STJ Fall 2010 Trip Report - Day 1 (Travel Day):
Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2010 7:43 am
Setting the stage: This trip was the fifth to STJ for my wife and myself, and our second this year (we were also here with our youngest son for a rainy, windy, wonderful week in July). We average around 50 in age - that's all I'm gonna say about that - but are fairly active visitors.
Standard start to the trip - get up at 5:00, pack the cooler, load the bags, and leave the house by 6:00. Drive smoothly for two and a half hours, hit rush hour standstill traffic in Miami and take another 30 minutes to drive what we should be able to cover in 5. Park in our preferred off-airport lot, and five minutes later we're being dropped off at the terminal.
Here's something different - the guy checking passports and boarding passes at the beginning of the security line is smiling, addressing travelers by their first names and joking around with them - did we go to the wrong airport? We even made it through the scanner without incident - usually they love to inspect the bag that contains my camera and its underwater housing. Made it to the gate with two hours to spare, so it was time to get a cup of coffee and engage in our favorite airport pastime - people watching!
Time to board the plane. I don't know if it's because I scored super cheap tickets, or because I just picked the wrong seats, or some combination of these and/or other factors, but we are in boarding group 6 (out of 6). That in and of itself doesn't bother me because I don't particularly enjoy sitting in the plane any longer than I have to. But, we are employing a carry on only strategy, and it's crucial that we have space to put two of our four items in the overhead bins (which, coincidentally, is what the "rules" are anyway).
By being among the last ones on the plane, and being seated relatively close to the front, this becomes difficult to accomplish because many of our fellow passengers chose to either put all of their items in the overhead bins and/or put their items in the bins near the front of the plane even though they were seated much further back, ostensibly so that they wouldn't have to carry them all the way there and back.
I found a spot for the snorkel bag and stowed it, but moved aside and sat down holding the suitcase so that other passengers could get to their seats, and waiting to enlist the aid of one of the flight attendants to find space for it. When none of them seemed interested in helping, Leslie got up and did some rearranging of items in the bin across the aisle from us, and as she was shoving the bag into the bin, dislocated her thumb (one guy had his wife's big handbag in there and told Leslie that if she broke it she wouldn't leave the plane because it was so expensive. On our final approach into St. Thomas he retrieved that bag from that bin and moved it up several bins, NEXT TO WHERE HE WAS SITTING, AND WHERE THERE WAS PLENTY OF ROOM FOR IT!!!).
She quickly and discreetly put it back into joint, then sat down in the seat next to me. When I asked her why she had tears on her face she let me know what had happened, then summoned the flight attendant, who after asking her "did it happen when you were putting that bag in?", brought her some ice, as requested, so she could try and keep the swelling down. Not a great start...
The rest of the flight was uneventful, and even landed a few minutes ahead of schedule. Here's where the carry on only starts to pay off (in addition to saving the checked bag fee) - as soon as we had our feet on the ground I called Dependable, let them know that we were on the ground with our bags in hand, and was told "we'll be there before you can bat an eye". Grabbed a complimentary shot of mango rum and we were outside in the glorious hot and humid VI air, looking for the Dependable van.
And looking. And looking some more. Now people were starting to show up on the curb with their checked luggage. I really do get the concept of island time, and generally do very well with going with the flow, but I'll admit to starting to feel a little annoyed at this point. I know that it takes no more than five minutes (if that) to drive from Dependable's office to the airport. And I know that stuff happens. But if you tell me you'll be there in a minute, twenty five minutes is too long if you ask me. Whatever - the guy showed up, we loaded our bags and off we went!
Got to the office, breezed through the paperwork with the ladies in the office, went outside to "inspect" the vehicle, climbed in, and...the seat belt on the passenger side wouldn't budge. Leslie couldn't pull it out to fasten it, I couldn't, and the guy from Dependable couldn't. So we need a different Jeep. Great, that 4:00PM car barge, the one I knew we could make because of carry on, yadda, yadda, yadda, was looking very iffy to make now.
The guy asked what color Jeep we wanted our replacement to be and I told him "one with good tires". I guess I should have been more specific. The tires looked to be in good enough shape, but the plastic back widow was missing. When I pointed that out he said "most people don't use the back window anyway". I could have insisted on another, but I still wanted to make that car barge so that we could get to Connections before they closed to pick up our shipped ahead box.....so I took it and away we went!
There were no cruise ships in port, and the delays we had experienced made the planned trip to Cost-U-Less impractical, so we took the route through town towards Red Hook. Naturally, since I was in a hurry, I missed a turn and took a side trip to what looked to be a lovely beachfront resort. Back on the proper route, it became apparent that making the 4:00 car barge was out of the question. So we stopped for gas (since this jeep wasn't the one they planned to rent out it hadn't been filled up), then at the Food Center, then on to Red Hook. We boarded the Mr. B, then, when it was less than a third full, they surprised us by pulling away from the dock shortly after 4:30 (we thought it wouldn't be until 5:00)!
I called the villa management company for the place we'd be staying the first two days, told them that I was going to run by Connections after we landed and that I'd call them after that. Dropped Leslie off and she ran into Connections to get the box while I circled the block. After picking her back up I called the agency again, told them I was looking straight ahead at St. John Car Rental and asked where to meet them. The gal on the phone said to park on the road across from the graveyard by Grande Bay and that she'd be there in two minutes. Eleven minutes later she pulled up next to us, apologized for getting "stuck in Cruz Bay traffic" then led past Gallows Point and up the hill to the Battery Hill Condos.
We were given a quick tour of the condos, and of the unit we'd be staying in, Rainbow's End. Once we were left alone we felt that vacation had truly started. After taking a little time to stash the meat in the freezer, etc. we walked "down the hill" and had some drinks and dinner at High Tide and literally washed away all of the stress we had brought with us to the island.
