Today was not exactly the most relaxing beginning to a vacation.  First, we overslept by a little bit since I miss-set our primary alarm clock.  Fortunately, I had set not one, but TWO, back-ups so that we wouldn't duplicate a previous vacation-start and oversleep.  As it was, though, we didn't make it to Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) until about 6:05AM for our 7:00AM flight.  I wasn't too worried until I drove under the pedestrian walkways for the B/C and D terminals and saw HUGE lines waiting to clear security.  This worry was augmented by a bunch of brain-dead travelers who backed up the line of cars waiting to go into the parking area since they couldn't figure out how to get the parking ticket from the machine.  I was just starting to breathe a bit easier after quickly finding a parking space when two half-full buses went right by my bus stop without stopping (by this time it was about 50 minutes to departure time!).  So after the second bus went whipping by without even a glance, I decided to take things into my own hands a hike it over to the "A" terminal (which was, of course, the furthest terminal from long-term parking!).  It actually only took about ten minutes and the only problem was that I was absolutely freezing, since I had left my gloves and coat in the car and it was about 19º outside!  At this point, I wasn't panicking, but was definitely "deeply concerned!"

Fortunately, my trooper of a wife came through for me.  By the time I got to the A Terminal by about 6:20, Kathie had already gotten all of our luggage checked and our boarding passes distributed.  And then our luck took another jump up as there were only about a half-dozen people in line in front of us for security.  Within ten minutes of my reaching the A Terminal we were standing at the door to our plane and I was breathing A LOT easier!

Usually, we would fly US Airways on a flight like this (especially given that they have direct service to St. Maarten (SXM) on a daily basis), but with the uncertainty of US even existing prompted me to book our flights with American Airlines.  With a few little hiccups here and there when we hit some brief turbulence, the three-hour flight to San Juan, Puerto Rico (SJU) was quite uneventful (which was nice since there wasn't a spare seat to be found!).  We were quite the tourists as we flew into San Juan, ooh-ing and aah-ing at the pristine waters as we approached the airport.  Our layover wasn't too bad, with enough time for us to find our connecting flight and grab a bite to eat for our flight to SXM. 

The 30-minute flight from SJU to SXM was as beautiful as you could have.  Quite smoothly, we flew at about 17,000 feet, which was low enough to really enjoy the view of all the Caribbean islands and reefs.  I'm glad I couldn't see the actual airport as we came in because the Princess Juliana International Airport is essentially a single runway with a good-size building on it, not much more (you even come screaming in over a public beach as you land!).  We disembarked, made it through Immigration, baggage claim, and Customs with no problem and then headed off to Avis for our car.  From the moment we landed in St. Maarten, the people were absolutely wonderful with their service and hospitality, including here at Avis, where it seemed all of the staff was jumping to assist us (one even went out in the middle of Airport Road to stop traffic for us as we left).  Although I'm quite certain we didn't follow the correct directions, we made it to Little Bay (where our resort was) with no problem, about 15 minutes after we left the airport area.  The roads were crowded, had more than their share of potholes, you needed to know how to correctly use a traffic circle, and there were NO traffic lights (even at "busy" intersections), but nothing major to be concerned about.

When we got to the Divi Little Bay Beach Resort, we were THRILLED that the resort was exactly as advertised on their website!  Then, we hit a little snag.  We THOUGHT we had requested a suite that had a king-sized bed and a pullout couch with a balcony.  But the room that we opened the door to was anything BUT that (small, no balcony, and only one bed).  After a quick walk back to the front desk and a 90-minute wait while they prepped another room, Aline (one of the staff members at the front desk) totally came through for us!  Our new room (room 428 for those in the know!) was ABSOLUTELY EXACTLY what we had in mind.  Complete with sufficient bedding for the four of us, our third-story suite had a small kitchen-area, bathroom with a good-sized shower (about the size of a walk-in closet), an enormous Jacuzzi tub, and a private balcony with a lovely view of Little Bay and the Caribbean to the southwest of the island.  It was really a beautiful site to watch the giant cruise ships heading west into the setting sun for destinations unknown.

Tomorrow: St. Maarten Park