My apologies for the delay… Who knew it would be so busy getting back from your honeymoon? Okay, so maybe lots of people knew that, but better late than never I suppose.
Day 1 - May 2, 2011 - Travel to Tortola
We’d been married a day and a half, and the world had just learned that Osama bin Laden had been killed. We arrived at the airport a bit early at 9ish am (John’s Dad drove us to the airport at the same time he took John’s uncle to the airport for an earlier flight, so we had a little time to kill before our 12:45 flight).
Since the only real restaurant in DFW airport and the restaurant with which we have an ironic tradition is TGI Friday’s, that’s where we ate lunch. I had a Caribbean Chicken Sandwich and John had a burger.
There was a 15 minute delay for our flight to San Juan, Puerto Rico. When we arrived in San Juan, most things at the San Juan airport were closed, but we got some nice personal pizzas at Dominoes (note that the San Juan airport Dominoes Pizza does not serve the nasty, over-seasoned “new” Dominoes style pizza, so it was actually pretty good). I had cheese and John had pepperoni.
With only a few minutes to go before boarding, they changed our gate… unannounced, of course. :) Then, we walked out onto the tarmac to our plane… our prop plane… a little shocked that the old thing was air worthy.
When we got to the Tortola airport, it was like walking into a movie. The immigration area was 2 small booths, after which you got to a small room with one big fan, no A/C, to pick up your luggage, and then you pass through 2 more small booths for customs. Just past customs, a taxi company was ready to take us on our way. (Pictures aren’t allowed; otherwise, I would have been sure to capture the almost surreal environment)
This was our first real interaction with the great BV Islanders. Upon seeing us, the taxi attendant at the airport asked in thick BVI accent, “How many dogs do you see?” so fast that we weren’t quite sure what had happened. There actually were some dogs around the corner of the building, but we didn’t see those until after we exchanged confused looks and hesitantly answered that “We have 4 bags.” She broke into laugher, very pleased with herself for “tricking” us.
Our taxi driver was more of the same, telling us how the steep roads are difficult to navigate in the snow. My incredulous response was, “It doesn’t snow here, does it?” but that didn’t stop him from roaring with laughter and exclaiming, “I got you.”
The night view of Tortola wasn’t much to see… In fact, there was probably more light coming from the nearby US Virgin Islands than from Tortola, but the taxi driver was nice enough to describe what we were driving past and let us know which days of our trip would be overrun with cruise ship passengers (Tuesday and Saturday).
We got to our first hotel (Village Cay Hotel, Road Town, Tortola) at about 9:45 PM (10:45 Dallas time). We checked in and went out to sit by the pool where there was internet service, so we could let people back home know we’d arrived safely. Needless to say, the bed felt very comfortable that first night.
Day 1 - May 2, 2011 - Travel to Tortola
We’d been married a day and a half, and the world had just learned that Osama bin Laden had been killed. We arrived at the airport a bit early at 9ish am (John’s Dad drove us to the airport at the same time he took John’s uncle to the airport for an earlier flight, so we had a little time to kill before our 12:45 flight).
Since the only real restaurant in DFW airport and the restaurant with which we have an ironic tradition is TGI Friday’s, that’s where we ate lunch. I had a Caribbean Chicken Sandwich and John had a burger.
There was a 15 minute delay for our flight to San Juan, Puerto Rico. When we arrived in San Juan, most things at the San Juan airport were closed, but we got some nice personal pizzas at Dominoes (note that the San Juan airport Dominoes Pizza does not serve the nasty, over-seasoned “new” Dominoes style pizza, so it was actually pretty good). I had cheese and John had pepperoni.
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| Propeller - taken through the window at our seats |
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| Old-School Seats in our plane to Tortola |
This was our first real interaction with the great BV Islanders. Upon seeing us, the taxi attendant at the airport asked in thick BVI accent, “How many dogs do you see?” so fast that we weren’t quite sure what had happened. There actually were some dogs around the corner of the building, but we didn’t see those until after we exchanged confused looks and hesitantly answered that “We have 4 bags.” She broke into laugher, very pleased with herself for “tricking” us.
Our taxi driver was more of the same, telling us how the steep roads are difficult to navigate in the snow. My incredulous response was, “It doesn’t snow here, does it?” but that didn’t stop him from roaring with laughter and exclaiming, “I got you.”
The night view of Tortola wasn’t much to see… In fact, there was probably more light coming from the nearby US Virgin Islands than from Tortola, but the taxi driver was nice enough to describe what we were driving past and let us know which days of our trip would be overrun with cruise ship passengers (Tuesday and Saturday).
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| Our room in the Village Cay Hotel |
We got to our first hotel (Village Cay Hotel, Road Town, Tortola) at about 9:45 PM (10:45 Dallas time). We checked in and went out to sit by the pool where there was internet service, so we could let people back home know we’d arrived safely. Needless to say, the bed felt very comfortable that first night.
Yea! Looking forward to more photos at least until the drowning of the camera.
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