And we slept well, knowing that we had ten full days more to enjoy being here!
Standard start to the trip - get up at 5:00, pack the cooler, load the bags, and leave the house by 6:00. Drive smoothly for two and a half hours, hit rush hour standstill traffic in Miami and take another 30 minutes to drive what we should be able to cover in 5. Park in our preferred off-airport lot, and five minutes later we're being dropped off at the terminal.
Here's something different - the guy checking passports and boarding passes at the beginning of the security line is smiling, addressing travelers by their first names and joking around with them - did we go to the wrong airport? We even made it through the scanner without incident - usually they love to inspect the bag that contains my camera and its underwater housing. Made it to the gate with two hours to spare, so it was time to get a cup of coffee and engage in our favorite airport pastime - people watching!
Time to board the plane. I don't know if it's because I scored super cheap tickets, or because I just picked the wrong seats, or some combination of these and/or other factors, but we are in boarding group 6 (out of 6). That in and of itself doesn't bother me because I don't particularly enjoy sitting in the plane any longer than I have to. But, we are employing a carry on only strategy, and it's crucial that we have space to put two of our four items in the overhead bins (which, coincidentally, is what the "rules" are anyway).
By being among the last ones on the plane, and being seated relatively close to the front, this becomes difficult to accomplish because many of our fellow passengers chose to either put all of their items in the overhead bins and/or put their items in the bins near the front of the plane even though they were seated much further back, ostensibly so that they wouldn't have to carry them all the way there and back.
I found a spot for the snorkel bag and stowed it, but moved aside and sat down holding the suitcase so that other passengers could get to their seats, and waiting to enlist the aid of one of the flight attendants to find space for it. When none of them seemed interested in helping, Leslie got up and did some rearranging of items in the bin across the aisle from us, and as she was shoving the bag into the bin, dislocated her thumb (one guy had his wife's big handbag in there and told Leslie that if she broke it she wouldn't leave the plane because it was so expensive. On our final approach into St. Thomas he retrieved that bag from that bin and moved it up several bins, NEXT TO WHERE HE WAS SITTING, AND WHERE THERE WAS PLENTY OF ROOM FOR IT!!!).
She quickly and discreetly put it back into joint, then sat down in the seat next to me. When I asked her why she had tears on her face she let me know what had happened, then summoned the flight attendant, who after asking her "did it happen when you were putting that bag in?", brought her some ice, as requested, so she could try and keep the swelling down. Not a great start...
The rest of the flight was uneventful, and even landed a few minutes ahead of schedule. Here's where the carry on only starts to pay off (in addition to saving the checked bag fee) - as soon as we had our feet on the ground I called Dependable, let them know that we were on the ground with our bags in hand, and was told "we'll be there before you can bat an eye". Grabbed a complimentary shot of mango rum and we were outside in the glorious hot and humid VI air, looking for the Dependable van.
And looking. And looking some more. Now people were starting to show up on the curb with their checked luggage. I really do get the concept of island time, and generally do very well with going with the flow, but I'll admit to starting to feel a little annoyed at this point. I know that it takes no more than five minutes (if that) to drive from Dependable's office to the airport. And I know that stuff happens. But if you tell me you'll be there in a minute, twenty five minutes is too long if you ask me. Whatever - the guy showed up, we loaded our bags and off we went!
Got to the office, breezed through the paperwork with the ladies in the office, went outside to "inspect" the vehicle, climbed in, and...the seat belt on the passenger side wouldn't budge. Leslie couldn't pull it out to fasten it, I couldn't, and the guy from Dependable couldn't. So we need a different Jeep. Great, that 4:00PM car barge, the one I knew we could make because of carry on, yadda, yadda, yadda, was looking very iffy to make now.
The guy asked what color Jeep we wanted our replacement to be and I told him "one with good tires". I guess I should have been more specific. The tires looked to be in good enough shape, but the plastic back widow was missing. When I pointed that out he said "most people don't use the back window anyway". I could have insisted on another, but I still wanted to make that car barge so that we could get to Connections before they closed to pick up our shipped ahead box.....so I took it and away we went!
There were no cruise ships in port, and the delays we had experienced made the planned trip to Cost-U-Less impractical, so we took the route through town towards Red Hook. Naturally, since I was in a hurry, I missed a turn and took a side trip to what looked to be a lovely beachfront resort. Back on the proper route, it became apparent that making the 4:00 car barge was out of the question. So we stopped for gas (since this jeep wasn't the one they planned to rent out it hadn't been filled up), then at the Food Center, then on to Red Hook. We boarded the Mr. B, then, when it was less than a third full, they surprised us by pulling away from the dock shortly after 4:30 (we thought it wouldn't be until 5:00)!
I called the villa management company for the place we'd be staying the first two days, told them that I was going to run by Connections after we landed and that I'd call them after that. Dropped Leslie off and she ran into Connections to get the box while I circled the block. After picking her back up I called the agency again, told them I was looking straight ahead at St. John Car Rental and asked where to meet them. The gal on the phone said to park on the road across from the graveyard by Grande Bay and that she'd be there in two minutes. Eleven minutes later she pulled up next to us, apologized for getting "stuck in Cruz Bay traffic" then led past Gallows Point and up the hill to the Battery Hill Condos.
We were given a quick tour of the condos, and of the unit we'd be staying in, Rainbow's End. Once we were left alone we felt that vacation had truly started. After taking a little time to stash the meat in the freezer, etc. we walked "down the hill" and had some drinks and dinner at High Tide and literally washed away all of the stress we had brought with us to the island.
And we slept well, knowing that we had ten full days more to enjoy being here!
, missed car barges...