For the one or two people who read my blog, I'm finally going to talk about the 'vacation'. You hear people sometimes mention a vacation and how bad it was but in the back of your head you probably think to yourself, "yeah, the warm sun, the beautiful beaches; how bad could it have been?". Well, let me tell you. It can get bad, real bad.
Jen and I had been waiting for this vacation since August when our close friends Rick and Liz came up with the idea. It basically evolved from a birthday getaway for me (I turned 40 only days prior to the trip) and an early honeymoon for the just engaged Rick and Liz. (Yay!).
The trip was to St. Lucia in the British West Indies. I spent my first nine years of life in Puerto Rico and I had never heard of St. Lucia but what they heck, everything I saw online said this was a great place to go.
Jen and I flew American from Boston to San Juan then took and American Eagle turbo prop to St Lucia. We had a little stress leading up to our departure since it was right at the same time American was cancelling so many flight so they could do maintenance checks on their planes but it all went pretty smoothly. We got to St. Lucia right on time. So far, so good.
Rick and Liz were flying Delta from Atlanta direct into St. Lucia's larger southern airport. (We flew into the small northern field). Rick and Liz had to take a 1 hour + ride to the resort while we only had a 5 min cab ride. No biggie.
Jen and I got settled in and headed to a nearby resort cabana to start our festivities(drinking).
Rick and Liz arrived about 2-3 hours after we did and we all got to some serious 'having fun time'. These first couple of hours were the best part of the vacation because at sunset is when it all went completely to shit.
We migrated a bit towards the beach to check out the sunset. Rick and Liz went down to the beach and Jen and I sat high on a small seawall. As the sun was setting, We stood up and *BAM*. Jen lost her balance and took a header down a flight of stairs. Yes, it was bad, VERY bad. I already a good drink on so it took a second for everything to register but there was my bride laying at the bottom of the stairs and she wasn't moving!!!!
I got down to her quickly (other folks had seen it happen and were starting to get in gear as well. I definitely remember hearing people shouting to get help, call and ambulance, etc. I was focused completely on Jen and generally freaking out.
A great couple we hadn't met yet, who ended up becoming friends during the trip were instrumental in getting my head back on straight and helping out. Jim and Deb asked the important questions, 'Is she breathing? Can you feel her pulse?' which finally snapped me back into reality. Thank goodness, she was breathing and had a strong pulse! (small victory!)
We tried to revive her but really could do much because we didn't want to move her. I did feel around her spine as best I could and nothing 'seemed' out of place, also none of her limbs were sitting at unnatural angles. From my only somewhat untrained, drunk, eyes, her body appeared intact but we weren't taking chances. She was unconscious which meant she had a concussion at best. There was a knot on the side of her head I swear was the size of a golf ball.
The Sandals (that's the resort we were at) medic showed up quickly and we got her on to a backboard and began carrying her to an awaiting ambulance.
I'm going to take a short aside here and really thank the Sandals staff. They were great. I wish I could remember the man who stayed with us all the way to the Hospital and until the doctors there were able to confirm Jen was not in any immediate danger. It was greatly appreciated.
OK, back to the tale. We get Jen into the ambulance and the guy asks me if I want to go to a public or private hospital. My brain is still pretty mushy and I think he picked up on that. He put it much more simply for me "Do you have medical insurance?. If you do then I recommend a private hospital." Done.
We ended up after a 10 or 15 minute ride at small private clinic in Castries (capital of St. Lucia). Jen had finally started to come around and was loudly complaining about neck brace she had on. We were in the ER for only a short while before a doctor came in and started to look her over.
Most of the rest of the night was a blur mostly due to me being scared and not having a clue what all the medical folks were saying. Jen did get a CAT scan and the doc said there was no internal damage to her head. She basically conked herself a 'mighty good one'. *Phew*.
They did want to admit her for the night so I settled in on a cot next to her bed for the night.
All this time Jen and was in and out of unconsciousness but was mostly incoherent. She did have one nasty moment were she barfed all over the ER. Yeah, that was pleasant.
About 3am Saturday morning, I woke up when I head Jen stirring and then she the best thing "What the hell? Where am I? Ed?" Yay, she was awake! I explained what happened and she promptly fell back asleep. I finally got some decent sleep too since I was now alot more sure Jen was going to be OK.
The next morning was pretty routine for a hospital. We waited around for a while to see the doc, then went to get some x-rays. It turns out Jen had hurt her shoulder and they wanted to make sure it wasn't dislocated or anything was broken. The X-Rays showed a possible partial separation so the doc schedules Jen to come see an orthopedic doc on Tuesday.
Jen was released from the hospital Saturday afternoon.
The rest of the vacation was pretty 'bleh' Jen could do much for the first few days at all because she was on pain meds that made her completely wonky. I did do some scuba diving with Rick. THANK YOU LIZ FOR TAKING CARE OF JEN!
There were some highlights to the trip. As I mentioned before we met Jim and Deb. We also met a British couple Simon and Jane. The 8 of us spent a lot time hanging out and having a good time. By Tuesday Jen stopped taking the pain meds so she could function again so she was able to get involved too. However, with the concussion came a side affect of getting worn out a lot faster. So, most of our nights were called early so she could go to bed.
