Trinidad and Tobago is a small island country in the southern Caribbean Sea, not far from Venezuela. It consists of two islands, the bigger Trinidad, and the smaller Tobago. With its tropical climate, clean sea full of interesting wildlife, rainforest, friendly locals, affordable prices, and, above all, its lack of mass tourism, it is a paradise to visit.
Trinidad is considerably bigger than Tobago, more developed, with more industry and a larger population (just under one and a half million people live on the two islands combined). Tobago is smaller, more unspoilt, with a little more tourism. Generally, we did not meet more than five foreign tourists on our almost three-week trip. The best time to travel is in the dry season, but we also did not have a lot of rain in the rainy season, but rather unbearable heat. The capital is Port of Spain, considered by many to be one of the most dangerous cities in the world. We followed the advice from the locals and avoided certain areas. We did not think, for a second, that we may be in danger. Trinidad in Tobago is a country for those who love the tropics, friendly locals, good food, affordable prices, non-touristy areas, and also those, who love to go diving.
The flight to Trinidad and Tobago took around fifteen hours from Europe. We flew from Munich to Toronto (8 hours), then from Toronto to Trinidad (6 hours). A boat ride from Trinidad to Tobago took 5 hours. Before reaching your final destination, in our case Tobago, it makes sense to sleep somewhere at least one night in between. We booked ourselves accommodation in the capital, Port of Spain. We rented a car at the port, and when we came back to Trinidad, we rented a car in the city center of Port of Spain. I had already downloaded the maps of the country on my phone, so we had excellent navigation.
The roads in Trinidad and Tobago were a disaster for us. So were the drivers. At some places, the streets were quite narrow, and the fact that they are bumpy, is quite normal there. Average speed is 40 km/h. In other places, the roads are so buckled or potholed, that it is necessary to drive around them. It is also quite common for there to be soil between the asphalt and even grass growing from it. It is also normal to find cows, goats, dogs and a few other animals on the road. Their drivers are very unadaptable for the roads they have. They drive fast, they do not follow the rules, they like to overtake you, honk their horns, they are impatient with foreign drivers, so their roads require a lot of caution and, above all, patience.
There is not much preparation necessary, as visas, vaccinations and malaria pills are all not mandatory. You need to buy a plane ticket, ideally with insurance, and if a family or more people are travelling, it would make sense to find accommodation beforehand, which I found on the internet. We slept at three different locations, where one of them wanted a partial payment in advance, the others we could pay on the spot. I also pre-paid for tickets for a boat from Trinidad to Tobago on the internet.
The wedding required a little more organisation. A country must have signed all three conventions (Hague, Paris and Vienna conventions) for a marriage to be valid in Slovenia. Therefore, I first chose among the countries that are among these signatories. What followed were air fares, security etc. That is how I found Trinidad and Tobago. My partner agreed, so I started with the travel planning. Everything I knew about this country before, was that it existed. When I somehow decided this is where we will get married, I started to search for help with the organisation through travel agencies. I had not found a suitable agency in Slovenia, and the prices were unbelievably high with foreign agencies. So I took on this project myself, which ended up costing €700 (including paperwork, wedding on the beach, drinks and two photographers). I searched the internet for contacts, read some foreign forums, contacted the embassy and their offices and finally found one gentleman, a local, who organises weddings in Tobago. A final decision was made, to get married on Tobago instead of Trinidad, which we had initially considered. We took an English-language extract of our birth registration, just in case, although we did not need it in the end. When we arrived in the country, we had to stay there for at least two days, and then we met this gentleman, and together we went to the office where we filled in the paperwork as a kind of announcement for the wedding. We agreed on the date, while we were still in Slovenia.
I bought my dress in Tobago. I imagined a wedding on the beach, which I knew would mean that all of us would be barefoot, since you can not walk on a sandy beach with heals. I also did not want to spend a fortune on a dress I would only wear once. I went to the shops and within 10 minutes I had picked out a €40 dress that was perfect for the beach. We also bought clothes for my partner and child in the local shops. We were dressed in style, inexpensively, and, above all, comfortably for this almost unbearable heat.
I made the bouquet myself. As I am a florist, I thought it would be dishonoring, if someone else does it. Especially when I saw all those tropical flowers in the nature. I went to the rain forest, picked some flowers and greenery, and made one bouquet for my daughter and one for myself. I picked flowers so special that I do not even know the name of them, because I had never seen many of them before.
We gathered on the day of our wedding on a secluded beach. Besides us and the guests, there was Tomas (a local man who helped us organise it), two photographers and a lady who took care of the drinks. The wedding area was beautifully prepared with tropical flowers. We stood under the arch, the ceremony was in English, and even though it was a civil wedding, there was a lot of talk about God. After the ceremony we all signed and the documents arrived in Slovenia 2 to 3 months later. The wedding is now valid.
Because in the past, the country was a Spanish, French and English colony, the locals are a mix of different nationalities. Because the newcomers did not have enough workers, and because there were not many original natives, the work force was also brought in from Africa and, in particular, a large number from India. That is why there are so many Indians on the islands today. According to some information on the internet, Trinidad and Tobago is considered one of the most dangerous countries in the world because of drug gangs. But our experiences show something completely different. We avoided dangerous areas and followed certain rules, for example, we did not stay in bars late into the night and drove around as little as possible after dark. The locals are extremely friendly, hospitable, and like to connect with tourists and help them. They got up at bars to give us a space to sit, many times they even paid for our drinks. It is obvious, the tourism there has not yet developed enough, to burden the locals, but rather they are pleasantly surprised by every tourist who goes there.
Trinidad and Tobago is a country that many passionate travellers prefer to avoid, as it is often known in the media as dangerous. In reality, it is nothing like that, only certain rules need to be followed, such as staying away from dangerous parts of the town. We experienced many wonderful things on the islands. Besides a unique wedding, we also went to discover the countryside, amazing beaches, rainforests and lovely locals. You can read all about that in part 2.
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