The Return

Up so early to deal with a possible emergency back home. Thankfully, nothing to worry about. Packed and made a big scrambled eggs breakfast to load up for the journey. US Dare ran out of food on the way down so we were taking no chances of going hungry until 7pm. Sorted out the garbage and then 10AM came round and it was time to start putting clothes on again. The Goddess looked stunning in a floor length blue dress that showed off her tan and her cleavage wonderfully. I had on brown linen pants and a white linen shirt, determined to stay cool for the trip.

 I headed out to Bacchus and picked up a nice Morgon for Chantal and Tony, our hosts, dropping off the garbage on the way. Then it was time to reluctantly make our goodbyes and head to the airport. Traffic though Marigot was a breeze compared with the day before and we got to AAA in plenty of time. Check-in, passport control and Security were a breeze. Nothing was going to faze us at all. The surly looking lady at the bar & grill cheered up and started laughing with us when we persisted in talking to her. Airports are great for people-watching. Thing we couldn't understand was the number of people we saw getting massages at the gate. Why anyone would need some relaxation therapy when *leaving* this place was a mystery to us.

Uneventful flight on a half-full plane and a very swift passage though Immigration etc. We got to the baggage claim just as our bags hit the belt. Next stop the airport Sheraton. Tired place and we made the mistake of eating here. Bad food sitting on my stomach as we hit bed to watch TV and fall asleep. We need to make sure we hang onto the memories.

Which, we discover the next morning, could require a bit of effort. We wouldn't be us if we didn't have something go not quite according to plan during our travels. This time, it was USAir's inability to print the boarding pass for the second leg of today's journey: Charlotte to Columbus, Ohio then Columbus to Toronto. The thing is, though, that it was just the Goddess's pass that wouldn't print, which made no sense at all, as we told the curt and dismissive lady at check-in. We had plenty of time, so we tried against the USAir lounge. This lady was much more helpful but no more successful. We were told that the boarding pass could be printed at the gate in Columbus and everything would be OK, since all luggage was checked through to Toronto. The Goddess, however, does not deal well with uncertainty and it made for an unhappy trip for her until we eventually got to Columbus... which didn't happen until an hour later than scheduled.

We pushed away for the gate and were happily taxiing to the runway when the pilot announced we'd have to go back to the gate. Turns out that the pilot in the plane behind us spotted a "protrusion" in our plane where no protrusion should have been, so back to the gate we went. After an full inspection by both pilots and the ground crew, when they finally got to us, nothing was found and we took off an hour late. If I was of suspicious mind, I'd suggest the other pilot had a weird sense of humor or want to move up the take-off line. 

After all that, we made our connection in Columbus OK, had the world's worst coffee from the Wolfgang Puck rip-off stand, sorry, I mean franchise, and climbed onboard a Dash turbo-prop for the last leg, making the Goddess's eyebrows go up yet again. Finally, we were home, paid $160 for parking and now start dreaming of Xmas and our next trip to our favourite island.