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kellyanna's Final Trip Report with Villa Pictures
kellyanna's Final Trip Report with Villa Pictures
May 5-12, 2007.
I've been dreading this report as it will be the last one for this trip.
On Saturday, May 12, we were all up, packed and ready to go before schedule. We had breakfast at JJ's again. Wontongirl's husband dropped us and our luggage off on the corner and he returned the car to Courtesy. JJ's was very accommodating regarding our luggage as long as we kept it out of the way.
We decided to leave our "Jorge?" green trucker hat on the carved totem pole thing. Instead of giving it to someone directly, we left it to fate.
Wontongirl's husband walked to the ferry dock and brought back a porter to help us with our luggage. He waited in line for our tickets so we could visit St. John Spice and St. John Kids. Both shops are wonderful! St. John Kids has the cutest things for kids. We bought our daughter a Sloop Jones dress and it is adorable. While we were browsing Ruth came in to say "hello". I didn't know Wontongirl had told her we were next door. You can tell she is so genuine and kind. Well, we spent more time in St. John Kids and only had a few minutes for St. John Spice. We forgot to buy Cruz Bay Grill Rub! Not to worry, when we got home, I emailed Ruth and placed an order. There is nothing like that Cruz Bay Grill Rub! Don't forget to take some home! And as everyone has mentioned, Ruth has really cute things in her store (hat, shirts, dresses, skirts, books, purses and lots more great items!)
We saw BOATSRUS at the ferry dock and said our "goodbye". Getting tickets and boarding the ferry to Red Hook was chaotic as many of you have described but it all worked out. Eddie from Wheatley's Taxi was waiting for us and had a porter grab our luggage as soon as he arrived at Red Hook. Eddie is the MAN!
We had Eddie take us to the new Yacht Haven Grandbefore taking us to the airport. Stores are still opening. Some will be higher end stores, but they had a Chico's and we found a pair of Wontongirl's floral pants Jorge admired. Jorge, hope we got the right size!
If I thought the ferry situation was chaotic-the airport at STT was much worse. Get a Porter! It is only $4 a bag. The Porter is worth $20 per bag...easily! Thank Goodness for this forum and Wontongirl and her husband for guiding us through that process. If you like to see people sweating, don't miss the airport! We sweated out any toxins left in our body. Again, it all worked out. We made it to customs and my husband stood in line at the snack bar so I could eat before our flight! Just a little snack! Everyone else ate a little bit, too. And we ran into Jorge, Barbara, Paula and Billy before their flight!
Just a few last items...
1. Brad bought a pair of earrings for me from R.&I. Patton at Mongoose Junction. Well, I lost one of them on the trip! I called R.&I Patton today and Brenda so graciously sold me a single earring. Many places don't sell just one! It is going in the mail today! What a great reminder from our trip! I can't wait to visit their store again! Wonderful customer service and truly appreciated! Thank you!
2. This is what is left of my kellyanna hat. I won't be wearing it this summer. It looks terrible!
You'd think I got drunk and stomped on it!
3. L'Esprit de la Vie Villa was fantastic.
Offered through Carefree Getaway's and is for sale ($3.5 M I think), L'Esprit de la Vie is a 4 bedroom (air-conditioned), 4.5 bath villa with a 36' crescent infinity pool (with warm water) with 180 degree sun and moonrise views overlooking Ditliff Point and Rendezvous Bay on the South Shore. It seemed very private.
The kitchen was well equipped and looked out onto a large great room with a dining room table for 8,
a sitting area for reading, visiting or gazing at the ocean and then onto another sitting area with an armoire with a TV entertainment center.
Along one wall, 4 large curved screen mahogany doors to a covered veranda which overlooked the pool, hot tub and ocean. The decor was a mahogany west indies Caribbean feel. Very nice. The bedrooms had four poster beds with mosquito netting which was exotic and functional! View from our bedroom door.
Double vanities in each bedroom bathroom and large walk-in showers.
Don't forget the mosquito coil!
