USVI-On-Line

Returning From St. John

We’ve been vacationing on St. John for the past ten years, and there is one aspect of the trip that still needs improvement, and that is the return trip . We fly out of Baltimore or Washington, and the return connecting flights depart St. Thomas at 4 or 5 pm, while we have to vacate the villa on St. John by 10 am.

Last week, for example, we left the villa at Sunday 9 am, turned in the rental car, and had time for a leisurely breakfast at JJ’s before catching the 11:15 ferry to Charlotte Amalie. From there we took a cab to the airport. Since you can not temporarily store luggage at the airport, the only option is to check in, go through security, and then you are basically stuck in the waiting area for four hours. (And frankly the food in the snack bar at the waiting area has us looking forward to the snack they serve on the airplane.)

Last year our flight out of St. Thomas was not until Monday afternoon, so we spent Sunday night at the Best Western Carib Beach, which is located on St. Thomas, a 10 minute walk from the airport terminal. We went directly to the motel, had breakfast, checked in, and spent the day by the pool. We did take a quick shopping trip into Charlotte Amalie, but found that all the touristy shops close at 2 pm on Sunday.

On a previous trip we had been able to check out of our villa, load our luggage onto the Stormy Petrel, take a day cruise to The Baths in the BVI, and then go to a motel on St. Thomas. However last year we could find no one on St. John offering day cruises on Sunday,

So does anyone have any suggestions on what to do for a few hours on a Sunday afternoon St. Thomas while waiting for an airplane?

We have a taxi driver hold our luggage they always set a time to pick us up and have never had a problem with them not being there or any problem with our luggage they charge extra but it sure beats sitting in the airport

We've left our luggage with a taxi driver and set up a time to eet up later.

Let me tell you, it was not an easy concept to wrap my brain around. But, my mother-in-law had done it before and it worked out great.

By doing that, the taxi guy is guaranteed a fair to the airport plus the cost of storing the luggage so it benefits everyone.

You can also find a place to sit and have a long lunch and a few drinks before heading to the airport. Do a little reading etc.

David - We fly in and out of BWI and Washington National as well. The tact we take is based on staying on St. John as long as possible before starting the long slog home. We stay in our villa until the last minute (on the last trip the cleaning folks arrived just as we were leaving at 10AM). Then we take one long last drive around the North Shore beaches (sighing for effect at each one) and turn our rental car in. The rental car folks we've dealt with (Penns, St. John Car Rental) are always happy to look after our luggage for an hour or so. We take a last walk around Cruz Bay, grab a snack and usually catch the 1:15 downtown ferry. That gets us to the airport around 2:15 which seems just about right (probably a little early) for the trip home. You're right on about the airport food. We brought Uncle Joe's BBQ with us one time and it was still warm when we got to the waiting area. Other departees were understandably envious...

we fly to & from atlanta and return flt usually 3:30 to 4:30. while i, know that someday soon we will have car problem on stj or with barge, for 5 trips we have rented car at airport and used barge without a hitch. we get benefit of cheaper car, load and unload luggage at airport ans villa without hassel.

we always take a 10ish barge back to stt, do north shore drive to mountaintop (great banana daqus) and/or let bride out at straw market to shop. last stop is about noon at bw emerald beach for leasurely lunch. we are then less than 2 minutes to airport without getting out in traffic, the restaurant is soso but reasonably priced by island standards and has great beach/water view of lindberg bay. their ruebens and caribes are both good and if flt on later side we have an extra round of drinks. then to airport.

have thought about doing last day visit to stj beaches but always had fear of getting back on stt on departure day. our last view if stj is via telescope from mountaintop, looking back to villa from whence we watched the red beacon light on tower at mountain top each evening. a final farewell.

works for us.

papabou

Maybe Ruth at STJ Spice can go into another business! She could set up a storage space for all those who have to check out of their villas early!
By the way Happy Thanksgiving to all of the forumites and their families. Many thanks for having a place like STJ to visit and love.