Monday, January 10, 2011: Exit Stage Left ... to St. Croix:
Up at 3am to get ready. UGH! Our flight is at 6am so we have to get to the airport by 4:30am! Thank goodness Bob (our brother-in-law) is going to take us! But at least we are going somewhere warm! Looks like home is going to get hammered with snow and ugly weather…we are definitely getting out of town at the right time. I would not want to go through Chicago in the snow! NO WAY! We’d never get out of here!
Thanks to Bob and Coco, we got to the airport without issue…pretty much anyway. It was just a little awkward hauling the cargo I call my suitcases in to the terminal…then to add insult to injury…despite the fact that I used the suitcase scale I purchased to weigh and re-weigh my bags several times, they were overweight - by 2 lbs. I’m throwing that scale away…and getting a digital one! So consequently I became the idiot in the airport check-in line transferring stuff from one bag to another! How humiliating. I didn’t stand there long though. The whole thing was stupid really. American had already charged me a $120 baggage fee (that’s their standard fees) and they wanted to charge me an extra $60 per bag for the HUGE overweight of 2 lbs. I probably could have paid an illegal immigrant $50 to get them all here - with less damage. (you should have seen the way the ticket counter people were tossing suitcases! And you always thought it was the baggage handlers that did the damage!) More later on my thoughts of AA. But I quickly gave up on trying to move the stuff…I told the guy I couldn’t transfer anymore and he finally let it pass. Oh well…you know me…something was bound to make the day worth writing about right!
So pride brutally beaten down and shoved in a quart sized plastic bag (appropriate for airline travel of course) we finally get our boarding passes (that did not print out initially – go figure - so that was another wait in line) and breezed through security. Which is actually where I expected the chaos to be!
Anyway…a few gate changes in Chicago and 11½ hours later, we are sitting in a bar in the San Juan, Puerto Rico airport enjoying a YUMMY margarita and quesadilla trying to kill a 3.5 hour layover. It was brutal though. Gerald became restless and wanted to walk around. All those duty free stores we passed and not being able to shop! Gerald was already complaining about the weight of the carry-on’s, so I didn’t dare get the duty free liquor, but when I said I could always get something a lot smaller and lighter … all the while ogling at the Columbian Emerald jewelry store across the hall with a sparkling glimmer in my eye…he became quiet and we moved quickly to our departing gate to wait the rest of the time left there. =)
Finally, at about 7pm, we landed in St. Croix. WAY warmer here than home! But we are so worn out from the day, we don’t care much! Kirby came to the airport to pick us up (thank gawd!). She brought a friend too - Andy. Andy is a young strapping man from Australia – who helped us haul the cargo up the 3 flights of stairs to the condo. I think it would have been left on the ground floor if it were left to me! Thank goodness it was not! But they all got up here, and now they are staring at me, waiting to be unpacked.
Kirby and Andy showed us around the condo. It’s not the Ritz, but it’s clean … and most importantly … there are clean sheets, clear drinkable water, it doesn’t stink, there are LOTS of kitchen utensils/bowls/pans and it’s uber quiet.
(Never expected HERMETICALLYSEALED!)
(LOOK AT ALL THESE KITCHEN UTENSILS!!!)
(Ready for company or visitors!!)
Unfortunately, we had declined Kirby’s offer to stop by the store on the way to the condo, so there was nothing to drink but water. Although Gerald was “helping me to unpack” (in his usual way) I got thirsty for a soda and sent him on a mission for a Coke or something. $3 later, I got my drink, but Gerald got taken for $2 by the soda machine. Worse than Vegas! Apparently, it didn’t like his dollar bills, but it did like the quarters of the security guard! Hurray for the security guard!
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