Day 7 - May 1, 2010 - Back to Reality

Today our fantasy came to an all too soon end. Our day started out on island time with another morning coffee on the veranda looking at the beautiful sunrise over Saba Rock.

Unfortunately we quickly realized that this was not really our lives, just a short time out from the reality of the hustle and bustle of the 21st century rat race.

We boarded the North Sound ferry from Leverick Bay around 9AM, picked up passengers at "The Bitter End Resort" and set off for the Tortola airport. The Ferry ride was like being in the hold of a cargo ship, no air, hot humid, just miserable.

We were hot and sticky when we arrived at the airport around 09:45AM for a 11AM flight to San Juan, a bit tight considering we had to check in, pay our $20/person exit fee and pass thru customs. We had tried to check in via the Internet last night but due to either Fred's ineptitude or the fact that we were originating our flight on American and ending on Continental, booked via Continental, we were not able to check in on line. There was quite a line at the check in, the exit fee line and the security gate. By the time we got to check in, we were informed that our seats were given away and we were wait listed, let's just say the air was still hot and humid and this news did not improve any one's mood. After weighing every piece of baggage (including carry on), they concluded they could carry us all and despite our hand wringing we were able to board our flight to San Juan.

Through all this, we kept taking head count and realizing that we were missing Bob. It seems the $10 bottle of "Foxy's Fire Water Island Rum" that Bob bought for a souvenir had to be shipped home in a checked bag so he got hung up at check in (we all came here with just carry on luggage). Then they singled him out in the security line to do the special screening, when the guy put on the rubber glove Donna said Bob's eyes got pretty big. Then while we were waiting to get the final weight and balance on our aircraft, another security guard invited Bob over to the side for another private conference.

If you know Bob, he is a pretty easy going fella, but I think he had just about enough at this point. Oh... and it got even better.... If you check bags on an international flight, you have to pick them up once you are on US soil and personally take them through customs, so Bob had to retrieve his bag in San Juan. This went rather smoothly and we finished our check in for our Newark and Albany legs and set off to our next round with Homeland Security. This was going swimmingly until, of course, they got to Bob. It seems you can not carry alcohol in your carry on baggage, even on US soil, unless you bought it on the other side of the security gates. So you guessed it, Bob gets the 3rd degree and sent back to the check in counter, he was gone for quite some time, once he got through the check in line again, he was told he needed to get in the bag scanning line and then get back in the check in line and then back in line for security. When he finally showed up again, Ed had the guts to ask him if that was Vaseline on the back of his shorts? Remarkably, Ed is still with us. I know Bob will look back on this someday and laugh...I hope.

We are now at 30 thousand feet and headed for Newark, from there we board a 7:45PM flight to Albany, landing around 9PM, then we have about a 2 hour drive back to the north country. I hope I don't find anything entertaining enough to write anymore about before we get home.




June and I arrived at home around midnight last night, so only 13 hours of travel (ferry-airplane-airplane-airplane-car-ferry-car) and we are transported from an entirely different world where it is summer year round and everything moves at a much slower pace. If you ever get the chance to Visit Virgin Gorda or the other Virgin Islands, you should not pass up the opportunity, it truly is a beautiful place and you will have no choice but to do some LIMIN.

And doing it with friends makes the trip all the more fun.