Hello all, as promised here’s a quick debrief of my travels to SXM. Long story short, everything was easy peasy.

Flight was on American, BWI to SXM via MIA. First leg was completely full which caused me such anxiety. I haven’t been around that many people - or inside ANYWHERE - since March. All airports were pretty empty. The MIA - SXM flight had maybe 40 people? If that? Suuuuuuper empty. Before you board in Miami they check that you have pre-authorization and if you don’t they’ll make you apply there I guess. They also checked this in Baltimore.

So arrivals in SXM was easy because there were no other planes ahead of us and no one on our flight. They do a first check to make sure you have your authorization and covid test, then you go thru immigration. They stopped me here when they saw my final destination was the french side but I explained I had permission from the prefete and showed it to them and I was on my merry way to get my bags.

Airport completely empty. Walked out to see Michael’s familiar face (from Unity) and off we went to get my rental. My parents have a car but I wanted to give Michael my business.

Drove to the border check point, explained why I was here, showed the letter from the prefete, made some small talk about my “beautiful passport” (random) and off I went to my parentals.

So all in all, it was fine. Getting all the paperwork and testing ahead of time is the most stressful part. It’s sad to see the island so empty but I was happy to see a few families on my flight taking vacation.