knowing anything about it. Imagine our surprise then when we found out that The Amaryllis was in fact the Asta Beach Hotel, under new management & a new name!

Anyhoo, to cut a long story [relatively] short, we decided wed rather stay at a different hotel. The Asta Beach was OK when we stayed there 18.5 years ago, but we really wanted to try somewhere different. So, on the Monday before we were due to travel, I got on the phone to the tour operator and begged them to let us change our booking! They said yes but wed need to pay a cancellation fee of 750 to the Amaryllis hotel. Wow! Thankfully, the resort we wanted to stay at, The Sugar Cane Hotel & Spa near Speightstown, actually worked out cheaper to book, even with the cancellation fee! Finally, the flights, hotel and transfers were booked. Currency was purchased and suitcases were packed and we were ready to go. So, from Saturday 21st January through to Thursday 2nd February 2012, incorporating your 40th birthday on Friday 27th January 2012, we were in Paradise again, in Barbados baby!

Thanks for looking.

Credits:
Everything used - Oscraps Designers collab, Hello Sunshine
http://www.oscraps.com/shop/product.php?productid=29458&cat=339&page=1
(available here at Oscraps)