Made it home....SOAKED!

[PSUWethr]

Well, we continued our bizarre trip while coming home on Friday. We took the noon ferry over to Red Hook and got to the airport by 1pm fr our 3:50 flight. Got through immigration and customs with no problems. Then we went to a new security area (The old one is being redone so now there are only 2 xray machines and 1 people xray machine). Luckily we are early and make it through no problem. So we sit, and sit, and sit. Now it is 3:30 and the plane is still not here. Our plane finally showed up an hour late along with the American agent at the gate. (It would have been nice to hear once that we were going to be late). Anyway, they get theplane unloaded and then it is time to get us on board. They let a tom of people out the gate door and we arelined up about 30 deep at the front and rear set of steps when it started misting....then it started dripping, then it POURED!!!!! They would not let us back into the building and they were busy moving a cart on board the plane which prevented us from getting on the plane. So for 7 minutes we got rained on so hard, you could not see the other sideof the airport. We get on board and we could not even get a blanket for our 3 year old who is now screaming cause the water is pouring off her head. Luckily a nice passenger on first class gave up their blanket for her. We decided that once we got to Miami we would buy new t-shirts so we could have one piece of dry clothing, but now that our plane was so late our 2 hour layover was shortened to a half hour. Once we got to Miami we barely got to the gate on time after buying some cheap t-shirts. We then got to Newark at midnight and got home after our 1.5 hour drive.

Wow, what a trip...definitely a memorable one. Don't have another trip planned yet, but may tag along with mom and dad when they go back down in January. (those lucky peeps are still down for another 4 weeks )

Moral of our trip....go back to using USAirways out of Philly, have the numbers of all local airlines with me at all times, have a change of clothes in my carry on, drink more rum!)

[SOonthebeach]

Man! Sounds like you had an amazing time on-island bookended by some pretty rough travel days. I can't believe American made ya'll stand out in the pouring rain for that long!!!!

[toni]

Wow, I would have been SOOOO not happy at that rain!

Glad you're home safe and sound though.

Time to start planning again

[rdb1204]

That's amazing. I can'i believe all the travel horror stories anymore. You really hold your breath once you leave home / villa till you reach your destination. There are so many things that can happen or go wrong which can ruin your travel time. You just can not plan for all that can happen.
So glad that you had a great time on island though.

[msgcolleen]

Uggh! I'll be on that same AA 3:50 p.m. flight to Miami next weekend. Better bring an umbrella just in case!
Sorry for all of your travel mis-adventures & better luck in January~

[PA Girl]

That is awful! I hate to be wet (in clothing) so that would have been a nightmare for me.

[Diana2]

I always say the only downside to a trip to STJ is the travel day down and back. Even if everything goes well it's a 17-18 hour from start to finish for us out Grand Rapids.

I'm glad you made it back safe and sound.

[Gromit]

Sorry you got rained on!!

This is why I always carry a change of clothing with me on the plane. You just never know!

[Pia]

I always carry a $2.00 plastic poncho in my bag - it folds up to the size of a small cocktail napkin and comes in a ziplock type bag. I buy them at Freebird and they have a hood and cover you to the knee - not fashionable but boy do they work I can't tell you how many times I see this happening at STT airport.

Pia

[PSUWethr]

Great idea Pia.....And to think I spent 40 min in Freebird saying goodbye to Barbara and Rafe and even saw the ponchos there. Oh well, my bad!