Trip Report - Day 1
Posted: Mon Dec 06, 2010 12:41 pm
Trip Report – Day 1 – Drinking Our Way Down the East Coast
Here’s the line up for this year’s trip. Me, my friend Tom (Cabana Boy), my nephew Greg and his wife Marci, my cousins Monique and Patrice from California and a late arriver, Gus, on Wednesday. For those who have read my previous trip reports, you’ll see that this is the first year without my darling daughter Lauren. I admit it all felt off without her as she shares my love for St. John and is my best friend, but she is in college now and finances do not allow a trip during her off times. Honestly, as a single mom with a child in college, finances did not dictate a trip at all but … f*ck it, I’m fifty this month so to St. John we go!!! I used ff miles for the airfare and we knew the only big dinner out was going to be Zozos so we were going to try and economize all around.
Our day started early at Logan with a 3 hour layover in SJU. Our stewardess on the flight to SJU was a doll and gave us free rounds of booze!!! Woo hooo. Wait, is this a good idea to start drinking at 9:30? Vacation wisdom kicks in and we graciously accept. We end up at a horrid little place in SJU airport called BJ’s Bistro which smelled like a basement even though we have to take an elevator up a floor (???), but we have a few laughs, some more drinks and some lunch and BJ's Bistro because one of many running jokes for the week! Unfortunately, I left my camera there. Luckily it was cheap, but I really missed the constant snapping of photos those first few days and I will need to be a bit creative on my picture selection for the trip report.
We land in STT and hit the duty free for some villa booze while we wait for our luggage. Really cheap booze here, and I always forget to stop. We hop in a cab and are able to catch the Charlotte Amalie ferry. The four of us sit on the top with about 9 other people. Wait, they don’t serve drinks on the ferry? No problem. We have boxes of booze. Cabana Boy opens up a bottle of Mount Gay and we pass it around all the folks on the ferry! Met some great folks as we finish off that bottle – 2 couples from North Carolina that we would meet up with again at Woodys, a honeymoon couple from Europe staying at Cinammon and father and his son and friend. Made for a fun ride with lots of laughs.
Get to Cruz Bay grab the jeeps and head to our villa, Southern Cross.
This is a lovely 4 bedroom villa, with beautiful stonework, a large great room and lots of deck space. The master is definitely the best room with an amazing stone bathroom we lovingly called “the cave”. While brushing my teeth I saw something in the mirror, turned around and saw a little mustached bobble head in the wall!! Love it!
There are some lovely views of Chocolate Hole and out to sea and I loved the sounds of the water hitting the rocks below.
My brother’s fiancé cooked us a delicious spaghetti dinner and we reunite with the California cousins. This is Monique’s second trip, but I actually had not seen my cousin Patrice since I was in 5th grade!!!
One of my favorite things about my yearly trips is the chance share St. John while reconnecting with relatives and friends that I don’t get to see during the year. We had a great dinner, plugged in the Ipod and enjoyed the gorgeous pool and night sky before heading to bed.
Here’s the line up for this year’s trip. Me, my friend Tom (Cabana Boy), my nephew Greg and his wife Marci, my cousins Monique and Patrice from California and a late arriver, Gus, on Wednesday. For those who have read my previous trip reports, you’ll see that this is the first year without my darling daughter Lauren. I admit it all felt off without her as she shares my love for St. John and is my best friend, but she is in college now and finances do not allow a trip during her off times. Honestly, as a single mom with a child in college, finances did not dictate a trip at all but … f*ck it, I’m fifty this month so to St. John we go!!! I used ff miles for the airfare and we knew the only big dinner out was going to be Zozos so we were going to try and economize all around.
Our day started early at Logan with a 3 hour layover in SJU. Our stewardess on the flight to SJU was a doll and gave us free rounds of booze!!! Woo hooo. Wait, is this a good idea to start drinking at 9:30? Vacation wisdom kicks in and we graciously accept. We end up at a horrid little place in SJU airport called BJ’s Bistro which smelled like a basement even though we have to take an elevator up a floor (???), but we have a few laughs, some more drinks and some lunch and BJ's Bistro because one of many running jokes for the week! Unfortunately, I left my camera there. Luckily it was cheap, but I really missed the constant snapping of photos those first few days and I will need to be a bit creative on my picture selection for the trip report.
We land in STT and hit the duty free for some villa booze while we wait for our luggage. Really cheap booze here, and I always forget to stop. We hop in a cab and are able to catch the Charlotte Amalie ferry. The four of us sit on the top with about 9 other people. Wait, they don’t serve drinks on the ferry? No problem. We have boxes of booze. Cabana Boy opens up a bottle of Mount Gay and we pass it around all the folks on the ferry! Met some great folks as we finish off that bottle – 2 couples from North Carolina that we would meet up with again at Woodys, a honeymoon couple from Europe staying at Cinammon and father and his son and friend. Made for a fun ride with lots of laughs.
Get to Cruz Bay grab the jeeps and head to our villa, Southern Cross.
This is a lovely 4 bedroom villa, with beautiful stonework, a large great room and lots of deck space. The master is definitely the best room with an amazing stone bathroom we lovingly called “the cave”. While brushing my teeth I saw something in the mirror, turned around and saw a little mustached bobble head in the wall!! Love it!
There are some lovely views of Chocolate Hole and out to sea and I loved the sounds of the water hitting the rocks below.
My brother’s fiancé cooked us a delicious spaghetti dinner and we reunite with the California cousins. This is Monique’s second trip, but I actually had not seen my cousin Patrice since I was in 5th grade!!!
One of my favorite things about my yearly trips is the chance share St. John while reconnecting with relatives and friends that I don’t get to see during the year. We had a great dinner, plugged in the Ipod and enjoyed the gorgeous pool and night sky before heading to bed.
