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This morning Geoff’s alarm went off first with a “quack, quack, quack” (just like my real ducks at home!) and we were all up in a couple minutes. At 5:25 am we had walked over the bumpy sidewalks to the hotel lobby area where our taxi driver from yesterday was patiently waiting. He had arrived at 5:00 am and seemed a bit upset that we were “late”. After loading the bags we drove the hilly drive to the airport getting some history and local color on the way. Once again, the taxi drivers didn’t disappoint us as ambassadors of Tortola!
It was dark when we left but light when we got to the airport about 15 minutes later and a beautiful day it was. We checked in at the Platinum desk (the kids are starting to get used to being “special” I think) and headed for some coffee while on the lookout for some Caribbean hot sauce to take home as gifts. Nothing doing…no gift shops with hot sauce were open yet.
After a quick bowl of cereal and a cup of coffee we got in the security line only to realize that we needed to stand in a fairly long line to pay $20 each airport departure fee to get out of the BVI’s. That done we went through security, sat in the staging area for a few minutes and then walked out on the tarmac to board our turbo-prop ride to San Juan.
The flight was uneventful and we headed for the immigration lines and were not disappointed. That means there WAS a long line. Getting through that we all wanted to head to the Admiral’s Club. My training program was working! We got coffee, a hot breakfast, plugged in our laptops and got to work on blogs, picture transfers, texting girlfriends (Wes, not me!), calling the wife (that’s me!) and relaxing for a few minutes before packing up and heading to Gate 9 and our awaiting 757.
I had managed to get all of us into aisle 11 although I had sacrificed my aisle seat in the process. This meant we had to pass stuff over and around the poor aisle seat guy the rest of the flight…extra food, laptops, you name it. They were actually good sports about it!
Their job for the Admirals Club and the flight was to write their first (and probably last) blog entry for our Sailingwiththekids blog and I’m happy to say that before we landed they had all accomplished their task! So check it out following this entry. Wes’ girlfriend met us at baggage check (that’s pretty good service!) so I gave him his hug there and said goodbye.
Jenny, Geoff and I, after getting tired waiting for the Connection bus grabbed a cart and walked halfway around the airport to the Southwest terminal. There we separated as I checked my bag while they reorganized their bags to put in the gifts they had picked up in San Juan. We met up briefly at Gate 3 just before my flight started boarding, and said goodbye for the last time this vacation. They thanked me for putting it together and making it happen. I can’t wait to read (and do minor proofing edits) on their blog entries. Make sure you read them!
I arrived into Oakland on time and then got on the connecting flight home which proceeded to sit on the ground for about 15 minutes. It arrived about 30 minutes late and Margaret and I got home around 9:00 pm. It was great to see her after such a long time and, as usual, she made a great dinner for me while we watched “The Apprentice”. The puppy was very happy to see me, the cat sort of nonchalant about the whole thing. We determined that ten days was too long to be apart!
I am excited to be home yet very happy to have had this great experience spending uninterrupted time with my kids for the first time in many years. An experience that I will remember forever.
Thanks for stick with me on this trip and I promise that some incredible pictures will be following as soon as Geoff uploads his pics to my MobileMe account. I see that he was already uploading some to Facebook last night after midnight.
Ciao for now!
Marlene Shirley - Glad to know that you are home safe and sound. I hate the end of family vacations! Just thinking about it makes my heart sad but the memories are so great. Glad you were able to spend the time with your children.