My pictures don't do justice. Some of them seem blurry. I took these pics on the last day and I must have been shaking from crying because we had to leave. The website gives much better detail.
http://www.carefreegetaways.com/lespritdelavie.htm
Carefree Getaway's and Paco were great to work with. Wontongirl arranged everything and has used them a few times before for Bongo Bongo. During the week, we had to have something FedEx'd to Carefree Getaway's office and they called to let us know it arrived.
4. Courtesy Car Rental. Excellent!
Again, Wontongirl arranged the car. We rented a Montero and it worked well with our group. Courtesy has very convenient parking in their lot. One night before dinner, the keys were locked in the car while it was running at our villa. We decided to prepare a quick beverage and before we had the first drink, Courtesy was in the driveway with the car door opened! That's service!
5. Christy's of St. John was delicious for villa provisionings!
6. Wheatley's Taxi on STT! Eddie is Superb!
7. Use the porters at the airport!
8. Ladies, bring your nail polish for possible touch ups. My nail polish chipped off within a couple of days and it was driving me crazy. We found nail polish at the drugstore above Starfish Market.
9. Thank you to this Forum! We've made so many friends!
10. We are eternally grateful to Wontongirl and her husband for sharing St John with us! We had heard so many stories from their previous trips and we just didn't get it. As others have said before, now we get it!
Thanks for reading!
I've been dreading this report as it will be the last one for this trip.
On Saturday, May 12, we were all up, packed and ready to go before schedule. We had breakfast at JJ's again. Wontongirl's husband dropped us and our luggage off on the corner and he returned the car to Courtesy. JJ's was very accommodating regarding our luggage as long as we kept it out of the way.
We decided to leave our "Jorge?" green trucker hat on the carved totem pole thing. Instead of giving it to someone directly, we left it to fate.
Wontongirl's husband walked to the ferry dock and brought back a porter to help us with our luggage. He waited in line for our tickets so we could visit St. John Spice and St. John Kids. Both shops are wonderful! St. John Kids has the cutest things for kids. We bought our daughter a Sloop Jones dress and it is adorable. While we were browsing Ruth came in to say "hello". I didn't know Wontongirl had told her we were next door. You can tell she is so genuine and kind. Well, we spent more time in St. John Kids and only had a few minutes for St. John Spice. We forgot to buy Cruz Bay Grill Rub! Not to worry, when we got home, I emailed Ruth and placed an order. There is nothing like that Cruz Bay Grill Rub! Don't forget to take some home! And as everyone has mentioned, Ruth has really cute things in her store (hat, shirts, dresses, skirts, books, purses and lots more great items!)
We saw BOATSRUS at the ferry dock and said our "goodbye". Getting tickets and boarding the ferry to Red Hook was chaotic as many of you have described but it all worked out. Eddie from Wheatley's Taxi was waiting for us and had a porter grab our luggage as soon as he arrived at Red Hook. Eddie is the MAN!
We had Eddie take us to the new Yacht Haven Grandbefore taking us to the airport. Stores are still opening. Some will be higher end stores, but they had a Chico's and we found a pair of Wontongirl's floral pants Jorge admired. Jorge, hope we got the right size!
If I thought the ferry situation was chaotic-the airport at STT was much worse. Get a Porter! It is only $4 a bag. The Porter is worth $20 per bag...easily! Thank Goodness for this forum and Wontongirl and her husband for guiding us through that process. If you like to see people sweating, don't miss the airport! We sweated out any toxins left in our body. Again, it all worked out. We made it to customs and my husband stood in line at the snack bar so I could eat before our flight! Just a little snack! Everyone else ate a little bit, too. And we ran into Jorge, Barbara, Paula and Billy before their flight!
Just a few last items...
1. Brad bought a pair of earrings for me from R.&I. Patton at Mongoose Junction. Well, I lost one of them on the trip! I called R.&I Patton today and Brenda so graciously sold me a single earring. Many places don't sell just one! It is going in the mail today! What a great reminder from our trip! I can't wait to visit their store again! Wonderful customer service and truly appreciated! Thank you!
