Labor Day weekend is often a time students look forward to: a time to relax, hang out with friends and hopefully get one final tan in. Some prefer to take a staycation, and there is no better place to do that than Charleston. But others prefer to go away for the weekend, traveling to new places and trying new things. For us, we like to travel to Bald Head Island, North Carolina.

Some believe that vacation only truly starts once the journey is complete, but for us, it started once we hit the Sewee Outpost Gas Station. After capturing the beginning of our trip to Tim McGraw’s “Something Like That,” we set back off on our journey. After three hours of music, yapping, and one angry cat who would not quiet down, we finally reached Southport, North Carolina. But our journey was not quite done. We then loaded all of our luggage (and ourselves) onto the Bald Head Island ferry and set off on our 20-minute boat trip over to the island. After getting settled into our villa that we would be staying in for the weekend, we drove the golf cart to grab a quick lunch before exploring the island. The Jailhouse is a semi-new restaurant on the island that serves seafood, burgers, and a couple of different vegetarian options. Grace had the grilled chicken sandwich with their house-made chips, a 10/10, and Talia had the impossible meat burger, describing it as the best meal she has ever had. It is connected to a cafe called Midway, which not only specializes in coffee but also serves amazing ice cream.

Once full, we took off to see what Bald Head had to offer. From East Beach to West Beach, the island was full of shops, pools, tennis and pickleball courts, beaches, a golf course, and bike rides accompanied by the most amazing views of the Atlantic Ocean. First, we stopped at the shops, collecting souvenirs to remember our weekend. If you ever find yourself on Bald Head Island, we recommend stopping by the Turtle Conservancy on East Beach. Not only do they have amazing t-shirts and trinkets, but they also help support the work the Conservancy is doing to protect the environment. It is also conveniently located next to Mike’s Bites, which serves the best Italian ice you will ever find. However, you have to catch him at the right time, because he is only open from Memorial Day to Labor Day every year. After checking out all the beautiful spots around the island, we decided it was time to take a break and relax in the villa. And what better way to relax than watching a good movie? We then spent the rest of our afternoon watching Barbie Princess Charm School and painting our nails. That night we cooked up some delicious Fettuccine Alfredo, with chicken for Grace and vegetarian for Talia. We then ran across the street to the beach to catch the last rays of sunset. After family movie night featuring Mark Wallburg’s new movie The Union, we fell asleep thinking about all the things we would do tomorrow.

The next morning started with a bang and had us walking three miles to grab a delicious breakfast at Midway. The order line was very long so we had to wait for a little bit, but the air conditioning helped to cool us down from our walk. Talia had a Mediterranean toast and Grace had a bacon and egg avocado toast, and both were very delicious and worth the trek. After refueling ourselves, we made our way back to the villa adding a short run in the home stretch because it was so hot. And with a problem like that, there’s only one solution: a nice dunk in the pool. We headed over to the pool and laid down our towels to get some sun while listening in to the conversations around us. After about an hour we jumped into the pool and swam for a bit to cool off. After drying off and enjoying the sun a little bit more, we drove back to the villa and ate some pasta salad while watching yet another Barbie movie. With the 12 Dancing Princesses on in the background, we relaxed and did some online shopping before our next activity.

Next, we headed out to ice cream, where Talia got a strawberry ice cream and Grace got a chocolate milkshake (both great choices). From there we walked to Sandpiper’s, another boutique on the island, and we shopped for a little bit longer but didn’t buy anything. After that, we drove around the island a little bit more and looked at some of the gorgeous houses near the ferry port. Even though we had just eaten dessert, we went back to the villa to have some delightful jambalaya. After those busy couple of days, we had a calm night of doing our hair, painting our nails again, and watching Baby Driver (which is a great movie that you should definitely watch). That brought our last night at Bald Head to an end.

The next morning we woke up around 9 am and sat in bed for an hour until it came time to decide when we wanted to head home. Our ferry ride was scheduled for 4:30, but you are able to get in the general admission line with no guarantee that you will make it on the next one. At 10:45, Grace made the executive decision that we would catch the 11:30 ferry, so we hurried to get ready and pack and then rushed to the ferry line where we waited in the sprinkling rain to get on the boat. Since it was Labor Day weekend, the ferries were behind but we were able to hop on at noon and get back to Southport, NC where we drove home while listening to Sabrina Carpenter!

Now, if you are looking for a nice place to escape for a long weekend, Bald Head Island is a great choice. No cars, plenty of sun, and many scenic routes to take as you traverse through the island sounds perfect. We had an amazing trip, and if you ever head out there, make sure to check out all the fun places mentioned in this article!