Finally! It's kinda-sorta a trip report!
Posted: Sun Oct 28, 2007 7:58 pm
Here's day one.
I'm writing more as you're reading this, but it could take me a while to get through the week!
My trip began at 5:15 a.m. when I got up to head out to the Nashville airport. I got there right before six, printed out my boarding pass and breezed through security. I sat down and looked at Cosmo while I waited for my plane. It didn't seem like we were there long at all before it was time to head to Atlanta.
This was the second time I'd been to the Atlanta airport, and it was pretty frenetic. I had less than an hour between flights and I had to maneuver around the airport to find the correct gate. I finally got to my gate and rested for a few minutes before my four-hour flight to St. Thomas.
The flight was pretty uneventful. I sat next to a couple who were long-time travelers to St. John and they gave me some tips for our week.
I arrived at the airport and Rosalie was already there. We got situated at a table in the "bar" near baggage claim and she had a painkiller and I had a reggae 'rita while we waited for everyone else to arrive. My luggage came out on the carousel, and we looked at guide books while we waited. My flight arrived a little late, and theirs was right on time, so we didn't wait too long.
After the luggage arrived, we asked the cab driver which ferry that we'd be able to make. I still think we had time to get to Charlotte Amalie, but he took us to Red Hook. It was a pretty adventurous drive in the mountains of St. Thomas, and I'm pretty sure that the six of us scared the two guys who were sharing a cab with us. Of course, this is where we got our nickname because the guy who helped us with our luggage in the airport kept yelling "Six for Red Hook, six for Red Hook" until we found a cab. For some reason, we liked it and that's what we called ourselves all week. We even had them put "64RH" on Sandy's birthday cake. Anyhow, we got there about 4:15, so we had to wait 45 minutes for the next ferry. No big deal, because I was already on "island time." I did already notice that everyone was trying to help us and get some sort of tip. Now I see why some people feel nickeled and dimed.
The ferry ride was uneventful, although by this time it was gloomy and rainy so we didn't get to see much. We arrived about 5:20, and the rest of our group was waiting on the ferry deck. I looked everywhere for our Destination St. John greeter, and after asking all the guys standing on the dock, realized he wasn't there yet.
Finally after about 15 minutes of waiting, the rain picked up speed and some of my traveling companions were not on island time yet. They asked if they could just go to the house, but I explained that we didn't know where it was, nor did we have keys. I did call DSJ's emergency number and talked to Laura and she said our driver was on his way and she'd give him a call.
He never showed. All of the shops at Wharfside closed and we couldn't even go grab a drink or a bite to eat because we didn't know where or when our guy would be there. Then my phone died. Yikes. It had been acting up before the trip, and it just lost power. I had no idea where our house was, where our greeter was or how they'd get in touch with us.
Another girl lent me her phone, and I called Laura back after we waited another 20 minutes with no sight of our greeter. She told me that either she or John would be there to pick us up. When John arrived shortly after that call, he told us our greeter had broken down on East End and hadn't had a signal to call them. It was ok though. It gave people time to go pick up rental cars and such. I didn't care. I was on island time and I had a whole week. I was quite hungry, though.
After we got settled in at the house, we headed off to Woody's for dinner. I had a great grilled fish sandwich and some bushwackers. Woody's looks so much smaller in real life then it does in the pictures on their Web site. It's tiny. We ate dinner and then stopped off at Dolphin Market (it was still open when we headed back) and then arrived at the villa to get settled in for the week.
I'm writing more as you're reading this, but it could take me a while to get through the week!
My trip began at 5:15 a.m. when I got up to head out to the Nashville airport. I got there right before six, printed out my boarding pass and breezed through security. I sat down and looked at Cosmo while I waited for my plane. It didn't seem like we were there long at all before it was time to head to Atlanta.
This was the second time I'd been to the Atlanta airport, and it was pretty frenetic. I had less than an hour between flights and I had to maneuver around the airport to find the correct gate. I finally got to my gate and rested for a few minutes before my four-hour flight to St. Thomas.
The flight was pretty uneventful. I sat next to a couple who were long-time travelers to St. John and they gave me some tips for our week.
I arrived at the airport and Rosalie was already there. We got situated at a table in the "bar" near baggage claim and she had a painkiller and I had a reggae 'rita while we waited for everyone else to arrive. My luggage came out on the carousel, and we looked at guide books while we waited. My flight arrived a little late, and theirs was right on time, so we didn't wait too long.
After the luggage arrived, we asked the cab driver which ferry that we'd be able to make. I still think we had time to get to Charlotte Amalie, but he took us to Red Hook. It was a pretty adventurous drive in the mountains of St. Thomas, and I'm pretty sure that the six of us scared the two guys who were sharing a cab with us. Of course, this is where we got our nickname because the guy who helped us with our luggage in the airport kept yelling "Six for Red Hook, six for Red Hook" until we found a cab. For some reason, we liked it and that's what we called ourselves all week. We even had them put "64RH" on Sandy's birthday cake. Anyhow, we got there about 4:15, so we had to wait 45 minutes for the next ferry. No big deal, because I was already on "island time." I did already notice that everyone was trying to help us and get some sort of tip. Now I see why some people feel nickeled and dimed.
The ferry ride was uneventful, although by this time it was gloomy and rainy so we didn't get to see much. We arrived about 5:20, and the rest of our group was waiting on the ferry deck. I looked everywhere for our Destination St. John greeter, and after asking all the guys standing on the dock, realized he wasn't there yet.
Finally after about 15 minutes of waiting, the rain picked up speed and some of my traveling companions were not on island time yet. They asked if they could just go to the house, but I explained that we didn't know where it was, nor did we have keys. I did call DSJ's emergency number and talked to Laura and she said our driver was on his way and she'd give him a call.
He never showed. All of the shops at Wharfside closed and we couldn't even go grab a drink or a bite to eat because we didn't know where or when our guy would be there. Then my phone died. Yikes. It had been acting up before the trip, and it just lost power. I had no idea where our house was, where our greeter was or how they'd get in touch with us.
Another girl lent me her phone, and I called Laura back after we waited another 20 minutes with no sight of our greeter. She told me that either she or John would be there to pick us up. When John arrived shortly after that call, he told us our greeter had broken down on East End and hadn't had a signal to call them. It was ok though. It gave people time to go pick up rental cars and such. I didn't care. I was on island time and I had a whole week. I was quite hungry, though.
After we got settled in at the house, we headed off to Woody's for dinner. I had a great grilled fish sandwich and some bushwackers. Woody's looks so much smaller in real life then it does in the pictures on their Web site. It's tiny. We ate dinner and then stopped off at Dolphin Market (it was still open when we headed back) and then arrived at the villa to get settled in for the week.
Thanks for the reports and get feeling better soon.