Trip Report July 17 – August 3 2005
CHAPTER 1
I wasn’t going to write a report this year as I like to do a narrative style rather than simply reporting the facts. That tends to make the report long. So I decided to make it easier for me to write when I get the time and for the reader to rest their eyes by breaking it up into chapters. It may be too long for some to bother with but I did a similar report last year and it seemed many enjoyed the reading. Don’t worry; many of the days were similar at Orient Beach so each day may not get treated with the same detail.
Our second vacation in SXM proved every bit as wonderful as our trip last year and even more so as this time around we stayed a total of 17 days. Memories of last year remained in our minds throughout the ensuing 12 months no doubt fed by numerous log-ins onto TTOL. Posts and trip reports kept the fire alive and I hope our recollections fan the flames of your anticipated trip to Sint Maarten/St. Martin.
We booked again on USAir with Frequent Flyer miles bolstered by American Express points transferred into our account. We were short by about $300 for a pair of tickets but after thinking about it for a fraction of a second I decided it was a frugal enough purchase for an extended vacation in paradise.
Saturday evening July 16th
Our son-in-law drove us to the Philadelphia airport early Saturday evening since at the last minute we decided to stay at the Airport Marriott rather than drive down early on Sunday morning. On the way we were pummeled by a very heavy rainstorm that at the time was a bit frightening; not so much because of the torrent of rain as much as the drivers passing us at break neck speeds in almost zero visibility. Many Philadelphia area drivers go brain dead in rain, snow and during high rush hour traffic. I’m working on a new bumper sticker: Honk if you think I’m an idiot!
We felt bad as we thought about Kevin driving home in the thunder and lightning. “I’m not worried about it at all”, he said just as a bolt found a path to the ground within 2000’ of us. “Well, maybe I’m worried a little” was his response. The rain was not letting up at all but fortunately we were able to pull under the hotel carport. As we got out, sheltered by the roof above us, we unloaded our carry-on luggage and handbags, exchanged hugs good-bye and then proceeded into the hotel lobby. Our son-in-law drove off into the storm that would prove to be a minor inconvenience compared to our coming experiences on the island.
We entered the lobby and saw the check-in desk off to the left but had to make our way to it by threading ourselves through a crowd of smartly dressed people gathered for a wedding reception. This added a festive slant to the beginning of our vacation even though in a small way we felt like we were crashing the party. Had I been able to see the new movie Wedding Crashers perhaps we could have saved some money on our first meal!
I requested a room facing the runways if possible and as it turned out one was available with a king size bed. So for our night’s stay we were on the 11th floor facing the airport runways. I know, it is a “guy thing” but I figured if we had the option I’d rather watch the planes try to negotiate the storm than the crazy highway drivers on the other side of the hotel. That proved futile as visibility, as I said, was very poor and not many planes were departing or landing.
We rode the elevator back down to the lobby and made our way over to the hotel restaurant where we had dinner while talking about our last trip to St. Martin and all the experiences we enjoyed together. We agreed, as usual, that sharing the experiences is what makes our times away so much fun. That, for us at least, is really 95% of what makes our vacations so exciting. Well, maybe 90%.
We both ordered Philly Cheesesteaks for dinner. Which might seem mundane, but neither of us had consumed one for at least 8 months. We were working hard at losing some weight and getting in shape and cheese steaks were not on our health conscious menu. They were pretty good in spite of evolving from a hotel kitchen. The shoestring fries were very oily and very salty…just the way they are suppose to be and went well with my Heineken and Marilyn’s Yingling lager, a local beer touted as “from America’s oldest brewery”. Amazing how little will power you have once vacation begins!
As we worked through our meal we saw other couples sitting in the restaurant who obviously were on their way to or from vacation destinations. We wondered if we would see them in St. Martin or whether they might even be among those who frequent TTOL. However, we were not in the mood to strike up a conversation with strangers and mostly wanted to finish our meal and go off to bed.
We decided to watch a movie, The Interpreter starring Sean Penn and Nicole Kidman. I fell asleep and Marilyn never did catch on to the plot. So she finally turned it off along with the light and we both were off to a nice rest before our departure. We thought! Around 2:30 someone came knocking at our room door. Now the last time this happened to us we were on a week vacation at a remote resort in the Poconos. We were awakened, then, in the middle of the night by someone trying to get into our room with a key. I shouted out, “What are you doing?” Upon which they bolted and drove off very quickly. All I could figure out was they had stolen the key after a stay in the room and were trying to sneak back in (these rooms have a private pool and hot tub…who could blame them?). That was a bit frightening, so this time I wasn’t going to open the door no matter who was there. Then our phone rang. “Room service is at your door, did you order something?” “Yes, a good night’s sleep. You’ve got the wrong room!”. Fortunately, we fell right back to sleep.
It was, never the less, a fun start to our vacation staying at the Marriott. We thought spending the money on a hotel room would save us rushing in the morning to get to the airport. And since it would not have worked out for our son-in-law to drive us Sunday morning, it was a viable option compared to driving down and parking in the expensive airport parking garage. As it turned out, our room was less expensive than parking would have been for 17 days.
To be continued........
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