usvi-on-line
Day 1: The waiting is the hardest part
Day 1: The waiting is the hardest part
well the flight delays are over, the groceries are restocked, the washer and dryer and both spinning. Time to start the trip report!
11/23/07 - up at 4, car came to pick us up at 5:00 and we were off to PHL airport. Super easy check in and security. We were at our gate by 7 and we were in the air around 8:30 if I recall correctly.
Smooth flight to CLT where we were due to meet up with some forumites. I headed right to the ladies room, of course, and then we headed to the bar right near our gate. I knew there was a "meeting place" but I wasn't 100% sure of its location but I happened on the right place. Walked in to the Budweiser bar where we met up with Brenda and Gary and Captain and MrsJay.
We were sharing a land taxi and water taxi with Brenda, and Pam (Onthelake) so we wanted to catch up with each other in the airport. Pam was delayed but I did see her for a split second in the airport.
We ordered some bagels sandwiches "to go" and headed to the gate. What are the chances that Brenda, us and the Captain would all be sitting within rows of each other on this plane. Rows 7, 8 and 9 were well represented on this flight.
We all settled in to our seats and then we waited. And waited and waited and waited. About 50 minutes later we were finally in the air.
Once we were going it was a pretty uneventful flight. I'm sure I slept part of the way but I don't recall. When we landed and finally got off the plane I was surprised I didn't get hit with that blast of hot air going down the steps. Rather it was breezy and quite a lovely evening. Grabbed my rum punch and while Charlie waited for bags I went to find Rachel, our taxi lady. I didn't see her around so I called and she was just pulling in the parking area. We all had our bags within 10 minutes I'd say, very fast, and we were off with Rachel to the National Park dock to get our water taxi.
It was dark by the time we got there but Chris (?) from Dolphin shuttle was there waiting for us. He loaded up the bags and the people and we were on our way to St. John. It was about 6:15pm by now so the travel day was a long one!
The water taxi was fun but all the luggage was at the back and I couldn't take my eye off it thinking it was going to fly off the back of the boat! But no worries it all was fine.
Got to the STJ side where the Gallows taxi was waiting for us. We were checked in to our harbor lower unit (10A) within minutes. We liked the unit very much.
We didn't hang around the room long. We freshened up and walked down to the Banana Deck for some tasty beverages and dinner where we were greeted by Vic. He asked us how our day was and I think I groaned and said "we just got here and it's been a long day". To which he said "you aren't Mary Beth and Charlie by chance are you?" LOL Wow, that was a shocker. We were never at Banana Deck before so I knew he didn't remember us from last year so I asked if someone had been there looking for us. He said Ruth was there the night before and told him we were coming
That was a nice greeting on our first day!
We enjoyed tasty beverages. I have no idea what Charlie was drinking but I had Absolut Citron and Ting. YUM!
Charlie had a gorganzola rib eye and I had a greek salad with chicken which was great. Light and tasty and just what I needed at that point!
After dinner we walked around town a little bit. We saw SlimMan in his parking lot and we walked over to reintroduce ourselves. We had talked with him a lot last year and wanted to say hello. We chatted with him about his limo services and his music and told him we'd be back to park when we had a car. He's a great guy.
We poked our heads in a few shops but I couldn't focus on a darn thing so we headed to the beach bar. A lady by the name of Cat was performing and she was a pleasure to listen to. I was dying for a BBC and Charlie grabbed himself a VI Pale Ale. I don't know how many times I reminded him it was VI Pale Ale but he ordered a St. John Pale Ale! He quickly corrected himself and the bartender said "I got ya dude... I know what you want".
We took our drinks to the beach and we were just settling in enjoying the night air when I spotted Kenny up on the deck. No not THAT Kenny but Kenny is a guy we met last year when he was playing Sunday Jazz. We also saw him the next night at La Tapa and he sat down at our table for a chat. We found out that he's from NJ (exit 9 Perth Amboy) and that all his kids (and grandkids) still live there. Well Kenny was a hoot and when I pointed out to Charlie that he was sitting on the ledge up by the bar he said "do you think I can go say hello to Kenny?". I told him to have at it and next thing I knew Kenny was joining us on the beach! I can't say that Kenny remembered us but it didn't matter. All I had to say was "don't you have family up near exit 9??" Kenny was thrilled to hang with us for a while and was telling us some good stories about St. John as well as his old days around the Jersey Shore including some stints at the Stone Pony!
After a while I had to tell Kenny I had been up since 4 and I had to call it a night. Hugs all around and Kenny said he'd see us around while we were on island. Unfortunately we didn't see him around again before we left.
We walked back to Gallows and boom.....LIGHTS OUT!
Long day but our trip was off to a fantastic start. We felt like we were back in a very familiar place and we sure were happy to be there!
11/23/07 - up at 4, car came to pick us up at 5:00 and we were off to PHL airport. Super easy check in and security. We were at our gate by 7 and we were in the air around 8:30 if I recall correctly.
