The alarm rudely woke us up at 2:30a.m. We had only been asleep for an hour after finishing packing but closing our eyes for an hour was nice. LOL

Thursday night, hubby and I looked at each other from our adjoining offices and said, "Wouldn't it be nice to go to St. Maarten for a fast blast of sun and fun? 36 hours later we were driving to the airport. Woo-Hoo!

With no direct flight options open to us from Toronto we had to connect through Philadelphia. As we drove to the airport we were casting a wary eye to the sky because of the approaching snowstorm. We knew our trip could be tricky because of the weather so we had our fingers AND toes crossed. (not our eyes tho - they were bleary enough from no sleep)

Our plane was waiting at the gate when we cleared customs and security - always a good sign. We had to de-ice however so we were delayed 45 mins. With only an hour to connect in Philly our toes and fingers remained crossed. Our wonderful U.S. Air pilot made up some time in the air and as we landed we looked out the window to see - NO snow -yet. So far we had stayed ahead of the bad weather. Grabbing our carry-ins we made amad dash from Terminal C to A. Out of breath we arrived at the gate as they were doing last minute boarding we collapsed into our seats and passed out.

The approaching sand and beaches of St. Maarten had never looked so wonderful as we flew over Sunset Beach bar and all the waving people. We had to keep pinching ourselves that we were here. Renting a car, we were checked into Caravanserai in no time and after a hug from Ozzie at the front desk we hit the beach. We made a dash across the wonderful sand of Maho, got smucked by a big wave and laughed all the way over to Driftwood. As we walked up, who do we see, but the fabulous Bill and Eladifne who were seeing friends off. I asked about Pat but she had already left. Darn, I really a wanted to meet her and try to convince her she should write a book! I love that woman's posts....she's amazing.

After enjoying one of Tiffany's killer rum punches and sharing a delicious Mahi-Mahi sandwich, we got cleaned up, walked over to Cheri's for our arrival ritual, enjoyed the boys in the band and more hugs before goin to the casino and walking away with a small jackpot from the slot machine. We won 33 bucks and it felt GOOD! LOL

Bed had never felt so good... Looking forward to our days in paradise and sharing with you all in the coming days. I love people's trip reports especially on the days when I have to deal with endless emails and then go out to shovel the snow....

We're here! Woo-Hoo!!!

Can you tell that I'm happy and feeling sooooo lucky? <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />