Who knew that paradise is a short direct flight from Charlotte – 2 hours and you can be sitting on a beach in Turks and Caicos with the most amazing blue water you can imagine and a beverage of your choice. It’s so blue and clear it’s almost like its not real. But it is real – stunning views and wonderful to play in.

A girls trip was our reason to travel to Turks and we couldn’t have picked a better place.Our travel goals were to relax, renew and spend time together and we achieved all our goals – and then some. We rented one of the most beautiful houses on the island – from eye popping views, room for us all to spread out and pool we never left we had the vacation of our dreams. All of us are busy people – juggling the blessings of family, work and lots of obligations – and wanted to find an experience that embraced us, didn’t require obligations and allowed us to just enjoy each other. Our travel agent (www.travelconnectionlive.com) did the leg work and found us a house that met all the criteria and more. We were loved and supported from the very start and the local team/house manager took great care of us and all our questions. You can’t miss with Renee!

The key to any amazing trip with friends is to have clear goals – what did we want to do and experience. Knowing that we decided we weren't even going to leave the house until Tuesday – we wanted three full days just us at the pool. So we loaded up at the grocery store on Saturday knowing that was our goal and then settled in. Perfection!

We also knew we didn’t want to eat out a lot – just be together and not have a schedule. So we made Breakfast and Lunch easy (we all had different wake up times) and then cooked for dinner. Luckily we had one person who loves to cook so we put her in charge and the rest of us did dishes! The house was well equipped for this – we had all the pots and pans we needed.

Also – none of us wanted to spend time shopping. I am sure there are amazing shops around the island but all we needed was the grocery store and the Wine Bar (really nice liquor store).

We did plan for a few excursions from the house which we all loved. We did half day catamaran with Island Vibe Tours and went to the Thursday Fish Fry. Both were so very fun – you should make them part of your plans if you can.

We tapped into Facebook and learned a lot of about tips and tricks from other travelers- a wealth of information and easy to search for questions before you go. Recommend you join the group and do your own research.

Of course everyone wants to know what should I make sure I do/take so here are my quick suggestions:

• Take lots of bug spray – they love all their visitors
• Take lots of sun screen – multiple levels…(I stuck with 30 entire time). Take lotion types as well – can’t have aerosols near the coral reefs.
• Take a hat.
• Driving a car is not hard – and really nice if you stay in a house. Grace Bay rentals was excellent.
• Embrace the pace – slow down and watch the sunrise and sunset.
• Fast pass on departure date was a treat and so nice since we had a large gap from check-out to plane departure. Was worth it for us.
• The local beer is very good – and the story on the cans are amazing. Try them! My favorite was I-Soon-Reach.
• We bought floats from amazon and blew up there. Inexpensive and easy to pack. Then we left them.
• DON’T overpack!!!!! Took way too many clothes. Next time it will be 3 swimsuits, cover up and 1 dress. We never got out of our bathing suits.
• Enjoy.

Interested in a tailored Vacation Experience? Contact Renee at The Travel Connection for your expertly crafted experience!