Posted By: Beansbbq
Day One (Travel day) 4/20 - 04/21/2022 01:17 PM
Good day to all. Sitting on the patio this morning and wanted to give a trip report from yesterday. I plan on trying to do this daily so bear with me folks. It's gonna be one helluva ride.
Brief backstory, it's been 14/15 years since we have set our feet on the island. And we are back baby!!! We used to post on here under Shaggy77, lost my login and decided to start this account instead. There were 4 of us traveling yesterday. The missus, the boy (aka the irish cannonball), myself and one of our best friends. We surprised our friend with a gift trip down here, she's never been to SXM, she's also battling stage 4 lung cancer and this was a must do trip with us!! I'm in remission from my own battle with lymphoma, so this trip means the world to all of us. But enough of that.
We flew outta Boston yesterday morning on Jet Blue at 5am. We stayed the night before at the Hilton at Logan, basically took a nap and then got to our flight. It was seamless outta Boston. We had a connection in Fort Lauderdale. We landed 30 mins early in FLL, had a brunch at the Golden Bear lounge w/ the obligatory morning travel cocktails. Mimosas for the ladies and a dewar and soda (that somehow didn't have any soda in it). Grabbed our flight outta FLL and landed 20 mins early on the island. Got through immigration in just under an hour, grabbed the jeep from Dollar/Thrifty and headed towards Orient. (Truthfully I may have sobbed a bit outta joy when we landed, it's hard to express the emotions that were running through me, never thought we'd be back and never like this. Tons of Joy to be able finally show my son the island and let alone be able to bring our friend down who is fighting her own fight. sorry, side note)
We stopped at Super U in Hope Estates for the basics. Coffee, beer, whiskey, baguettes, butter, charcuterie, and prosecco. Got to the village and made contact with Magali from Island Escape. This was the 4th time seeing her over the years. She used to work for Cap Caribes when we rented a different villa on the hill. Seeing her again after all this time was amazing. Pretty sure she hasn't aged, I have, she hasn't. We got in to Villa Silove and quickly started to decompress. We had relatives fly down the day before us and they are staying at Palm Court. Unbeknownst to us when we all booked was how close we are to each other. A 4 minute walk between doors. We couldn't have planned that if we tried. They came over bearing gifts in a cooler and well it was one helluva evening. Lotta laughs, lotta pool time, lotta hugs. And that was just the first hour I think. The cannonball and I decided at one point we should get more than just charcuterie and baguettes for dinner so we took a stroll down and got a lot of tacos.......a lot. We grabbed takeout from taco shop in the village. And that did not disappoint. They are "california style", which means there are fries in them. And lets just say you definitely get your money's worth from there. We have leftovers for sure.
Woke this am at 6:30, got up and walked down to the village around 7:30. Grabbed a smattering of pastries from Good Morning and made my way back to the villa. Soaking in the sun the whole brief walk. The boy, aka the cannonball, is still asleep after a grueling travel day. Life is tough when you're 12 and on vacation. Gonna head out to Super U for actual provisions shortly and spend the day on the beach absorbing as much Vitamin D, caribs, and 'ti punch as possible. If you're around the village look for the pasty white kid with red hair. That's the Irish Cannonball. I'll be the older guy with him paying the bills and watching him learn about a whole new world down here. Will try to post every day. Big thanks to everyone on here for all the help through the years.
Brief backstory, it's been 14/15 years since we have set our feet on the island. And we are back baby!!! We used to post on here under Shaggy77, lost my login and decided to start this account instead. There were 4 of us traveling yesterday. The missus, the boy (aka the irish cannonball), myself and one of our best friends. We surprised our friend with a gift trip down here, she's never been to SXM, she's also battling stage 4 lung cancer and this was a must do trip with us!! I'm in remission from my own battle with lymphoma, so this trip means the world to all of us. But enough of that.
We flew outta Boston yesterday morning on Jet Blue at 5am. We stayed the night before at the Hilton at Logan, basically took a nap and then got to our flight. It was seamless outta Boston. We had a connection in Fort Lauderdale. We landed 30 mins early in FLL, had a brunch at the Golden Bear lounge w/ the obligatory morning travel cocktails. Mimosas for the ladies and a dewar and soda (that somehow didn't have any soda in it). Grabbed our flight outta FLL and landed 20 mins early on the island. Got through immigration in just under an hour, grabbed the jeep from Dollar/Thrifty and headed towards Orient. (Truthfully I may have sobbed a bit outta joy when we landed, it's hard to express the emotions that were running through me, never thought we'd be back and never like this. Tons of Joy to be able finally show my son the island and let alone be able to bring our friend down who is fighting her own fight. sorry, side note)
We stopped at Super U in Hope Estates for the basics. Coffee, beer, whiskey, baguettes, butter, charcuterie, and prosecco. Got to the village and made contact with Magali from Island Escape. This was the 4th time seeing her over the years. She used to work for Cap Caribes when we rented a different villa on the hill. Seeing her again after all this time was amazing. Pretty sure she hasn't aged, I have, she hasn't. We got in to Villa Silove and quickly started to decompress. We had relatives fly down the day before us and they are staying at Palm Court. Unbeknownst to us when we all booked was how close we are to each other. A 4 minute walk between doors. We couldn't have planned that if we tried. They came over bearing gifts in a cooler and well it was one helluva evening. Lotta laughs, lotta pool time, lotta hugs. And that was just the first hour I think. The cannonball and I decided at one point we should get more than just charcuterie and baguettes for dinner so we took a stroll down and got a lot of tacos.......a lot. We grabbed takeout from taco shop in the village. And that did not disappoint. They are "california style", which means there are fries in them. And lets just say you definitely get your money's worth from there. We have leftovers for sure.
Woke this am at 6:30, got up and walked down to the village around 7:30. Grabbed a smattering of pastries from Good Morning and made my way back to the villa. Soaking in the sun the whole brief walk. The boy, aka the cannonball, is still asleep after a grueling travel day. Life is tough when you're 12 and on vacation. Gonna head out to Super U for actual provisions shortly and spend the day on the beach absorbing as much Vitamin D, caribs, and 'ti punch as possible. If you're around the village look for the pasty white kid with red hair. That's the Irish Cannonball. I'll be the older guy with him paying the bills and watching him learn about a whole new world down here. Will try to post every day. Big thanks to everyone on here for all the help through the years.