This was a much-looked-forward-to visit to Secrets The Vine. I had seen the images of what they expected it to look like and was really hoping that it would be as stunning in reality.

After my visit to Antigua with work I had always planned to take my husband there one day and this was our chance to visit Sandals Grande Antigua.

We spent the first 9 nights of our Barbados holiday at Almond Casuarina and had a Superior Deluxe Room with Ocean View. These rooms were located in Block 1 which does not accept children under 12 years of age, the rooms had recently been refurbished and had a nice modern feel to them.

After a comfortable journey we arrived into Punta Cana airport which unusually has thatched roofs giving it a very Caribbean feel; after clearing immigration we set off to our first hotel, Dreams Punta Cana.

At 6pm I arrived at London Heathrow to meet the Beachcomber representatives and the rest of the lucky group who had been chosen to represent their companies on this once in a life time trip to Mauritius. We all checked in, introduced ourselves and headed to the bar before boarding the 12 hour flight with Air Mauritius. We flew economy; it was a roomy flight with great service for food, drink and entertainment.