Trip report 2 weeks Nov/Dec 2009
Flights: worse than usual with only a few notes. We flew on United ff miles, first time not leaving on using a red eye flight from the West Coast. Going down we went Portland to Chicago, then to PHL where we met up with Katie and Jonathan and stayed at the Airport Marriott. Flew US Air on the PHL to SXM portion, all on schedule and all went fine. We checked two bags going down, three coming back with no fees.
On the way back we went on United on the 4:35pm flight to IAD where we spent the night at the Airport Marriott. Then next day we went to ORD and onto PDX.
I will mention that when we landed at IAD, we hardly slowed down until waiting for the Marriott shuttle. We waited in no line, for anything. Our bags were off the belt waiting for us, about as fast as we could hand the customs person documents we continued. If only McDonalds Drive Thru had service this fast.
Also, there was mention of bags checked through when you overnight. I had always had to claim my bags before this trip and this time we had them checked through both directions when we spent the night. All bags arrived in good condition and it was nice to not have to lug them to the hotel and back.
Lodging: Marriott both ways were excellent as expected, nice to stay at the PHL airport and not have to go off site but not much of a problem at IAD.
Sapphire: first week in a one bedroom two bath room that had a partition for the front area so that was ok. I will start with the showers were good, and we enjoyed the view towards the lagoon which was nicer than we would have thought. We also liked the area, nice change of pace. For the bad: The ice did not kept up, the AC barely brought the temp down to sleeping conditions, the room was old and not in good repair, the couch could be the ugliest couch I have ever seen and the comfort matched the look and the safe did not work nor would the sliding doors to the balcony lock (5th floor so not a big deal). We did not have two drinking glasses that were the same size, looked like a collection one would get when in college while trying to survive. We had wine glasses that were the same, and it is a good thing because they were holding up the middle shelf in the cabinet on one end that held the plates. We removed the shelf and made everything fit without it. The dishwasher looked like it was going to fall out of the cabinet at any moment. I would consider our statement more of laughing at the place and situation rather than complaining. Would put this place very low on places to stay, but if I got an exchange and that was my option I probably would reluctantly take it again.
Atrium: for the second week in a one bedroom. Katie and Jonathan stayed with us two nights there before they went home to Denver. The balance of the stay was just MJ and I. We like the place, the furnished kitchen, the large balcony, the location, the great staff, and the secure feeling. High marks for the Atrium.
Car rental – Unity again, and again it was easy and reasonable. We went with the Yaris, plenty of room for 4 adults, tough with luggage but we did it on our move day. We will continue to use them and suggest them to others.
Beaches and such: Nice days at Orient (a bit windy), Rouge, Cupecoy for a bit, and mostly Simpson at Karakters. We have done Orient many times, enjoy Baywatch and other places but to be honest we do not find we relax there as much. To social I guess, and also it seems that we have not been lucky with the weather when driving over there ending up with wind or spotty weather. Our favorite place has become Karakters, the water is clear and the beach is sand with no rocks so it is easy to get in and out. The service is top notch and pricing is good for an upscale feel. Spent some lazy time in front of Atrium on Kim Sha and while it is not the nicest beach the water is calm if you want to just float on an air mattress. Only sad thing to say is we did not make Happy Bay this year, just did not fit it.
We did make a trip to the top of Pic, with intentions of hiking part of the way and having never been there we ended up searching for the correct road and finally found the top with a few excellent views in the process of finding it. We were the only ones there (early am), took turns not going too far from the car to see the view. Would prefer a bigger group in the future, felt uncomfortable with the stories but had no issues.
Food – Lal’s, new location works for us, food is just as good as it always has been. We ate at Lal’s more than any other place as is normal for us. Sunset Bar & Grill, they have done a nice job with the place, food was good or at least as good as it was before. Lido, ribs and chicken with taters, still a bargain. Baywatch, like the new location and the food is just as good as it always has been. Pineapple Pete’s, service is still top notch, food was good. Tutta Pasta, first time for us and we enjoyed it. Not too fancy but it was easy and convenient at the time we wanted pasta. BBB – I would say the burgers are better than ever. Jimbo’s – We would say the burgers have gone down hill, were not thrilled with any part of our visit there. Tequila’s, mostly cocktails with some apps, we enjoyed the place again. Dingy Dock, always fun to visit, only made it once this trip. Ocean Club, mostly for drinks but I will say the salads looked excellent and would suggest this place to people that are in that area. The Ocean Club bar as stated in other post has great new owners. Karakters, again a favorite of ours. We really enjoyed the Friday night Jazz and tapas, along with the other food offerings.
The highs for us were Lal’s again, Karakters and cocktails at the Ocean Club.
Lal’s Chicken Frankies – I was previously asked to describe them and did not so here It goes. It is like an excellent “ground beef” burrito that is seasoned with more spice. I know that it is actually chicken but that is still how I would describe it. We add a yogurt sauce that really adds to it.
Parties – enjoyed two evening parties at Karakters as well as an evening hosted by Elaine and Vicki at Rainbow. It was nice to finally meet some of these people as well as see many that we have known from before. After many years we finally met Barbara, very fun. Spent several evenings it seemed with Pat and John as well as Georgia and David at these parties and would like to remind David to put some miles on that car! Would like to again thank all those that attended our TTOL get together at Karakters, especially Dot who had a long day of travel not long after surgery and still made it to the beach with us. It was nice to have Amy & Scott host the Friday eve party also at Karakters where we also enjoyed the music, a great evening and always nice to meet people from the left coast. Special thanks to Vicki and Rick as well as Elaine for hosting an evening, felt very honored to be invited and we really enjoyed ourselves. We spent plenty of time talking to Roger and Laura, met Sandy and Bill finally, again Bob and Dot, Bob and Jeanna, Pat & John, Lora and Brad, Sandy and Greg and finally met Ray (Caribdugan). Also we got to meet Elaine’s friend PJ, met and talked to Tamara (Ric’s) and again got to visit with the Queen of SXM Sharon as well as Patty. We also had the pleasure of whooping it up with Annie, “she’s a hoot, that’s what she is.” We brought a few new people to the TTOL realm, and I am sure there are several names I have forgotten and I already feel like a name dropper with the stars above that we spent time with.
Shopping – not really much shopping done, blame it on the economy. We visited with our favorite people such as Deepti at DK Gems but the only place we really spent much was at Gulmohar’s where I picked up some stock for the bar. Flat out the best place to find liquor worth hauling back to the US. We only brought back 7 bottles this trip, some Blanton’s Bourbon and some different Rums, all in airbags with no issues.
To close – We had another excellent trip, was fun to have our daughter and Jonathan for part of our trip. We got a bit touristy the first week since Jonathan had not been there before but it was probably good for us to get out a bit more that first week. It seems the more we go the less we do. We enjoy the warm welcomes from the shop and restaurant owners, and I will say that the TTOL crowd is a great group with so many different back grounds that it is always interesting to spend time with all of you.
Cheers,
Todd
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