The best day was Thursday. Jen, Rick, Liz and I hired a driver to give us a tour to some of the islands best places. We took some very scenic roads through the maintains and got to see a lot of really gorgeous fishing villages, rain forest, etc.
We stopped and got some fresh tree ripened bananas. I do not recommend you ever eat them. You will forever be disappointed by the ones you buy from the stores since they are harvested green. The ones we bought were simply 'hella-yummie'
St. Lucia has an active volcano. It's not spewing lava currently so they actually let you into the caldera. I would describe it as walking into a large fart cloud. *pew*. The smell is from the sulfur being belched by the volcano. The sulfur is one of the reasons the French and British fought over St. Lucia. They wanted the sulfur to make gunpowder.
Our next stop was a local botanical garden. That was fantastic. We took tons of pictures and just enjoyed walking around and seeing it all.
We returned the resort and prepared for our departure the next day. Up to this point the vacation hadn't been truly awful. It was not good for Jen and I but not entirely crap. That was all about to change over the next 48 hours or so.
Our return trip was basically the reverse of our arrival. We were to take an ATR-72 twin turboprop to San Juan and catch a 767 to Boston form there.
Our flight to San Juan departed right on time. About ten minutes into the flight I 'thought' I sensed something odd. What I felt was a slight dipping of the right wing. Now, this by itself isn't unusual. Slight turbulence would easily cause that but something way in the back of my head was registering something a little different. Now, something I DO know about is airplanes. I'm a private pilot and have a degree in aerospace engineering. Some of that edumucashun was bound to rub off.
Very shortly after that nagging little buzzer in my head went off the plane turned VERY sharply and did a 180 turn. NOW I KNEW something was wrong. I chuckled and leaned over to Jen and said "We're going back". At that moment the pilot gets on the intercom and announces we are having some trouble with an engine and would be returned to St. Lucia. *Fuck*. About a minute later the pilot SHUT-OFF the right engine! *DOUBLE FUCK*. At this point I was a bit nervous. I planes like this are designed to fly loaded with one engine but that is only a small comfort when you look out the window and see the propeller windmilling.
I now consciously registered what was nagging me about the right wing dipping. As that engine was losing power the airplane would yaw to the right. This causes the trailing wing to have less lift than the extended (left side) wing which induces a rolling motion.
Well, needless to say we made it back to St Lucia in one piece. It was a very long 20 minutes or so. Now begins the epic FAIL on American Airlines part.
Our flight was the last flight to San Juan that day and there was no way to get a replacement airplane to us. We would be spending another night on the Island. it probably took A/A 3 hours to finally get a new flight itinerary for Jen and I. They were going one at a time through the passengers to get them all. It just happened that we were towards the end. I'm sure A/A wanted to help their frequent flyers first, etc. Whatever. Jen and I were 2 of the last 8 people to get out.
We were now scheduled to take a jet from the big airport Saturday at 2:30pm. A/A was paying for our hotel and gave us a few bucks for some dinner. During this time Jen and I befriended another stranded passenger named Janine. She was travelling alone and had managed to get a staph infection on her ankle so she hobbling around a bit. She was going our hotel and was going to be on the flight the next day.
The hotel was ok. It wasn't a rat trap and was clean so we had no complaints there. We grabbed an early cab to Vieux Fort the next day and headed to the airport for our second go at getting home. Janine was also in our cab. A/A covered the cab fare.
We arrived at the airport and checked in only to discover our new flight was delayed and was still in Miami! Oh well. At least it wasn't cancelled and this airport was much larger and would be more comfortable to wait in.
We did cheat a bit and grabbed a wheelchair for Janine which allowed us to scoot to the head of the immigration line. Yah, I know cheesy but Janine really DID need the wheelchair. Her ankle looked like a tree trunk.
This is the point where A/A starts to fail. The flight ended up delayed for 7 hours. This, of course, made us miss our connections out of Miami. A/A did have the foresight to book us seats on flights for Sunday morning in case the delay caused us to miss the connection so that was OK.
The problems occurred in that American basically only vouchered us for 5 bucks towards food. They had us stuck in the terminal for nearly 8 hours and gave us five bucks! Gee, thanks for nothing. Janine, Jen and I did some window shopping at the duty-free and sat around waiting and waiting and waiting.
Surprisingly the entire wait wasn't really that bad other than A/A' refusal to pay for another meal. All of the folks stayed pretty cheery. Even the children remained in good spirits. We finally got a hold of the Dog Nanny where Blue and Dascha were staying to let them know we wouldn't be picking the dogs up today.
We all figured we could at least gt some drinks and stuff on the plane. yeah, nice one. Tell me another....
So, our place finally arrives and we board and depart about 10:30pm. Now A/A REALLY begins to fail. The flight to Miami is 4 hours. at the first opporttunity the "flight attendants" roll out the drink carts and do their rounds. WE NEVER SAW THEM AGAIN. Well, we did see them. They were all asleep in First Class. I am NOT exaggerating. Gee, thanks for the service.
