It started badly, with a repeat of last year’s weather that was more Back to the Quagmire than Back to the Island, and as a result, our first day was spent between huddling under the Level gazebo and swimming in the rain. It definitely felt like a lost day, although at least the rain had stopped in time for the show to take place on the beach rather than in the dreaded “Greenhouse”.
This year, there were no official daytime activities other than a Q&A on String Theory, which was interesting enough until I found myself zoning out at the umpteenth “I come from a village in Brazil” mention. The lack of activities meant that we had more time to spend by the pool - something many of us welcomed. But on the last day we found out that the Dunn’s River excursion, which for this year had strangely been included in the price, had featured a surprise appearance from Taylor. My friends and I had been to Dunn’s River before and as a result, we had chosen to skip the excursion: needless to say, we were disappointed to have missed out. Apparently some people had been given hints from IG staff that it would be 'worth' going on the excursion; but that information had not reached us. So a Hanson surprise turned into a missed opportunity for anyone who had stayed at the resort, not to mention for fans with mobility problems, for whom a climb up that treacherous waterfall was out of the question anyway.
Aside from the Dunn’s River fiasco though, this year’s BTTI was the most fun for me. I had a great group of friends, I splashed around in the pool, I did yoga on the beach and made the most out of the free time that this year’s activity-free schedule afforded us. It was great to see a couple of members of staff again - Christina at the buffet and Juliet at the Level Grill (and yes, she remembered rescuing me from the helicopter-like bug on Pictures Day the previous year).
I loved sitting by the bonfire late at night, catching up with with friends I’ve known online for a while but never properly got to hang out with before. For the first time, I fully embraced the party vibe of Taylor’s DJ set, dancing with my roommate like we really didn’t care. I stayed up until ridiculous o’clock every night, got very little sleep and je ne regrette rien. I can’t help it: the nighthawk in me likes nothing better than those late night, liquor-fuelled conversations that just happen in that twilight zone between the end of a party and closing time, when the lure of an empty barstool and the unmistakable scent of sanity will cause the strangest, whackiest Bukowskian characters to latch on to you in a determined, but ultimately futile attempt to gatecrash your party.
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| There's a reason why Hopper's "Nighthawks" is my favourite painting |
And inevitably I felt nothing but utter despair the next morning, when, after three hours’ sleep, I found myself having to pack a suitcase in record time - a record I however managed to beat, with no hair straighteners left behind.
Almost two days later and I was home, looking tired and bedraggled and sporting the kind of greasy skin you get after three flights and a diet of airline food. I unzipped my suitcase to be greeted by a ton of laundry, a beach towel I will never bring myself to use and a bank of awesome memories that will see me through the rest of the year.
This year, however, there’d be no time for the usual post BTTI blues to set in: less than a week later I would be packing my suitcase once again, albeit for way less exotic destinations: String Theory was coming to Europe. So goodbye Jamaica, hello Birmingham: but that’s for another post altogether.
Back to the Island is an event run by Island Gigs on behalf of Hanson. All information for the 2020 event can be found here.
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