We’re thrilled to spotlight escapism contributor Natalie Preddie as she launches her new series, Beyond The Resort, that aims to provide an authentic look at the Caribbean. Read her message below.
There’s a version of the Caribbean most travelers know well: infinity pools, rum punch on arrival, postcard beaches. And while there’s nothing wrong with rest, Beyond the Resort was born from a deeper question: What happens when we step outside the gates and what happens when we return to a place after life has changed us?
The premise of the new video series is simple but deeply personal. In our first season in Saint Lucia, I invite my friend, Kayla Williams, back to the island where she once took her engagement photos, glowing and on the cusp of marriage. Five years later, she's standing at the edge of a new chapter. This isn’t just a trip. It's an opportunity to rediscover herself through a different lens, and to rediscover the island beyond its resort walls.
As a Black Canadian travel journalist with Caribbean roots, I’ve long felt the gap between how the region is marketed and how it actually lives and breathes. The Caribbean is not a backdrop. It is layered, political, resilient and deeply creative. Beyond the Resort uses Kayla’s personal evolution as a mirror for the island’s own story of strength and reinvention.
In Saint Lucia, that meant climbing Gros Piton, a physically demanding hike that became a metaphor for resilience. It meant staying at Stonefield Villa Resort, a property founded by a Black Saint Lucian family, where hospitality is rooted in legacy, not luxury branding. It meant sitting down at Coal Pot, a woman-owned waterfront restaurant where vibrant décor, fishing nets overhead and Creole dishes like fresh-caught fish and green fig tell stories of heritage and pride.
Food becomes the entry point. In the Caribbean, eating is never just consumption. It is a connection — to land, to colonial history, to migration, to survival. Sugarcane fields hold complicated truths. Cocoa carries both pain and possibility. A shared meal can feel like reclamation.
Through Kayla’s journey, viewers are reminded that travel can be restorative — not because of the setting alone, but because of the stories we allow ourselves to step into.
Beyond the Resort challenges the idea that luxury lives behind gates. True richness exists in community, in ownership, in lived connection. And sometimes, healing begins when we choose to go deeper.
Watch the first four episodes of Beyond the Resort on March 1.
