We have recently returned from our annual vacation. This year we went to St Thomas in the US Virgin islands. As always, I try to write a review of our trip that might help others contemplating a similar vacation..

First off, unless it's a hurricane or so, don't pay attention to the internet weather forecast. The weather forecast for mid June was rain and more rain with no sun showing for any of the days we planned on being in St Thomas. Actually it rained a little the first two days and then was sunny every day .

We stayed at the Wyndham Sugar Bay Resort. We went all inclusive despite some misgivings. There was basically only two restaurants at the Hotel site. We are used to having 5 or 6 different choices at the resorts we have stayed at previously.

However, the food turned out to be pretty good. Not great, but better than we have had at some of the resorts with much greater choices. Additionally, making reservations for the one ala carte restaurant was a lot simpler and was notably hassle free. At some of the other resorts, I have seen more than one person get pretty irate over dress codes or reservation problems.

The beach at the Wyndham was, unfortually, the worse resort beach ever. Small, rocky, and with more biting insects than I have ever experienced. Normally, our favorite place in a resort, we spent maybe 15 minutes in all at the resort beach. The swimming pool was nice, as was the grounds. The resort is probably really only a 3.5 star rating. Despite this, I would still give the resort a superior rating. It was well run, clean, and the view from our room was gorgeous. If you're going to St Thomas , I would recommend this resort.

We went on three tours. The first was called breakaway, which was a boat ride/ snorkeling/swimming tour of the British Virgin Islands. This was an all day trip that was very worthwhile. It was, however, very expensive. In addition to the trip cost, you had to pay for an overpriced lunch and $20 each in custom duties. The other two trips, both by Tropic Tours, were a shopping/scenic tour of St Thomas and a scenic/beach tour of St Johns. Both were well run and enjoyable. Truck Bay beach in St Johns is indeed one of the most beautiful beaches in the world.

The Virgin Islands are beautiful and the people of the islands seemed friendly and to appreciate tourists. What it is not, for a person from the States, is exotic. For instance, on last years vacation to the Dominican Republic, we were surrounded by Europeans, natives on bicycles and motorcycles and, in general, never thought we were back home. The US Virgin islands had a certain familiar air to it that can be comforting and nice but, sometimes on a vacation, different is preferred.