Max Freedberg hops on an overloaded route taxi (ZR) with a bunch of his friends, heading for another Barbados adventure.
The only slight bother is that he might find himself being squashed by the next passenger dropping on to his lap, as the ZR conductor packs the vehicle.
It is a far cry from what he is used to while ravelling on a train, a bus, or in the comfort of a family car at home in Wayland, Massachusetts. Nonetheless he regards it as a minor detraction in the whole Barbados experience. To the 19-year-old, this is just a slight inconvenience.
It is the bigger picture of a Barbados in which he says he feels safe going out with friends he has made here; that is of greater importance to him.
“It has been great. I have not been to as many places in the world as my parents, but the best part of coming down here is we feel right at home. It is a comfortable environment. We get to know people on the island.”
Laila and Carl Freedberg introduced their son to Barbados when he was just three months old. He is one of the four Freedberg children for whom Barbados has been an instructive part of their growing-up experience.
Carl Freedberg first came here 32 years ago and he keeps coming back with his family.
He said: “I saw an advertisement in a windsurfing magazine for the Mistral Club in Oistins. I came and it was wonderful, and the rest is history.”
Three decades ago, Freedberg would have found a less developed Barbados.
The Berinda Cox Fishing Complex was then the Oistins Fish Market; in the Silver Sands area in Christ Church where he stayed, there was more brush and open areas than houses and he saw way less traffic on the roads. His first impression was of people who were “very welcoming” and a “safe” island.
The Barbadian landscape may have changed drastically since then but what was most important to him has not.
“I would say this island has not changed a lot except for the growth of housing, the cars and the population, but the warmth of the people and the climate has not changed.”
Freedberg’s wife Laila agrees. They had not yet met when he first visited Barbados, but she too was smitten when he eventually brought her.
She says: “Barbados has not changed in the spirit but it has grown richer and you are seeing signs of economic development.
“I would say Carl started coming before I knew him, but from the beginning to now, there is clearly development in a positive direction.
“One of the things that we always told our friends and we spoke amongst ourselves, was how even the less developed parts of Barbados felt safe, well maintained.
“It did not have an atmosphere of Third World; it had an atmosphere where people were proud, connected to their neighbourhoods.”
Her family was at once touched by that neighbourliness as people in the Silver Sands area reached out to them and befriended their four children, whom the couple say still “feel very close to this country”.
On this umpteenth Barbados holiday, the Freedbergs are again living in Silver Sands “where we pretty much raised our kids and that was part of our community,” Laila observed.
Children from the neighbourhood have always walked right into the Freedberg holiday home to say hello and to welcome their children.
Last week Max was clearly disappointed to learn from his mother that he had missed his windsurfing instructor, who had brought his months-old baby to the house to introduce to the family.
This is the Barbadian who taught him to windsurf when he was quite young and he would have loved to have seen the baby.
His dad chimed in, saying: “I have been to many islands and it is maybe not the most exotic island, but it has mostly everything the other islands have” while his wife followed, comparing the Berinda Cox Fishing Complex with the former Oistins Fish Market where she remembered the selection of fish used to be more limited, compared with today’s lively operation and the hive of activity that is the Oistins Bay Garden.
“Barbados has not changed in the spirit but it has grown richer. You can see some downsides, like so much traffic in Oistins, but that also reflects development and that the economy is allowing people to be better off,” Naila said.
For this family, safety, a number one priority, especially when it comes to the children, is one factor which encourages them to keep coming back.
Giving his endorsement, Carl said: “There is no place that is totally safe and we feel safe here as any place in the world that we have been to, or safer. We know there is petty crime, there are people that steal, but not a lot of people out to hurt anybody.”
He added: “I feel I am coming to a country where there is a sense of identity. Of all the places we have been, we feel most at home and comfortable in this country.”