It’s not unlikely this will happen to you at some point in your life–whether they contact you through the mail, solicit by telephone or, like my wife and I, you make the grave mistake of entering in a “contest” at a trade show–you may one day have someone try to sell you a timeshare.

Backpacking has gotten more and more popular as a form of traveling, and for obvious reasons: for people going to multiple destinations, carrying gear on your back helps keep you mobile while having everything you need at arm’s length. But as more “nomadic” travelers are heading out in the world, the packs they carry seem to get bigger and bigger.

From the moment I learned that my six-week old son needed a passport for an upcoming trip to France, I knew that his mother, Beth, and I were in for a steady diet of headaches and laughs. The process, which I hope is near completion, has indeed provided us with both.

EKU, I would say, became my staple. It was consistently available in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and had a good strong taste. Unlike Piton and Carib, whose tastes varied from good to piss, and sometimes had a flat taste, EKU was always refreshing and consistently tasted good.

When looking for a beer in the Windward Islands, the choices are not as abundant as they are in the beer aisle up north. In the Windwards, the choices are boiled down to two types of beer: lagers/pilsners (like Budweiser or Labatt’s) or Stouts (like Guinness). This may seem strange to someone coming from the land of micro-brews and the marketing great invention “Dry” beer, but this is the land of the Pina Colada and Daiquiri; it is my guess that beer is not as big a concern (neither is wine, but that is for another time) as rum. Being very adventurous in all forms of barley and hop-type beverages, I looked forward to trying every beer available to me.