Take Me Back, Bey!

      A week after returning from The Bahamas, I must say that I am grateful for the experience and would return to do it all again. I may have to, so Mr. Foulkes and I can work on our GW-themed Junkanoo rush! During the trip, I was often stressed about finding destinations that satisfied our entire group’s interests, completing all of the visits and finishing the corresponding participant observation forms, and from time to time, that detracted from the experience. Now, a week after completing everything and as I explain the trip to friends, family and clients, I wish I would have adopted the same, no pasa nada mantra I adopted during my undergraduate studies in Granada, Spain and known that everything would be okay all along. Thanks to my diligent notes and astute teammates, I have all of the details I need, from the wait times to important methodologies we learned.

Our grad group at the
Queen's Staircase

Taking a photo break in Pompey Square

The King of Nassau, Mr. Brendan Foulkes and
The King of Goatskin Drums, Mr. John 'Chippie' Chipman

      The first major item I learned from this experience was how to discretely and respectfully glean peak experience information from people. I am glad that we had some flexibility in the questions we asked, because there were many instances where we learned more useful information from people just talking freely than directed questions. In our cab to JunkanooWorld, when asked about his feelings about tourism revenue going downtown versus “Ova Da Hill”, our cab driver stated, “All I am concerned with is making my clients happy and taking my money back to my family”. That statement resonated with me and reinforced my revelation that Bahamians don’t seem to be as obsessed with excess and wealth as we are, contributing to less stressful and competitive lifestyles.

A Barrabas protege drumming for 

his pre-Junkanoo audience

      As the relaxed, Bahamian mentality trickled into our dining experiences, I also learned the importance of being quiet and taking all elements from the experience into consideration. Despite our fast-paced, get-as-much-for-as-little-in-as-little-time mentality, there are other significant elements of the dining experience that deserve attention, ranging from the background music to the décor. Even though the wait time of our food often claimed most of our attention and conversation, there were many, more impressive elements on which we could focus. I cannot emphasize enough what I would give to wait two hours for a bowl Fettuccine Alfredo in front of the ocean with an Avicii soundtrack rather than wait 10 minutes for a pizza produced in a toaster oven while watching college teams I do not know or care about in a crowded bar…

Our view from Blue Sail at Sandyport

Made a new friend while snorkeling
at the Clifton Heritage National Park 

The last major item I learned was the true importance of rooting recommendations in data rather than opinion. My heart raced during our presentations to Bahamian tourism officials, but I began to relax a bit during our dialogue, where we exchanged stories, ideas and suggestions. Initially, I worried about offending people who worked in the industry and market I was dabbling in for the week, but regained my confidence as I could rely on specific instances, observations and initial figures on which we will build for our January 25^th presentation.

2019 GW Junkanoo Rush: Raise High!