Feb 16, 2009 | British Virgin Islands

Remy and Monica took care of all the arrangements for a week-long cruise around BVI in a rented catamaran, and my main responsibility was hooking the buoy rope whenever we dropped anchor. The Caribbean was idyllic as long as we were on our boat and out of the fray. But I pushed my luck and topped off the week with a couple of nights in St. John, a dull playground where bloated, sunburned first-worlders are catered to by the resentful descendants of African slaves. Um, not so idyllic.