Barbados is the second expat experience for Angela, as she had previously lived in Dubai for 5 years. Although she is more than acclimatized to the heat of Barbados after the heat of the desert, she is still in a state of shock over the lack of shopping malls. After becoming used to skating, watching skiers whilst sipping a cocktail, looking at a massive aquarium, or visiting the state of the art cinema in a super-sized Dubai mall, she has had to retire her shopping “diva”, only allowing her back out for annual visits to the UK when an extra suitcase is mandatory.

Angela’s expat jaunts are a result of being a “trailing spouse” and being dragged from one lovely location to another. How she copes is still a mystery to her friends and there is talk amongst them of setting up a charity to support her hard life. She soldiers on in true British fashion, with a stiff upper lip as she sips another rum whilst watching the sunset or walking on the beach. She is truly a brave soldier.

She is an avid food blogger which keeps her busy and stops the full on crazy from settling in. If you hear a loud British swear in the vegetable section of a local supermarket, it will be her, gasping at the cost of cauliflower. As a creator of low carb and gluten-free recipes, she had an initial struggle to find all the ingredients she needed for her cooking. This resulted in her setting up the Barbados Gluten Free website as a guide for all those living on and visiting the island. She did the 6 hour drive in research just for you! When a geeky girl is bored, she sets up a website.

The best thing about living on the island is that she finally has the opportunity to have a couple of dogs. Although she already had two cats (which came out with her), she could never really have dogs back in London or Dubai, as she was working full time. Now that she “works from home”, she has adopted two dogs from the Ark Animal Shelter and a cat she found scavenging in her bins. A lovely long beach walk with her girls is the best start and end to the day! For more of Angela’s island adventures, check out her blog, Another Rum Punch.