We woke up this morning satisfied that we had made the most on our trip while at St. John but super sad to leave …
Before leaving to catch our 3:00 flight to JFK, we stopped by St. John Spice to get some souvenirs. Located right across from the Ferry Dock, this store had everything. What I loved most about it was that it had local hot sauces, barbecue sauces, island infused tea and coffee (spiced hazlenut & dark rum coffee beans were purchased) all from the island.
Once the souvenirs were bought, we checked out of our hotel and profusely thanked the owners for providing an awesome stay. Charles and I would 100% stay at the Cruz Bay Boutique Hotel again if/when we come back. We then headed back to the ferry dock to catch the ferry to St. Thomas and a cab to the airport.
I think everyone who was waiting to leave the island was sad…
View from the ferry dock window as we waited for it to arrive…
We ran into a little bit of trouble when we got to the airport on St. Thomas….
We packed a couple beer bottles in our carry on luggage forgetting the TSA regulations about the amount of liquids allowed in a carry-on. We didn’t want the TSA agents to dump out and waste the beer so we found a corner to hang out in front of the detectors and finished the beers we got from St. John. Cheers!
Once the brews were finished, we went through security feeling “great” and waited for our flight to be called. I was a little put off when the passengers were called to the board the plane because in front of us was a little rinky dink plane with the propellers exposed on the wings. I knew that our 45 min transfer flight to Puerto Rico was short and had few passengers, calling for a smaller plane. But my seat was right next to the window with an awesome view of the right propeller … Watching the propeller circle around at a fast speed as the plane prepared for take off was the most nerve racking experience. Imagine my body being chopped up if the propeller screw loose …
The view from my window … Very scenic …
We arrived at the airport in Puerto Rico soon after take off. With an hour to kill, Charles and I walked around the airport looking for lunch options before settling down at our gate for the next flight that would take us back to New York … As we waited, we discussed our trip and thought about how we needed to buy plane tickets for his brother’s wedding in October soon. Obviously, traveling involves spending money to get from A to B so we figured out our budgets and how best to move our money around so we could lock in a good deal on plane tickets soon…
Almost as if some higher power had heard us talking, the flight attendant at the gate announced that our flight to JFK had been oversold and she was looking for 2 volunteers to miss the flight. The 2 volunteers who missed the flight would catch the next flight to JFK the following morning, receive a $300 travel voucher towards a future flight and free hotel stay for the night!!! Charles and I looked at each other and the wheels were turning … I went up to the front desk and asked the attendant if the travel voucher was per person, where the hotel was and what time the next flight left at. She said “Yes, each person would receive a $300 travel voucher … The hotel was in the airport … The next flight would leave at 7:50 the next morning … Annnnnd they would give us a food voucher for dinner as well..” I came back and discussed our options with Charles … We volunteered to stay a night in Puerto Rico!
Once the flight was completely boarded, the desk attendant printed out our vouchers and told us how to get to the hotel in the airport. Just like that: We had $600 to go towards buying our plane tickets to Texas for Charles’ brother’s wedding in October!!! I’ve never felt so lucky before … Definitely a YOLO moment ;)
We headed to the hotel, checked in and settled in the for the night. We got dinner at the restaurant in the hotel that took the food voucher and watched the River Monsters marathon on the Discovery Channel until we fell asleep. It did cross my mind that I was in Puerto Rico, specifically the capital San Juan, and I should be out experiencing the nightlife while we were there … But we had to get up super early the next morning and I was just super excited about our travel vouchers that I didn’t care about going out and getting a taste of San Juan. I’ll save the sightseeing in Puerto Rico for another time…
The view from our hotel room…
Before we knew it, it was time to wake up, get ready and catch our flight to New York … forreal this time.
Back to Life … Back to Reality …
—
xo, Setarra
