DAY EIGHT: Saturday, 7
June 2014
So the body decides to wake me up
at 4 am, long before it’s even reasonable to watch the sunrise. Being
this was my last morning, and my return flight wasn’t until 2 pm, I wanted to
sleep in a little. Not. The Palms had free WiFi, so I was able to
watch another movie on the Kindle. That was one of the reasons why I brought
it. Today there would be one last sunrise, one last stroll on the beach,
and one last time of sitting on the patio to soak up the rays. I wasn’t
going to swim this morning because I didn’t want to pack a wet bathing suit.
Out on the beach I encountered
Michelle again, who was out looking for sea glass. Her legs were all
chewed up, red welts all over the place. Seems that the people who had
been in the room right before her brought an infestation there, and she’s been
made a meal by it. She told me some other stories of how her experience
was here, from poor service and rude staff to constant problems with her room,
and even being ripped off by cab drivers. I had such a vastly different
experience both at the Palms, and on the island in general. I’m not
detailing everything she told me because this is my travel experience, but I am
sorry things didn’t go good for her.
Michelle and I had breakfast
together that morning, which is where I got to hear the majority of her issues.
She was not impressed with the omelet and stale bagel she had. My
scrambled eggs with home fries and muffin were quite good. Odd that two
people next to each other have different experiences. We bid farewell to
each other after breakfast. I’d given her my card (like I’d done with
many other people), and hoped that I’d continue to remain in contact with some
of them.
That prompted an idea. I’d
finished the book I was reading (Hyperspace by Michio Kaku), and while
it was interesting, it wasn’t something I’d probably reference again in the
future. Since the Palms had a “take a book, leave a book” library there,
I decided I’d leave it. But what I also did was stick one of my cards in
it. I dated the card, and made a note to whoever finds this to not only
visit my blog site, but to contact me to let me know they’d found this.
Figure this will be an interesting social experiment.
My phone and email are listed on
the card, but I asked to be contacted via email (with the subject line of “I
Found The Card”). I want to hear about the person who locates this, and
what experiences they’ve had. In a way, it’s a message in a bottle.
I may never hear a response, but it’d be pretty wild if I did.
I got myself packed, and used the
remaining time to sit on the patio to enjoy the fresh air, the sun, and the
general good feeling this place has. Was the trip everything I wanted it
to be. Mostly. I did some good stuff, but I would’ve enjoyed some
deeper inter-personal relations while I was here. And the shoe-string
budget meant I didn’t eat as well as I should’ve. Stuff to plan and
consider for when the next trip happens. It would’ve been a great
birthday gift if the good parts of How Stella Got Her Groove Back had
occurred.
After getting cleaned up, I went to
the front desk at 11 am for the check-out. My flight doesn’t leave until
2 pm, so I had some time to kill. My bags were in the car, and I hung out
at the bar with BJ. He gave me one final drink for the road.. I
then bid farewell to the Palms, and already thinking about what it’d be like to
be coming back here again.
When I’d gotten the rental car, I
had the plan to bring it back as empty as possible. Silvara was under ¼
tank, so I was on track with that. As I was driving down the lower
section of Route 75, I went past the island’s Department of Agriculture.
The only reason why I make that reference was because some cows came
barreling out of the field, and across the road. Because I was paying
attention to the road, I was able to slow down to avoid them without any sudden
actions.
I arrived at the airport, returned
Silvara, and got checked in for my flight. All the ads for USVI tourism
mention that American citizens don’t require a passport to come here.
That is only half-true. You don’t need a passport to arrive on the
islands, but you sure as hell need it to leave. I’d been through this
before, so I knew the drill. When coming back from overseas, you have to
fill out a customs form to declare what you purchased and such. That form
is then processed upon your re-entry into the States. Here, you do all that (and go through
Customs) before you leave. That’s in addition to the standard TSA bag
inspections and such.
As I sat in the airport waiting for
my flight, I alternated between reading my book and playing games on the
Kindle. There’s not a lot of room here to keep walking around, and no
WiFi. I was flying out on American, and they did something I never saw an
airline do before. (Keep in mind the last time I flew American was in
2010 for my birthday trip to Turks & Caicos.)
After all the first-class people
were boarded, then the people who only had one carry-on bag (no matter what
section their seat was in) were then allowed to board. Since all I had
was my backpack, that meant me. (I’ll resist going into another diatribe
about the people who have multiple carry-on bags and/or really freakin’ huge
ones which don’t fit in the overhead compartments.)
Once into the air, the captain said
our route would be taking us over Grand Turk. Since I wasn’t able to see TCI coming in, I
hoped for that chance now. I was able to take some pictures of the blue
water from the airplane window, but I’m very sure none were Grand
Turk. When the captain said we were going past it, I think
it was on the other side of the plane than me.