Smooth flight to CLT where we were due to meet up with some forumites. I headed right to the ladies room, of course, and then we headed to the bar right near our gate. I knew there was a "meeting place" but I wasn't 100% sure of its location but I happened on the right place. Walked in to the Budweiser bar where we met up with Brenda and Gary and Captain and MrsJay.
We were sharing a land taxi and water taxi with Brenda, and Pam (Onthelake) so we wanted to catch up with each other in the airport. Pam was delayed but I did see her for a split second in the airport.
We ordered some bagels sandwiches "to go" and headed to the gate. What are the chances that Brenda, us and the Captain would all be sitting within rows of each other on this plane. Rows 7, 8 and 9 were well represented on this flight.
We all settled in to our seats and then we waited. And waited and waited and waited. About 50 minutes later we were finally in the air.
Once we were going it was a pretty uneventful flight. I'm sure I slept part of the way but I don't recall. When we landed and finally got off the plane I was surprised I didn't get hit with that blast of hot air going down the steps. Rather it was breezy and quite a lovely evening. Grabbed my rum punch and while Charlie waited for bags I went to find Rachel, our taxi lady. I didn't see her around so I called and she was just pulling in the parking area. We all had our bags within 10 minutes I'd say, very fast, and we were off with Rachel to the National Park dock to get our water taxi.
It was dark by the time we got there but Chris (?) from Dolphin shuttle was there waiting for us. He loaded up the bags and the people and we were on our way to St. John. It was about 6:15pm by now so the travel day was a long one!
The water taxi was fun but all the luggage was at the back and I couldn't take my eye off it thinking it was going to fly off the back of the boat! But no worries it all was fine.
Got to the STJ side where the Gallows taxi was waiting for us. We were checked in to our harbor lower unit (10A) within minutes. We liked the unit very much.
We didn't hang around the room long. We freshened up and walked down to the Banana Deck for some tasty beverages and dinner where we were greeted by Vic. He asked us how our day was and I think I groaned and said "we just got here and it's been a long day". To which he said "you aren't Mary Beth and Charlie by chance are you?" LOL Wow, that was a shocker. We were never at Banana Deck before so I knew he didn't remember us from last year so I asked if someone had been there looking for us. He said Ruth was there the night before and told him we were coming
That was a nice greeting on our first day!
We enjoyed tasty beverages. I have no idea what Charlie was drinking but I had Absolut Citron and Ting. YUM!
Charlie had a gorganzola rib eye and I had a greek salad with chicken which was great. Light and tasty and just what I needed at that point!
After dinner we walked around town a little bit. We saw SlimMan in his parking lot and we walked over to reintroduce ourselves. We had talked with him a lot last year and wanted to say hello. We chatted with him about his limo services and his music and told him we'd be back to park when we had a car. He's a great guy.
We poked our heads in a few shops but I couldn't focus on a darn thing so we headed to the beach bar. A lady by the name of Cat was performing and she was a pleasure to listen to. I was dying for a BBC and Charlie grabbed himself a VI Pale Ale. I don't know how many times I reminded him it was VI Pale Ale but he ordered a St. John Pale Ale! He quickly corrected himself and the bartender said "I got ya dude... I know what you want".
We took our drinks to the beach and we were just settling in enjoying the night air when I spotted Kenny up on the deck. No not THAT Kenny but Kenny is a guy we met last year when he was playing Sunday Jazz. We also saw him the next night at La Tapa and he sat down at our table for a chat. We found out that he's from NJ (exit 9 Perth Amboy) and that all his kids (and grandkids) still live there. Well Kenny was a hoot and when I pointed out to Charlie that he was sitting on the ledge up by the bar he said "do you think I can go say hello to Kenny?". I told him to have at it and next thing I knew Kenny was joining us on the beach! I can't say that Kenny remembered us but it didn't matter. All I had to say was "don't you have family up near exit 9??" Kenny was thrilled to hang with us for a while and was telling us some good stories about St. John as well as his old days around the Jersey Shore including some stints at the Stone Pony!
After a while I had to tell Kenny I had been up since 4 and I had to call it a night. Hugs all around and Kenny said he'd see us around while we were on island. Unfortunately we didn't see him around again before we left.
We walked back to Gallows and boom.....LIGHTS OUT!
Long day but our trip was off to a fantastic start. We felt like we were back in a very familiar place and we sure were happy to be there!
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captainjay
- Posts: 480
- Joined: Fri Feb 02, 2007 5:52 am
- Location: Saint Thomas, USVI
Mary Beth,
Glad you all made it back ok. It was nice meeting you both.
Jay
Glad you all made it back ok. It was nice meeting you both.
Jay
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msgcolleen
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I've been ready & waiting to hear about your trip! Sounds like a great start in paradise & yummy first supper! Keep 'em coming!
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for sharing!
I've got 2 tickets to paradise~Pack your bags we'll leave tonight!
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StJohnRuth
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