I’ve spent the last four days on the lovely St. John in the US Virgin Islands. I’ve been very lucky to come here on a vacation with my fiancée’s family. My only previous experience with the Caribbean has been the Bahamas, and whoa, this is a completely different trip! It’s a lot more quiet and beautiful here.

The clientele at this particular resort are older, and there’s not many folks in their 20’s and 30’s. The youngest travelers seem to be young parents in their late 30’s. The people who are around our age are usually expats from around the globe, many of who are in their late 20’s and 30’s and moved here for the exquisite beaches and sailing conditions.

While I’ve been here, I’ve been reminded of one important lesson. All the milestones that you think are real in your thirties – from getting married to having kids to landing that perfect VP level job – they aren’t real. They are just societally imposed. We met a married couple around our age, early 30’s, who ditched “cubicle life” (the husband was previously a medical biller in Queens, NY) to teaching sailing in St. John (they also teach sailing in Montauk, NY when the season is slower in St. John.) They stressed how important quality of life was to them.

We also discovered a couple in their 30’s (so it seemed) had just opened a PIZZA boat after the husband made his money in hedge funds and wanted out of the rat race. Basically, it’s a floating NYC pizza shop that will deliver via dingy. No joke. They studied at the Staten Island Pizza School and learned how to make perfect NYC pizza and then brought it to Christmas Cove in the US Virgin Islands. See their website here. As a pizza addict, I couldn’t have been more thrilled by this discovery.

We’re heading home tomorrow, back to reality. But for one more night, we’re here, in something close to tropical paradise. A place that reminds you that you can live whatever kind of life you want, at any age.