When I had booked my flight from Suriname to Guyana, I had two choices – a direct 40 minute flight, or a more expensive flight with a 10 hour layover in Trinidad. Naturally I picked the 10 hour layover…

The nation of Trinidad and Tobago is made up of a number of islands, with Trinidad being by far the largest and most populous. It is probably best known for being the home of one of the greatest test batsmen in cricket history – Brian Lara.

It was a very early flight, and it seemed everyone was half asleep when they announced boarding had opened, so I was the first person onto the plane by a few minutes, which was unusual for me.

I had booked the flight without doing much research into Trinidad, and since then, had read that it is incredibly unsafe and there’s nothing to do on the island. I had considered taking a connecting flight to the safer island of Tobago, but opted not to due to risk of delays or cancelled flights. I decided that I could always get a taxi from the airport, and if it felt unsafe, I could just go back to the airport.

I had to chuckle as I saw Georgetown, Guyana, out of my window. I would be there tonight, and here I was flying well past.

Next to me on the flight was a couple returning home to Trinidad. Having lived in Trinidad their entire lives, the provided plenty of useful information about what to do there. They showed me on the map the areas to avoid, and told me to go and visit the Queens Park Savannah and Magnificent Seven in Port of Spain, the national capital.

Having been to five continents at this point – all but North America and Australia – I remarked that it would be good to get my sixth continent. The man laughed “I have lived in Trinidad my entire life, and I have never met someone who calls me North American!” It’s interesting how country lists usually put the Caribbean Islands under North America, yet the island Trinidad is only 14km from continental South America, so it would make more sense to classify it as South American. Or perhaps all these islands are best not allocated to a continent.

Upon landing, there wasn’t much of a queue at immigration. I think most people had connecting flights. The lady at the desk got confused when I said I was just here for the day. She told me that they don’t usually allow people on connections to leave the airport, and asked me what I was here to see. I replied “its the land of Brian Lara and Dwayne Bravo”, she smiled and stamped my passport.

Taxis are more expensive before 6am, at it was 5:30am, so I walked around the airport a bit, found an ATM to draw some cash, and tried to find somewhere to leave my things for the day. I didn’t find somewhere for my bags, but I did at least get some local cash. There is a board by the taxi stand at the airport with standard pricing, so at least I knew I wouldn’t be scammed this time. I asked to be dropped at the Botanical Gardens, which is opposite Queens Park Savannah, and then asked the taxi driver if he had any advice. He told me about a hike up the hill behind the gardens, and when I asked if it was safe, he told me that it is very busy early in the morning, but might not be safe after midday.

For context on my bag, as this would be an ongoing annoyance throughout the day – I had decided to leave most of my things in São Paulo before this leg of the trip, and was only traveling with my carry-on. This had the upside of being a lot easier logistically, but considering I didn’t have accommodation or a vehicle to leave things in, this meant I would be carrying my laptop and all my clothing on my back for the day. To make matters worse, the pack I had bought from Decathlon in São Paulo wasn’t particularly comfortable with this much weight in it, made worse by the laptop that was right against my back.

The initial walk up the hill was on a tar road. It was steeper than I expected, and even before 7am, it was already very hot. There were a lot of runners around, and even a sign from the local running club with a QR code to download the club musical playlist – not that one should scan QR codes they are not absolutely certain about. I would have loved to run this, but the 10kg bag on my back wasn’t exactly ideal for running. Even worse, despite all that weight, this hike was unplanned and I had no water with me.

As I got higher up the ridge, the views got better. The flowers were out, and it was lovely and green. This often bothers me about less touristy destinations and what the internet says about them – I had questioned if I had made a bad decision and was genuinely nervous about my day going into this, yet here I was in an incredibly beautiful setting surrounded by friendly runners.

Added bonus: I also got to see Brian Lara’s enormous house from a distance, which was pretty cool.

A bit higher the road ended and there was a trail into the forest. Naturally I wanted to go up the rest of the hill, so I followed it.

I soon hit a dodgy looking bridge, and the heard someone behind me shouting “don’t cross that”. It was a Slovakian runner named Robert, who had been living and working on the island for the last decade. He had seen me following the lower trail, and ran after me to warn me that the route I was on was the old impassible route. Apparently the bridge is as dodgy as it looks, and there is no longer a trail on the other side as a result.

We decided to complete the hike together, which is up Breezy Hill. He explained how he runs up the hill every morning before he starts work for the day – not a bad way to start the day!

True to its name, it was fairly breezy up there – which was welcome in the tropical heat.

We stopped at one point and he pointed out some peaks in the distance – noting that we were looking at Venezuela. I was a bit confused, the part of the country where Venezuela is only 14km away is the south side of the island, and we are in the north. I would later look at a map and realise that the gap on this side is only about 20km, so he was correct.

The Queens Park Cricket Oval, Brian Lara’s home ground, was visible in the distance. It was a beautiful clear morning.

Even though it is only 582m high, you can see most of the island from Breezy Hill. If you ever find yourself in Port of Spain, it is well worth allocating a morning to this. I would love to spend a week or so exploring the island, I suspect there is a lot of really beautiful hiking like this, especially along the north coast.

After getting back down, I did a brief lap of the Botanical Gardens, which admittedly wasn’t nearly as interesting as the hill behind them.

From there I crossed the road to the Queens Park Savannah – the park inside what is said to be the world’s longest traffic circle. Trinidad was clearly trying to show off this morning, with four light blue macaws flying over my head – although I didn’t have my camera out, so I didn’t get any pictures of them.

I had been warned that this park separates the safe and dangerous sides of the city, so my plan was to walk past the Magnificent Seven, which are seven beautiful buildings along one side of the park, over the space of about 1km.

Stollmeyer’s Castle

Whitehall

Archbishop’s Palace

Ambard’s House

Mille Fleurs

Hayes Court

Queen’s Royal College

I got a good view from the park back at the hill I had just been up. The top is only about 582m.

From there I made my way past some offices, and stopped to try a local style roti. It was pretty good.

The city itself didn’t seem particularly interesting, although there was a beautiful old church along the way.

My taxi driver had told me to look for a certain hotel that had a shuttle to the airport. I had walked just short of 18km for the morning, but the heat was really getting to me, so I decided to head back. It was about 11am and my flight was at 3pm. I had another hour or so available, even with provision for severe traffic and long queues at the airport, but I had seen what I wanted to see. I considered tagging the ocean here to claim my sixth ocean, the North Atlantic, but I was near the harbour and didn’t think it was the best idea. An hour sounds like a lot – but if I had taken a taxi somewhere else, the hour would have melted quickly, so I don’t regret this decision.

There was no traffic on the way to the airport, and there were no queues at the airport either. I was happy to be back in an air-conditioned place, as I waited for my afternoon flight to Guyana.

I have to say, I really enjoyed my day in Trinidad. If I ever find myself in the region again, I might allocate a bit more time to the area, as well as visiting the island of Tobago. The people are friendly, the food is good, and the island is beautiful – I don’t think it deserves the reputation it has online.