Lost luggage, earthquakes, hurricanes and more -Day 1
Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 12:31 pm
Day 1 - 10/10
Background - My husband (39) and I (34) have been vacationing on St. John around this time of year for the past four years for our anniversary. We had friends of ours get married on the island two years ago and were meeting them down there the next day to spend some time together on St. John. We were planning on staying at the Westin for the first half and then Caneel for the second half. This was our fifth time and was my first time not taking out traveler's insurance since we always had good weather and luck. I wanted to save some $$$. Well that all changed this time round.
We woke up at 3:30 am Friday (10/10) to get ready for our 4:00 am pick up to Newark. I had been fighting a bad cold that had been going around my place of employment for the past week or so. I woke up feeling terrible - sinuses, sore throat - awful. I tried to tell myself that the sun and warm air would make me feel better. Our flight from Newark to Puerto Rico was fine. We had a two our layover so we decided to grab a beer and an appetizer or two. The Cape Air flight to St. Thomas was ready to board so we followed the air traffic controller towards the plane. My husband then turned to me and said "Isn't that one of our luggage over there?" There was a pile of luggage just outside the Cape Air Terminal and we have two very large bright blue bags. I didn't even bother to look since I was feeling terrible and just wanted to get to St. Thomas. I just thought 'whatever its probably just another bag that looks similar'.
Landing into St. Thomas:
After we landed into the St. Thomas airport we went claim our bags. Well we had two. The one bag had our toiletries, beach towels, beach bags, shoes, etc. The other bag had all our clothes. We only got one bag and it was not the clothing bag. Turns out two other couples on the plane also were missing their luggage. We went to the Cape Air counter and were reassured that this happens all the time and we should be getting our luggage that night. So we headed over to the Westin counter to check-in, etc.
Turns out we were the only two people on the ferry to the Westin. It was a nice little surprise. We ran into the grocery store right next to Tickles Restuarant at the Crown Bay Marina right before we were scheduled to hop on the Westin Ferry, to grab some beer, snacks and of course some cartons of cigarettes. (NOTE: the airport duty free shop was out of cartons of Marlboro at this time). We got to the Westin and had been upgraded from a garden view room to an ocean view room. The room was #2314. It was a large/spacious room with a great view. We did notice however, how quiet the resort was. We spoke to some staff and they said that they were feeling the effects as well from the economy, etc.
Arriving at the Westin:
We decided to have a couple of beers on our porch and watch the sunset and wait for our luggage. The weather was beautiful at this point.
View from our Ocean View room:
Around 6:30 our luggage was delivered. I was so happy that everything was there and the bag was fine. I was still not feeling that well but we managed to go into town and hit the Beach Bar. We decided on a couple of appetizers for dinner and a couple of rum punches. Then for one last night cap we walked over to Joe's Rum Hut. If you stop by Joe's, be sure to say hi to Freddy. He's great!
Joe's Rum Hut:
Then it was time to head back to the Westin and have a good night sleep. Little did we know, we would wake up to a 6.3 earthquake that morning. (to be continued)...
Background - My husband (39) and I (34) have been vacationing on St. John around this time of year for the past four years for our anniversary. We had friends of ours get married on the island two years ago and were meeting them down there the next day to spend some time together on St. John. We were planning on staying at the Westin for the first half and then Caneel for the second half. This was our fifth time and was my first time not taking out traveler's insurance since we always had good weather and luck. I wanted to save some $$$. Well that all changed this time round.
We woke up at 3:30 am Friday (10/10) to get ready for our 4:00 am pick up to Newark. I had been fighting a bad cold that had been going around my place of employment for the past week or so. I woke up feeling terrible - sinuses, sore throat - awful. I tried to tell myself that the sun and warm air would make me feel better. Our flight from Newark to Puerto Rico was fine. We had a two our layover so we decided to grab a beer and an appetizer or two. The Cape Air flight to St. Thomas was ready to board so we followed the air traffic controller towards the plane. My husband then turned to me and said "Isn't that one of our luggage over there?" There was a pile of luggage just outside the Cape Air Terminal and we have two very large bright blue bags. I didn't even bother to look since I was feeling terrible and just wanted to get to St. Thomas. I just thought 'whatever its probably just another bag that looks similar'.
Landing into St. Thomas:
After we landed into the St. Thomas airport we went claim our bags. Well we had two. The one bag had our toiletries, beach towels, beach bags, shoes, etc. The other bag had all our clothes. We only got one bag and it was not the clothing bag. Turns out two other couples on the plane also were missing their luggage. We went to the Cape Air counter and were reassured that this happens all the time and we should be getting our luggage that night. So we headed over to the Westin counter to check-in, etc.
Turns out we were the only two people on the ferry to the Westin. It was a nice little surprise. We ran into the grocery store right next to Tickles Restuarant at the Crown Bay Marina right before we were scheduled to hop on the Westin Ferry, to grab some beer, snacks and of course some cartons of cigarettes. (NOTE: the airport duty free shop was out of cartons of Marlboro at this time). We got to the Westin and had been upgraded from a garden view room to an ocean view room. The room was #2314. It was a large/spacious room with a great view. We did notice however, how quiet the resort was. We spoke to some staff and they said that they were feeling the effects as well from the economy, etc.
Arriving at the Westin:
We decided to have a couple of beers on our porch and watch the sunset and wait for our luggage. The weather was beautiful at this point.
View from our Ocean View room:
Around 6:30 our luggage was delivered. I was so happy that everything was there and the bag was fine. I was still not feeling that well but we managed to go into town and hit the Beach Bar. We decided on a couple of appetizers for dinner and a couple of rum punches. Then for one last night cap we walked over to Joe's Rum Hut. If you stop by Joe's, be sure to say hi to Freddy. He's great!
Joe's Rum Hut:
Then it was time to head back to the Westin and have a good night sleep. Little did we know, we would wake up to a 6.3 earthquake that morning. (to be continued)...