2. This is what is left of my kellyanna hat. I won't be wearing it this summer. It looks terrible!
You'd think I got drunk and stomped on it!
3. L'Esprit de la Vie Villa was fantastic.
Offered through Carefree Getaway's and is for sale ($3.5 M I think), L'Esprit de la Vie is a 4 bedroom (air-conditioned), 4.5 bath villa with a 36' crescent infinity pool (with warm water) with 180 degree sun and moonrise views overlooking Ditliff Point and Rendezvous Bay on the South Shore. It seemed very private.
The kitchen was well equipped and looked out onto a large great room with a dining room table for 8,
a sitting area for reading, visiting or gazing at the ocean and then onto another sitting area with an armoire with a TV entertainment center.
Along one wall, 4 large curved screen mahogany doors to a covered veranda which overlooked the pool, hot tub and ocean. The decor was a mahogany west indies Caribbean feel. Very nice. The bedrooms had four poster beds with mosquito netting which was exotic and functional! View from our bedroom door.
Double vanities in each bedroom bathroom and large walk-in showers.
Don't forget the mosquito coil!
My pictures don't do justice. Some of them seem blurry. I took these pics on the last day and I must have been shaking from crying because we had to leave. The website gives much better detail.
http://www.carefreegetaways.com/lespritdelavie.htm
Carefree Getaway's and Paco were great to work with. Wontongirl arranged everything and has used them a few times before for Bongo Bongo. During the week, we had to have something FedEx'd to Carefree Getaway's office and they called to let us know it arrived.
4. Courtesy Car Rental. Excellent!
Again, Wontongirl arranged the car. We rented a Montero and it worked well with our group. Courtesy has very convenient parking in their lot. One night before dinner, the keys were locked in the car while it was running at our villa. We decided to prepare a quick beverage and before we had the first drink, Courtesy was in the driveway with the car door opened! That's service!
5. Christy's of St. John was delicious for villa provisionings!
6. Wheatley's Taxi on STT! Eddie is Superb!
7. Use the porters at the airport!
8. Ladies, bring your nail polish for possible touch ups. My nail polish chipped off within a couple of days and it was driving me crazy. We found nail polish at the drugstore above Starfish Market.
9. Thank you to this Forum! We've made so many friends!
10. We are eternally grateful to Wontongirl and her husband for sharing St John with us! We had heard so many stories from their previous trips and we just didn't get it. As others have said before, now we get it!
Thanks for reading!
I knew I was going to forget something.
VIBE is who we chartered our bvi day trip with. Captain Sam and Captain DeShon were awesome!
http://www.caribbean-vibe.com/ContactUs.html
VIBE is who we chartered our bvi day trip with. Captain Sam and Captain DeShon were awesome!
http://www.caribbean-vibe.com/ContactUs.html
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cypressgirl
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Kentuckygirl
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Great reports on what was obviously a great trip!
As to that October trip...when I picked out the dates quite some time ago, I had events on either end of the dates I selected that I had to work around. No big deal, I still went in the general timeframe I was shooting for, I just had to settle for my second choice villa...
Now the event that was scheduled for right after we'll be there has been cancelled. So, not only could we have been in the first choice villa, but it appears that we'd have been there when several of these crazy forumites will be there, that we will just miss!
I guess there's a reason for everything, maybe my liver will be grateful!
As to that October trip...when I picked out the dates quite some time ago, I had events on either end of the dates I selected that I had to work around. No big deal, I still went in the general timeframe I was shooting for, I just had to settle for my second choice villa...
Now the event that was scheduled for right after we'll be there has been cancelled. So, not only could we have been in the first choice villa, but it appears that we'd have been there when several of these crazy forumites will be there, that we will just miss!
I guess there's a reason for everything, maybe my liver will be grateful!
Come see us!
No hat or cap is safe with you
Hey Kellyana,
Really enjoyed every one of your reports. Have you planned your itinerary for your next trip to St John?
Really enjoyed every one of your reports. Have you planned your itinerary for your next trip to St John?