The door opened and the hot air embraced me, wrapping itself around me like a blanket. The sky was still bright but in its transitional stage. As the warm yellow sun lowered itself gracefully in the sky, the blue tones morphed into elegant pink brushstrokes. I remember thinking it looked like a picture. The clouds changed colour rapidly as they floated in the air. Some turned to a dark grey and others became pink.
As I approached the exit to disembark the plane I could smell the air. It was different to how it smelt at home. It was muskier but at the same time still fresh. I walked down the stairs carefully, I could feel beads of sweat forming on my forehead. I wanted to take my jumper off. There was a man dressed in a brightly coloured shirt waiting on the ground. He smiled at me. He looked happy, as if he was genuinely pleased to see us.
"Welcome to Tobago" he announced in an accent that was different to mine. He was excited that we were visiting his country and proud that he was the person in charge of welcoming new arrivals.
As we arrived at our home for the next 2 weeks I could hear steel drums playing. My eyes were fixated on the warm fairy lights that decorated every tree in site. The outside of the hotel was baby pink and the overhang that covered the entrance was supported by white-painted columns. The staff waited patiently in the foyer with trays of refreshments and cold flannels.
There was a Christmas tree sitting by the reception desk. It was the largest Christmas tree I had ever seen, it towered over me, like how I towered over an ant. There were handfuls of presents underneath it. I had never seen so many presents. The wrapping paper varied from present to present. Some paper was shiny and red and some were decorated with mini reindeer. Some gifts had green bows and others had been doused in glitter. As I walked towards the tree it seemed to grow bigger. I stretched out my arm and reached for one of the presents, my mother who I was sure had eyes in the back of her head, pulled me away swiftly. I just wanted to feel the smooth shiny paper between my fingers. She told me I had to wait.
This is my first memory of going on a family holiday. We returned to Tobago year after year until the hotel became derelict and dilapidated. I started to love the trips we went on as a family because for the first time, everyone seemed to relax and smile.
No more rushing around and being too busy to pay attention to the smaller details in life. I didn't know it at the time, but it was probably when I first realised how much I hated the fast-paced lifestyle of a big city like London. Individuals are too busy to truly enjoy or even notice special moments that occurred each day and were too stressed to see the beauty that surrounded them.
