Surprise Trip Report-Part 1 -Trying to get there!

[PSUWethr]

Well, I finally revealed the secret to hubby the Wednesday before we left. I wanted to wait longer but Hurricane Irene was over the islands and all indications were that she was coming up the east cost and would be parked over us on Monday when we were supposed to leave. He was surprised and excited but realized we had allot to do to get ready for he trip. On Friday I received an email from USAirways that my flight out of Philly has issues and I needed to contact them right away. So I get on the phone and after 2 hours on hold I finally talk to a lady (who is in Phoenix) and I tell her that there is something wrong with my flight on Monday due to the hurricane. She replies, "what hurricane?". I say Hurricane Irene. She says, well it is over the Caribbean so it shouldn't be affecting Philly. I tell her that come Monday the hurricane will be near Philly and the email says I need to reschedule. She says she checked with dispatch and there is nothing wrong with the flight on Monday. I said ok and that I will keep monitoring the conditions. Later that Friday, I get a call from USAirways that my Monday flight is cancelled due to weather. I call back right away and talk to a really nice guy who talks again to dispatch. Apparently, the plane that is to be used for the 6:30 flight from Philly to Charlotte NC will be kept somewhere else due to the storm. But the good news is that the 5:30 flight to Charlotte is still running and they rebooked us. I was hesitant at first since Philly is the type of airport that has delay issues on a sunny day, but what the heck. I am ready to get out of town! Now it is Saturday at noon. I get another call from USAirways to tell me the rebooked flight is now cancelled and to call them right away. After 8 months of planning and keeping this trip a secret I will do anything to get the heck out of Pennsylvania for two weeks. I talk to another agent who tells me that Philly airport will be closed as of 4pm that day (Sat.) and will not reopen until midnight Wed. I ask what my alternatives are and she says there is a flight on Wednesday that we could take. I am not happy but as long as we get to STJ on Wednesday, we can still make the Virgin Gorda Ferry on Thursday. I reluctantly say ok and by the time she starts rebooking us, all the seats sold out. Now the earliest they could get us out is very late Friday nigh and arrive in St. Thomas Sat. morning. I tell her that that won't work since I have a really nice 4 day vacation planned on Virgin Gorda and I can't reschedule it. Now I am just frustrated. I never thought a hurricane in Pennsylvania would mess up my trip. I talked with hubby and we decided we would do whatever it takes to get to the islands on Monday. So I had the agent keep our original flight from Charlotte to St. Thomas on Monday and we decided that we are going to drive 9 hours, through the back end of a hurricane to get to Charlotte. Luckily, my sister in law lives in SW. Virginia. We drove the 7 hours to her house first thing on Sunday. We had to dodge large trees on the interstate and power was out most places. We are about 2 hours into the trip and our friend from home calls to tell us there is no power at home now. Great....I am on my way out of town for 10 days and the power is out. We have a large koi pond outside, a fish tank inside, a turtle tank inside, two dogs and cats in the house with no ac (we live in a 200 year old stone farmhouse that heats up like an oven when it is sunny out) and a screwy alarm system that will probably go off when the power comes back on indefinitely yelling BURGLAR, BURGLAR, VACATE THE PREMISES for an hour until our pet sitter can turn it off. At this point there is nothing we can do and we keep driving. We get to my sister in laws house and spend a few hours there getting sleep before we get up early on Monday to finish the drive down to Charlotte. Our power ended being off for only 12 hours and our awesome pet sitter and handyman made sure everything came back on. Monday morning at 5 we were out the door and got to the airport in great time. One thing I observed was the COMPLETE DIFFERENCE in Charlotte airport and Philly. Charlotte has their act together. Security was a breeze, the people were nice and it only took us 20 minutes to check in and get to the gate, and that was even with the full body scans. The other nice thing is the price of parking. Here in Allentown or Philly you pay up to $20 per day to park in bumf*&( nowhere. Down in Charlotte, we got premium parking in the airport deck for $6 a day! That savings more than paid for the gas on the way down. So we made the flight, made it to STT, and enjoyed he shot of pineapple rum at the airport. Got a taxi and headed over to Red Hook. Of course, we are on the slowest taxi on STT. and we are the only ferry people. The other groups are dropped off at Sapphire and Bolongo Bay, so we miss the first ferry by 5 minutes. (That seems to happen every time. Our luggage is always last off the plan and by that point you get thrown into a taxi with people going everywhere). But we did make the next ferry and were greeted by mom and dad and drove North Shore over to Island Dreams in Coral Bay. Once I saw the beautiful water, donkeys on the side of the road, and that firs view of Coral Bay, I realize all the hassle was worth it......to be continued.

[PA Girl]

How did your little one handle that car ride?!?!

Like I mentioned to you before, we always keep our eye on the drive-to-Charlotte option when watching winter storms that can shut down all our airport options.

[vi lover]

What a start!!! I can just imagine your sudden feeling of achievement and then contentment once you go to Coral Bay. Ahhhh.....

[JJShaw]

Im glad to hear you made it...
I had wondered how you were doing and how he took the surprise...and how the weather had affected you
A 9 hr drive...goodness...the things we do to get there...lol

[Lovermont]

Smart & inspired move. I bet many of us would have been happy to drive 9 hours and know that we weren't going to miss any days of our vacation on STJ. So happy it worked out!

[jmq]

Good start on the TR – looking forward to the rest of it, especially Virgin Gorda.

That said, if you can give these old eyes a break and use some extra paragraph space breaks in your text it would be much appreciated and visually will make for a much easier read.

And to avoid “losing” a longer entry post by having it time out before you hit submit, it has been suggested here to write it up in Word and copy/paste it in. That way you have a copy of it too. Thanks!

[SOonthebeach]

That drive was sure worth it! Congrats on getting there when you wanted to through all of that! And I am guessing you saved some airfare?? All works out in the end....