The last day on St. John was picture perfect. The trip came full circle when we decided to spend it back at Trunk Bay St John.  My friend Sara also brought her camera and the two of us set out to document our last afternoon. Floaties were out. Frisbees were flying. We pretty much tried to cram in every beach activity before we said “Until next time!” to paradise.

The majority of us currently live in New York City and we see each other fairly often. And for the ones that don’t, they spend a fair amount of time passing through. So you could say this trip was a reunion of sorts but not by traditional standards. My mom always said that there are two things that could make or break relationships and that’s living with someone or traveling with them. I’ve always found that to be true in seeing the friendships between people I know change over the years. Sometimes it’s a good thing; other times, it’s kind of tragic. But knowing that a group of close friends can go on a biennial trip to the same place — as in voluntarily go back to a routine with people they mostly see all the time — is comforting. And maybe that’s not such a bad thing after all.