Barbados

[hardheart]

I'd like to know a couple things from anyone who has flown recently or made a trip to Barbados. It looks like I'll be headed out there for work (oilfield related) in about a month and need to know what to do about bringing knives. I'll be bringing 2 folders and a Leatherman with me, I carry them constantly and do need them for work. What I'd like to know is:

a) Is there a crime problem in Barbados

b) Would my knives make it thru the airport at either end with the heightened security, even in checked baggage

I consider myself a reserved, cautious, and (somewhat )intelligent person, so I won't do anything stupid or travel in areas I'm not familiar with, but my job has no time clock, I could end up at any location at any time of the night. I just want to weigh the risks of carrying these blades in an airport, and not carrying them on the street.

 

[hardheart]

BTTT, just taking one more shot at it

 

[pso]

Hello Hardheart

I was in Barbados about 5-6 years ago. It was not an especially scary place. Parts of Toronto (or any large North American city) were worse. I don't recall feeling threatened anywhere that I went. It may be different where you will be doing your work. Oilfield workers may not be the most genteel people. I did see fancy villas (mostly owned by foreigners) with high fences topped with barbed wire. I also saw people going to church dressed in their sunday-best who had come out of corrugated iron shacks that had been painted neatly in bright tropical colors. Poor but honest would be a good way to describe the people that I saw there.

Check out what the guide books in your local library, like Lonely Planet, say about it. See if it shows up in a guide book called "The Most Dangerous Places".

Lastly, all the Bajan's that I have met while living in Canada were polite, considerate and friendly. There wasn't one of them that was a trouble maker like some of those from other Caribean islands that start with J.

Hope this helps. Enjoy your time there.

Phil