During the flight I chatted with a
woman and her young daughter who were also returning from St, Croix. She
said they’d gone over to see the beer-drinking pigs, and that was the highlight
of their trip. To each their own. Most of that flight I had my
headphones on. I will have to say I got an amusing chuckle as the
daughter was watching Frozen on the portable DVD player, and was signing
along with it. I really couldn’t hear anything, but I know someone on the
plane was being driven crazy. The plane’s free WiFi was down, so I
couldn’t watch anything on my Kindle, but I got a lot of Tetris played (in
between taking various pictures from the window).
The return trip I’d done before, so
I knew the drill. I landed in Miami ,
and since I was switching carriers (American to Delta) for the last leg of the
trip, I had to leave the secure zone, walk to the other side of the airport,
and re-enter at the Delta terminal. Since I knew that, there’s another
reason why I didn’t bring any Cruzan-filled carry-ons with me. It
would’ve been nice if at some point I didn’t have to do that in Miami . Perhaps next
time, I simply could fly American the entire way. Even better, perhaps
SouthWest will have everything worked out with Air Tran by then, so I could
take them. Might as well earn points when I fly.
The leg from Miami
to Atlanta didn’t have anything memorable, but
the final leg (Atlanta to Austin ) did. The AC didn’t work very
well on the plane, so it was freakin’ hot. It did come on every now and
then, which kept it from being a complete hot box. That’s also why we left Atlanta an hour late, because the mechanics
had been trying to fix it. When we landed in Austin , I swear they were holding the airport
open just for us. It made sense to use
the bathroom then because I still had to drive to Round Rock, and there’s
always a wait for the checked bags to come out.
My suitcase is hunter green, to
help it stand out from the black bags that everyone else has. The pink
tape I used to highlight it helps me know it’s mine, because no one else would
probably mark their bag in such a crazy way. It was easy to spot when it
came along the carousel. And it was easy to spot that the lock on the
main compartment was gone again. Since that was twice this trip, that
really pissed me off. I’m sure my suitcase had been raided again by TSA,
but considering the lateness of the hour, I’d deal with it the next morning
once I’d gotten home and slept. The bus ride back to my parking space was
uneventful, and I retrieved Argent with no issues. Silvara had driven
okay, but I’d missed my faithful chariot (who, by the way, will have been mine ten
years this October).
One thing I did notice upon my
return to Austin
was the change in the air quality. Since
I’d just spent a week in a place with fresh air free of the allergens Austin has, I could fee
that crap return to my lungs now. Strange I hadn’t thought about now
better my breathing was until I’d gotten back. Once I’d returned home, I
was tired so I flatlined to much-welcomed sleep. That was the end of the
trip. I had all day tomorrow to sleep in, do laundry, and get groceries
before returning to work.
Now I don’t usually talk about
souvenirs and things I pick up for people. The journal of where I went is
what’s important, not the material things I gathered (whether for myself or for
others). Part of my visit down to St. Croix
would be to find a wedding gift for my nephew (who was getting married next
month). I wanted to find something which was unique and something
enjoyable.
I’d seen rum cakes when I was in
TCI, which were very good, but you could obtain them all over the Caribbean . On this trip I discovered Cruzan also
made rum cakes. (While they may’ve been sitting at the Distillery, I
first noticed them in a shop in Christiansted
called Sonya Ltd.) Cruzan rum cakes came
in a nice metal tin, as opposed to the cardboard containers the others came in.
I got a coconut-flavored one and a banana-flavored one, figuring that Rob
& Lauren could take them on their honeymoon to enjoy.
I’d also picked up a shot glass for
Brian, and had some small inexpensive trinkets I’d gotten for my co-workers.
Those were all in a bag which disappeared out of my luggage. I had
another bag with some shirts I’d gotten, and some other small trinkets, which
didn’t get touched, so I wasn’t completely robbed by TSA. And the stuff
stolen didn’t end up costing me a whole lot in cash in the first place, but
it’s the whole principle of the matter and the negative emotion it created.
Also the frustration that I know there’s no recourse for it. I can
complain to TSA, but that will do as much good as shouting at a hurricane to make
it stop.
I will let my AAA travel agent
(Krista) know about this. These situations were not her fault, and
nothing she could’ve anticipated. But the travel agency needs to know
what is going on out there (with their vendors, airlines, and such). They
might already be capturing information like this. Speaking up for things
like this can help keep similar situations from happening to others in the
future.
Some last words about St. Croix . My first trip there was in 2012, and
this one was 2014. I’d love to go every year, but currently the cash
isn’t there for that. But I want to make sure the next St. Croix entries are in 2016.
Perhaps this time I actually will celebrate my birthday on the beach.
Or even better, someone special will be with me.
For more information on the places visited or mentioned:
Palms at
Pelican Cove: http://www.palmspelicancove.com/
Sonya
Ltd: http://sonyaltd.com/
Cruzan Rum Cakes: http://cruzanrumcakes.com/
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