Nevis Day #1 - Travel Day

John: "did that sign say 'monkeys crossing'?"

Homestay (Greg): "yes, we have monkeys on island"

Me: "really? What will they do???"

Greg: "they LOVE alcohol"

There are 7,000 monkeys in Nevis and 11,000 people. Woah.

*****

Our trip to Nevis began with 30 degree weather at LaGuardia Airport. By 1pm we were swimming at a gorgeous beach in St Maarten. We actually waltzed out of the airport and into the ocean during our 5 hour layover.

This is how close our layover swim was to the airport!

Then, all sun soaked and sand covered, we got onto the tiniest plane I've ever been on for a 30-minute flight to Nevis.

Our teensy aeroplane

As soon as we landed, we were welcomed like long lost friends and they made a really big deal out of our arrival! We hardly had to lift a finger as they walked us through baggage claim and customs. From there, we were brought to our homestay to shower and get ready to go out to dinner with the TriStar Nevis family and some of the other pros and athletes. It was a great first impression of island food and we heard some pretty incredible stories of the people joining us for dinner, including Kathryn, a former elite triathlete who was challenged by ESPN to qualify for the olympics through any sport possible.  She tried everything and found cycling to be her best chance.  Check out her story, and book, here.

In bed that night, I remember thinking... "How can I possibly fall asleep? I'm already dreaming".