Christmas in the Caribbean: Snapshots from Barbados

Christmas, for me, is usually all about eating mince pies, rewatching festive classics like Home Alone and Love, Actually, spending time with family and friends, and wishing for snow.

Last year was rather different.

As my sister was working in Martinique (an overseas department of France), my family had planned to visit her there at Christmas. But if there’s one thing France loves more than a jour férié (bank holiday) it’s a grève (strike). Striking borders on a national sport in France (and here in the UK too, over the past year or so, it would seem), and the more likely than not scenario of an Air France strike over the festive period led my parents to opt for a different Caribbean island instead: Barbados.