Wow, where do I start? I guess, I’ll start at the beginning and try to give a “blow by blow” of the entire trip.

We left from Chicago O’Hare. Did a Park-Sleep-Fly thing at the Holiday Select. Carry out dinner from Harry Carey’s restaurant in the hotel and early to bed. Up at 3 a.m. to catch the 4:15 shuttle to the airport. Beats leaving at 2 a.m. from our home???? Our flight was at 6:45 and was overbooked and oversold. No empty seats listed by the airline over 3 weeks before the flight so I wanted to check in as early as possible to avoid being bumped. We were not the first in line for our flight. Check in took about 45 minutes. Breakfast in the food court in the terminal. Flight boarded 15 minutes after we made it to the gate. We made sure that we had plenty of transfer time in SJU, although 3 hours was a lot more time than necessary, it made for a very stress free trip. It allowed us to sample the local dance/music group (very good) that toured the airport, go outside for a smoke or 2, and have lunch at Mickey D’s before even trying to find our departure gate for SXM.

Arrival in SXM was a little late, 15 minutes wait for our luggage and then outside. Lesley Bruce from Kenny’s was there to meet us. 5 minutes later, paperwork done in the car, we were on the way to La Plage with our Corolla. Check in went quickly and we were on the beach less than 1 hour after touchdown. A great room with an incredible view of Maho Beach, Sunset Beach Bar, and the airline flight path. Parking for La Plage is in the garage under La Terrasse and is $30 per week. Quick trip to Food Express for drinks for the room and breakfast items, just walk over and push a cart back!!

Having gotten up at 3 a.m. we just wanted a couple of hours on the beach and then a sandwich and off to bed. No way. The Palms Grill (100 feet or less from our room) closed just as we got there at 8:30. They recommended the Ocean Terrace in the Maho hotel next door as it was BBQ Buffet night. $32 each got us unlimited portions of NY Strips, shrimp, pork chops, chicken halves, and the salad bar. Not a bad deal. I became hungry all of a sudden and everything I had was very good. Well worth the price. Now that my battery was recharged, off to Casino Royale. Did OK. Left with $50 more than we walked in with after 3 hours.

Day 2 – Off to pick up our cell phone from Sharon Harris. It took less than a 15 minute stop at Royal Palm to get the phone. Didn’t use it much but sure felt more secure having a lifeline to help if we needed it. Continued on to Phillipsburg to Kay’s Jewelers. Got some repairs to old stuff lined out and made a couple of new purchases. My wife really likes her 25th anniversary presents. Had the obligatory Heineken’s but joked about needing a single malt scotch after the purchase. They offered to get me a whole bottle of anything I wanted to drink while waiting for the CC approval to come thru. Great Place!! Beach & pool time followed. Dinner at Palms Grill.

Day 3 – Beach & Pool. The rest of the family; wife’s cousin, her husband, and 2 kids (12 & 7) arrived an hour late from ORD thru Charlotte. Got them checked in and kids off to the beach with my wife while the rest of us had a few at the Tortuga Bar. Tropical storm Chris made it’s first appearance with a driving rain. One large clap of thunder later, we were all under cover in the bar area. Rain stopped after an hour or so and we went back to the rooms to clean up for dinner. Soprano’s!!!! With 3 Italians in the crowd, I had no choice in the matter. All of the meals were great, but mine was outstanding. The largest piece of veal parmesan I have ever seen. Bill for 6 was around $150 and included several drinks for the adults. Wife & I finished the night at the casino. I gave my original buy in money to my wife before she left for the room and stayed with a neat group of people for a couple of more hours.

Day 4 – Wife woke up to over $350 of chips on the dresser. She was no longer mad at me for being out so late. Kids and all to the beach and pool for a little while. I changed the Corolla for a van. Kennys’ does not have them, so Lesley made arrangements with Dorsette’s Original Car Rental for the van. He was 15 minutes early picking up the car and Dorsette’s was also early. Great service. They even took $10 per day off the price as Lesley had referred us. Sweet!! Piled all into the van and off to Kay’s to pick up our repairs. Wife’s cousin made a purchase of a necklace and some other items. Her husband & I had several beers while the girls continued to shop. Wife finally purchased a great pair of earrings for their daughter who is also her godchild. Back to La Plage & lunch at the Palms Grill. Beach & pool time. Rained off & on most of the day. TS Chris. Dinner at the Palms again. NY Strip steak for $16. Pizza for the kids. Quite good and very reasonable prices.

Day 5 – Continued to rain off and on. TS Chris 65 or so miles away. So What!! Breakfast at Zee Best. Marvelous. Back to La Plage. Rain stopped so we decided to go the Butterfly Farm. Great choice. Took the route thru Marigot & Grand Case so all could see a bit more of the island. Took our stuff so we could go to Orient or Le Gallion Beach. Kids loved the Butterfly Farm. I didn’t want to leave. Rain started again so no beach. Took a tour, in the van, of the Orient area and headed back to La Plage by way of Phillipsburg. Lunch at Peg Leg Pub. Good food & service. All happy. Back to Maho Beach. Dinner at Pizza Pasta. Great choice. Crayons and paper mats for the kids and great food for all. Very reasonably priced. Back to the casino for us. Rest of the family to bed. Lost $100. Oh Well!!!

Day 6 – Rain is gone. Kids on the beach. Quiet day. The godchild got her hair braided. Over $100. She loved it and looks great. All the teenage boys at the resort are trying to pick her up until they find out she is 12. OOOPPS!!! Husband & I finally make it to the swim up bar at Maho. We can use their facilities, but they can’t use ours. I don’t understand, but it’s OK by me. Dinner at Jimbo’s. Good Tex-Mex. Pool & swim up bar are a hit with the kids. All Happy!!! Met Jim after dinner. Gave him our opinions which were all positive. Back to casino for wife & I. It was a good night. Made $100 and had several hours of fun.

Day 7 – Reality is setting in. Gotta leave tomorrow. Made plans. Also tried to go to Mullet beach. Too much hassle with the kids. They were already happy where they were. They made friends with others at La Plage and had a great day. Don’t fix something if it’s not broken. Swimup bar for men and pool for wives. Worked well. Tried to go to Bajatsu (sp) for dinner. Restaurant ½ empty but still told an hour + wait for dinner. Kids hungry. Back to Soprano’s. Even better this time. Wife & off to the casino. Had a great night. 3 hours later and $200 richer, we go back to the room & pack.

Day 8 – Don’t want to go. Breakfast at Tortuga. Good. Off to the airport at 11:30 for our 2:10 flight. Only a 5 minute drive, but glad we left early. Traffic bad. Took 20 minutes to get parked. Dorsette’s just entering as we par to pick up the van. Paperwork takes all of 2 minutes. Check in takes 1 hour. Last minute purchase of a bottle of scotch. Plane loads & leaves on time!!! Arrive in SJU on time and get the 3rd degree and a bag search by Customs. They finally figure out we are legit and off we go. Plenty of time for a late lunch and more duty free purchases before we board and head for home. Long day is capped off by a problem with getting the shuttle to our hotel as they can’t figure out that we are already at the shuttle pick up and are just calling to let them know we are there. We just need to know which door they stop at for pickups. They must deal with a lot of novices. Finally get the car at 11:30 and make the 90 minute drive home.

I know we missed a lot of things that most are able to do. All in the travel group seemed to have a great time so those sacrifices were worth it. TS Chris was just a minor bump in the week. Casino was a hoot & I left with about $600 of their money. I hope all on island have a hurricane season like this. No flooding, no winds, no damage, just a minor inconvenience.