re: barbados

Barbados is pretty laid back, I've never been with the little Füts but there were plenty of touristy kids there.

First it's really Britishy still. Much more than Jamaica or Belize. The Brits love it for their vacations. LHR-BGI is a popular route.

Second, it's expensive. It's stuck way out in the Atlantic (point #3) so everything not produced on Barbados costs a lot to get it to Barbados. And that's about everything including the way to generate electricity on the island. (Fuel oil, diesel or NG)

Third, it's a pretty good travel distance, the singular farthest Carribean destination. It's not bad but it's just a consideration.

The locals are (in my experience) very nice and what they do there they do well.

The high end hotels & development are on the West Coast, the eastern side beaches are too wild for human swimming. The landscape is nice.

Get a rental car and drive the place (left hand roads like the UK)

I'd probably (if going with your aged kids) look to get a house.

I'm going back next year, now you've got me missing it.

Ironically, this is the 50th Anniversary of Barbadian Independence. I once asked a cab driver there what he remembered about that day in 1966. He said "It rained." I took that as "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss."