Recently in Barbados Category

 I've just come back from a fam trip to Dubai with a group of UK travel agents. Our mission was to discover that there's more to the city than huge hotels, sun and shopping.

For our first challenge, we tried our hand at clay pigeon shooting at the Jebel Ali hotel. I discovered I had a hidden talent, getting five out of ten (with a little help from the instructor).  Here's the overall winner, Lucy from Flight Centre.

The next day we visited the Dubai Polo and Equestrian Centre, which is home to beautiful horses used for polo, jumping and riding. One of the instructors, Marion Wichmann (pictured), told the group about the effects of the ubiquitous construction work on the club and its members. A new road means members have to drive 5km to cross the street.

She also told us about the problem of wealthy Emiratis who buy horses as a status symbol, but don't  know how to ride or care for them properly. Some of these horses end up at the club where the team nurses them back to health.

 Next up, the agents donned their helmets and riding chaps for a spot of camel polo. The camels, which are owned by ground handling agents Gulf Ventures, live mainly in the desert and are brought to the polo club  when booked by a group. They were all very friendly and gentle, apart from one who decided he'd had enough and ran back to his truck.

Did you know that Barbados has 1,500 rum shops - and the same number of churches? Or that there is no McDonalds on the island? The reason? The fast-food joint opened a restaurant there a few years ago, but it was shunned by the locals who favour fried chicken to burgers - and it went bankrupt within a year (hee hee)

I visited Barbados with 100 travel agents as part of the the tourist board's yearly educational trip, Gimme 5 and Fly. The Bajan people are the friendliest you'll ever meet, it's totally safe and the music (calypso and soca) is addictive. For after-dark haunts, check out St Lawrence Gap (known as The Gap but it has nothing in common with the chino-selling clothes store), a mile-long strip of clubs and bars which throbs 'til the early hours. Watch the locals shaking their booty - the Bajan people know how to move! 

We took part in an island treasure hunt where we could explore the island in jeeps - giving us the chance to see the rugged and unspoilt east coast, famed for its surf beaches, as well as the lush interior, awash with fields of sugar cane and surprisingly, forests of mahogany. It also gave us the chance to see how safe and easy it is to drive there - they even drive on the left hand side of the road :)

Other highlights included swimming with turtles and taking part in our own carnival while glammed up in proper carnival garb, pounding the streets to soca tunes while tourists and locals looked on. We even made it into both island newspapers, who ran double page spreads on the whole event.