Repeat visitors reflect on changing Bermuda

For the last 45 years Bermuda has been Bill and Trish Huestis’s ‘happy place’.

And that is why the couple have returned to the island more than 60 times to spend their holidays.

Mr Huestis told the Bermuda Sun: “We just love the place.

“When we get here it’s like pressing the delete button and we don’t worry about anything going on back home.

“We love the beautiful beaches and climate. We love the people and have made some great friends here too.

“It’s become a second home and somewhere we can just relax.”

Mr and Mrs Huestis, who met in New York when he was a Wall Street stockbroker and she was a stewardess for Eastern Airlines, first holidayed in Bermuda in 1968.

They have returned to the island almost every year since and seen it change significantly during that time.

Mr Huestis added: “We were lucky because with Trish working for Eastern we never really had to pay for our trip. I used to enjoy the formality of Bermuda.

“You would not dream of going out for a meal without a suit and tie when we first started coming here.

“That has changed now, but that is not such a bad thing.

“What has also changed over the years is the perception of Bermuda, especially recently.

“I remember the headlines in the paper used to be about a woman having her purse snatched. It’s a bit different now. People back home do ask us whether Bermuda is safe when we come out here nowadays, that never happened before. We tell them we have never felt
uncomfortable here and we have always been happy here

“But things have changed and Bermuda is facing the same economic and job challenges everyone else is now.”

Earlier this week the couple returned to the Surf Side Beach Club, where they stayed for more than 25 years of Bermuda vacations, to mark Mr Huestis’s 70th birthday.

Surf Side hosted the special event and the couple, who now live in Virginia, were presented with an engraved Bermuda book.

Mr Huestis, a former Vietnam War veteran, added: “We always loved coming to Surf Side.

“They treated us well and we would always stay in the same two rooms.

“Bermuda has been our happy place for so many years now and it is somewhere we can just get away from it all.” n