Hey all! We made it back last night and thought I would start on my trip report before any details faded away! While we didn't go on any day-trips, each day was just heaven to us old country folk! Okay, here goes:

Sometimes, you have to go through hell to get to heaven. At least, that is what I kept telling myself on the trip to STT. For some idiot reason, I thought it would be a cool thing to do a 3-hour layover in San Juan. Hah! We arrived in San Juan in the late afternoon of the 5th, and I almost immediately lost my husband. How can a grown woman lose her husband? Easy for me it seems!! As soon as we got off the plane I made a bee-line to go outdoors to smoke. George followed me until the security check-point and I told him I would be back in a few minutes. Since I thought I would be back in a few minutes, I gave him my tote bag with my cell-phone and money, and just kept my driver's license and smokes. What a mistake! I went outside and had two or three smokes and when I came back in I noticed the duty-free shops and cursed myself for not even taking a credit card with me! Grrr! Oh, well, so I headed to go back through security (which was full when I left) and a TSA employee stopped me. He told me in broken english I could not go through security there but would have to go over to the 'other side' to get through. I tried pleading with him and telling him my husband was waiting for me, but he said, " no comprende". Now, the Luis Marin airport is fairly big, considering. I gave the guy one last desperate whimper and then wandered off until I came across a another security check-point that had at least 75 people in line. By this point I thought what the hell, and got in line. I actually made it through this security check-point without setting off the alarm and having to be searched like I did at DFW( damn foil wrapper on my cigs!). After I got through, I began searching for George, but he was not at the place he had said he would be at. After about 30 more minutes, we finally bumped into each other. He had been searching for me too, while rolling two carry-ons and my tote bag around with him! Poor thing!
We had plenty of time left though to shop some of the duty free shops, but all I cared about was stopping at one that had liquor and cigs, and I jumped for joy to find good prices on cigs(19.95 for Marlboro) and a huge bottle of my favorite poison: Jose Cuervo 1800 Silver( an even 18.00)!! Yaa-hoo! We bought sandwiches and chips and waited FOREVER before being able to take off for STT!! Whose fault was it?? Mine!! Did I tell you I hate to fly?? Yeah, I do! We got on an American Eagle prop plane for our short little ride to STT. Did I tell you I have motion sickness? Yeppers! I cannot remember a rougher flight!
We bounced all the way to STT, and to make matters worse, some little boy across the aisle from me began spewing into an air-sickness bag! Now, I am a nurse, so I can handle blood and guts, but present me with vomitus, or the smell thereof, and I will vomit right along side you! It took everything I had not to paint the interior of that weed-hopper with what remained of my ham sandwich!

We arrived finally at about 8PM at the STT airport, and luckily, all our baggage was there! I shot out of the plane and stepped outside the airport for a much-needed cigarette break! A taxi driver informed me that I could not smoke outside of the airport and I thought my second act upon arriving in STT was going to be committing murder.
He was very hateful, so I ignored him and puffed away. A minute later, a police officer rudely told me to go to the median to smoke. The taxi driver then said, " I told her she couldn't smoke!". I wanted to slap him! I apologized instead, and walked over to the median to finish my cig. When I returned, we collected our luggage and went straight to the Avis counter. I smiled to the lady working there, making sure to say "Good evening" before telling her who I was and giving her my reservation number. Everything went okay until she told me that I would be responsible for returning the car to STT if it broke down, and I explained to her the manager had promised that Avis would arrange for the car to be returned. She then told me, "Well, if we want to be nice, we will do that, but if not, you will be responsible." I could not believe my ears! I said, "Well, could you be nice?" She didn't answer. I then realized I did not have good directions to the Green Iguana Hotel and asked her very kindly if she could give me directions to my hotel. She finally did, but only after saying, " How can I give you directions if you have never been here before?" I sh*t you not! I found out later how true that statement was though! We took the key to our shiny new Ford Taurus and took off in the direction she told us.
We became soooo lost! I swear, both my husband and I are pretty good at following directions, but between it being night time, being new to the island, and driving on the left side of the road on step hills, we were totally hopeless! There are not street signs at every intersection like here in the states. We found ourselves going to the top of some of the highest places on STT, or at least it seemed like it! By the time we accidentally found our hotel, my motion sickness was in full swing! I must say, I should have gotten good directions from our dear hotel manager before we arrived in STT. The map we had was almost useless. On a good note, I highly recommend the Green Iguana if you don't mind not having anything fancy. The room was spotless and had everything we needed, including a very comfortable king-size bed. The view from our balcony was beautiful. Mike and Linda, the hotel's managers, were so nice and kind, and gave us the needed sympathy when we told them the story about the Avis employee and getting lost. The next morning we packed up and left, and decided to get something to eat before getting on the car ferry. The manager Mike had recommended a little deli in Frenchtown at the fishing dock. I don't remember the name of the place but the food was horrible! We got lost again on the way to Red Hook, so we couldn't wait to get off STT and get to STJ! Please do not judge STT by this part of my trip report, because we were just plain stupid. Most everyone we met there was so nice, and most of what we saw of STT was beautiful! One tip we learned: When going on a car ferry, be sure and turn your car around facing away from where the ferry docks, and be sure you park as close to where it docks as possible. We were one of the first cars there, but parked the wrong way and too far away from the loading area, and wound up having to wait for the second car ferry because it was a huge race to see who could back on the fastest onto the ferry! We were finally on the way to STJ!!
I am sorry this is so long and negative mostly, so I will end the first part of our trip report, but I promise a more positive part two trip report soon, if anyone is still interested after reading this one!

Sharon