We land in Miami and clear customs about 2:30am Sunday morning. An A/A rep is waiting right there with updated flight itineraries and information for us. Hey! Great!. Not....Our flight is scheduled for depart at 7am. 4.5 hours from know. The A/A rep hands us hotel vouchers!. WTF! Are you serious? I asked, nicely, if we could just go into the A/A lounge and wait there. This BITCH, and I'm begin kind, was VERY rude to us. She basically said "NO sir. Those rooms aren't open and there no TSA here. You MUCH leave the airport. You cannot wait here". I walked at that point. No need to go to jail for ripping someones head off.
That was the last straw. We had enough of their crap. I can forgive malfunction and some delays. Shit does happens that can't be controlled. It's how you deal with those issues and how you treat those affected by then that's important to me. American up and down failed their passengers.
Jen and I, nor anyone else that we saw, left the airport. We found a corner near the A/A check in counter and relaxed for about and hour before getting in line at 4am to start checking in. It's a real good thing we didn't wasted time going to the hotel, checking in, sleeping for 2 seconds, then checking out and returning to the airport. We got in line at 4am and STILL had to wait for 1.5 hours in that line. The counters opened at 4. It's just the line was THAT LONG!
We finally got through the check-in and through security. Jen and I both were feeling pretty rotten. We got some coffees at a nearby gate Starbucks and waited to board the flight.
I don't remember anything of that flight. I sat in my seat and woke up as we were preparing to land in Boston.
It took 44 hours to get home. A perfect ending to a perfectly crappy vacation (with exceptions).
Jen and I decided to call a mulligan, a do-over, etc. Whatever. I guess you have to have one of these vacations to really REALLY appreciate the great ones.
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2 comments:
My wife and I are frequent visitors to St Lucia, and, in fact, have plans on eventually retiring there. Like yourselves, our discovery of the island was coincidental, we were looking for a Caribbean island to go to, my wife's mother's name was Lucia, and our daughters middle name is Lucia, so, St Lucia it was! This was over 10 years ago, and we have since visited there many many times, we have truly fallen in love with the island.
My wife maintains a google alert for all things "St Lucia", which is how we came across your blog. We have to say that you have an incredibly good sense of humor, and it is nice to hear that you are considering the island worthy of a mulligan, and we wholeheartedly agree! We might be able to offer you a more economical way of taking that mulligan so that perhaps you can take it sooner rather than later, we think you truly deserve it.
Now, we can't help you with the issue of falling down stairs, or with airlines (we have used both Delta and AA, and truth be told, our experiences with AA have usually been better), but we can help you with inexpensive accommodations as well as some of the less well known places we have discovered.
While you did not identify it, one of the places you visited during the "good" part of your trip was the town of Soufriere on the southwest coast, which is where the volcano (Sulphur Springs) is located (we agree, it is deserving of a "pew", but to us, when we are driving from the VF airport to Soufriere, we now find it an odor we look forward to as we know we are very close to our "home away from home") as well as the botanical gardens (Diamond Falls). In fact, these are just 2 of a vast array of incredible attractions of Soufriere, most of which are much less "touristy", some almost completely private. To this day, we discover more wonderful places each time we visit.
Due to our frequent visits, staying at the resorts is out of the question financially. We now have access to a 2 bedroom apartment which we have stocked with all the necessities (snorkel gear, beach gear, cooking basics, etc). We also have access to many of the local residents. We are no longer "tourists" to them, but friends, and any friend of ours, is a friend of theirs......they are incredibly nice, kind, and helpful people.
The apartment is located in a very nice area on the edge of town, the landlords are very nice people (the husband, though a native born Lucian, spent over 30 years in the US and moved back to St Lucia a few years ago to retire), it is walking distance to town and the local beach. The apartment has a full kitchen, and we know of many very inexpensive local restaurants serving wonderful local cuisine, so the cost of food is very low, our family of 3 can easily spend less than $25 a day on food. There are also wonderful snorkeling areas, diving boats, private beaches, rain forest areas, the list goes on, within a short cab or water taxi ride (though we rent a car......not cheap, but loads of fun exploring on our own). The apartment rental is $50/day.
We truly felt bad to hear that your trip was ruined by such incredible coincidences, and would be happy to help you with that mulligan, as well as an opportunity to visit the most beautiful (and almost undiscovered) island in the Caribbean and to see it the way we see it, without the narrow views that the resorts offer (most resorts want you to stay at the resort and, if you do wish to wander off the resort, sell you their "packaged" tours). Given your sense of humor, we have a feeling you will see it the same way.
If you would be interested, you may contact us at LuciaVision@gmail.com.
Okay, you totally win. I thought I had a bad vacation in mid April - not the vacation itself, which was great, but the aftermath which began with us arriving home to no electricity in half our house and ended with two different four-figure repair bills. But my buddy Sandy told me her brother Ed had me beat for vacation nightmare, and after reading this, I completely concur. I bow to you, sir, for I am beaten.
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