December 30 2010(Continued)
We sat around until about 6pm when finally we heard an announcement about our flight, “The weather seems to be clearing and the runway is drying so we are going to try another attempt at St. Kitts.” We began boarding and around 6:30 lift off. The whole plane was taking bets as to whether or not the pilot was going to land, and if he did what we were all (all of us students especially) going to do. We were positive that hotels and food venues were closed on the island and we were unsure whether or not our greeters would be at the airport. We all waited to feel the sinking feeling in the pits of our stomach when another lovely announcement came, “It seems that the weather is still too poor for landing purposes. St. Kitts has a short runway that doesn’t drain water properly and we have to have a perfect runway for the weight of the plane. So we are going to fly to San Juan, Puerto Rico give you vouchers for dinner, breakfast, taxis, hotel, and rebook your flight for 10:00am in the morning.”
The frustration on the plane was palpable because it would be another hour on the plane and he didn’t even try to land. It was obvious he had no intention of landing on St. Kitts that third time and his intentions were to go to San Juan. We probably would have stayed in St. Maarten if there was anything open but the island went to bed right as we got there that second landing.
We all got off the plane, went to baggage claim and pickup up all our bags and when I say picked up our bags there were girls that had 5-8 bags with them. Can you imagine what they paid in fees! Those girls had parents, I had two over weight bags with no help and I was a WIDE load. Imagine a train of students, parents, vacationers, and businessmen rushing to get through customs trying to get there first and be that much closer to BED!
One line to stand in….AH…ah…AH
The organizer at the San Juan customs area was paying close attention to our flight and when he heard about the third attempt assumed that the plane would land. When he got the call that the plane was coming to San Juan he had to rush to get his staff ready for our arrival. There was a team of airport officials re-opening the customs boxes and girls passing out declaration papers to be filled out as we waited in line. As I got up to the official I gave him my declaration paper and he asked me about the flight, I told him how we were going to get hotels and our flight re-booked and he mentioned not many hotels are open at this time. My heart sank at the prospect of having to sleep on an airport floor, but we all have to experience it some time, as travelers.
Two line to stand in…AH…ah…AH
At the kiosk where there were four American attendants ready and waiting to give us our vouchers. Actually that was the fastest part of the whole excursion even with 5-8 bag groups to weave through. At that point all of us students had bonded and were forming groups for dinner and such. It got to the point where we were the only ones in the airport and some groups left luggage in piles so they didn’t have to carry it through the lines. We survived the kiosk and then had to walk ¼ mile to the taxi area.
Three line to stand in…Ah…ah…AH
I piled in a taxi with four other people including Laura who was my neighbor and venting partner during the whole ordeal. In no time we zoomed through traffic making all kinds of illegal moves and were piling out of the taxi. Traveled to the front desk to…you guessed it.
Four line to stand in…AH…ah…AH
Eventually got my room assignment at the ESJ hotels, set my alarm for 7:30 am and then got a call from Laura that her room had a large trail of ants on the wall and she wasn’t awake enough to care. I invited her to sleep in the other bed in my room and around 10:30 we joined our group and headed to dinner at Chilies across the street to get a quick bite to eat…right.
Fifth line to sit in…AH…ah…AH
We sat for about 20mins before the one waitress came out and took our drink and dinner orders. Another 35-40mins pass and Laura bugging the waitress a few times and we got 2 of our 3 fajitas orders and a poor looking New York strip steak . Our drink refills never came even after we told four different people, and eventually the missing plate came but wasn’t what was ordered. We laughed out of giddiness and pure not giving a hoot because it had been a long and unforgiving day. After 15mins of scarfing don food we devised the best way of paying so that when we gave her the money we could just leave.
Laura and I arrived at our room, I took a shower, called some people while I still had reception on my phone, charged it and went to bed around 1:00am.
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