Day 19

Day 19 - I guess one good thing about AA not ;leaving till mid-afternoon, is that you get to enjoy SXM just a little bit more. No croissants today, instead a chocolate and a vanilla eclair. Plenty of Chocolate cream in the chocolate one. Equally plenty of vanilla in the other. View off the porch was the mega sailing ship "A". Packing was done, keys turned over, and then a short drive to SMYC for our last meal. Did the Chicken Caesar Wrap($11.). Drove to airport and met Angela waiting for us just before we entered the parking lot. A call from Craig/Bob at Packlight saying he'd be there in 15 seconds. So that all went quickly. It was Tuesday so I didn't expect any huge crowds in the airport. AA line only had about 4 people ahead of us. I should mention that United, Air France, AA, and someone else, besides a couple "puddle jumpers" also have planes departing between Three and four pm. After ticketing, you move to the end of the terminal where the line forms to go up a ramp to the second floor where the TSA Checkpoint is. That's when things started to slow down. Seems like they were moving at half speed(I know, Island Time). Two checking lines, followed by the line for emigration. Unfortunately, that line backs up into the people finishing TSA and putting themselves back together. Finally you exit into the waiting are. Very nice. Well lit, with plenty of food concessions and seemed like enough chairs. At the end of that area are steps leading down to the ground floor seating where the tickets are taken before taking a bus to your plane. So from the time we left the car return to the time we entered the waiting area, was about 1 3/4 hours. This was on a Tuesday, I suspect, not the busiest day of the week. Just saying, don't cut yourself short of time.
Trip to Charlotte was uneventful although we took off from SXM in the opposite direction and landed in rain. Processing there was OK. We were overnighting there because AA poor scheduling prevented us from taking the late plane to St Louis.
It was a GREAT TRIP. So good to see SXM coming back, especially on the Dutch side. The French are starting to get their act going too. Loved our first experience with Air BnB. Enjoyed some new restaurants as well as some old favorites. Looking forward to our October/November trip. Makes it so much easier to leave when you have the next trip almost booked.

Thanks for all the reports and pictures! Now that you are back home, would you be willing to the share the url for the place that you rented, as it looked GREAT!

Norm,

Another brief but superb report.

Bob

Thanks for the updates.

Thank you for all the reports. We enjoyed them. We have croissants almost every morning too.

Thanks, Norm! I've really enjoyed reading your daily reports as well as the pictures you posted.

Looking forward to your next trip. Thanks for sharing your days with us.

Hi Norm, Seems like we were just eating with the two of you a few weeks ago. Hard to believe it was back in October. We, too, will return soon for another couple of weeks in paradise. Staying in a new place that is rented by Magali's Island Escapes SXM. We have a few places lined up to visit and then plan to spend the rest of the time relaxing on the beach. Thanks for the prices and places where you ate. Always helpful if we care to try them. Say Hi! to Betty for us. Larry

Norm....great reports as always, a pleasure to enjoy...I share your addiction to SMYC grouper fingers....Dave

Thank you for these awesome TRs!

Thank you for all your great reporting, Norm. I'm thrilled you have been able to get photos in your posts as it was always such a drag clicking on each of the links. Congratulations!!

Loved spending time with you on your trip even if it was only vicariously.