Thursday, May 28, 2015
Welcome to my
I had nearly finished mapping out a trip to Wisconsin, when Sandy found a great deal on direct flights to Aruba. Sorry Wisconsin, but you're no match for tropical Dutch soil!
The sun has barely risen when we arrive at the airport; except for a shocking number of people slumped at the bar, Obrycki's is empty. It has the questionable honor of being one of the top ten airport restaurants in the US. Despite my initial skepticism even I have to admit that my bacon & cheddar frittata with seasoned potatoes and toast is quite yummy. Sandy's Wake up & Fly scrambled eggs, bacon, muffin combo is good too.
...
...
...
...
...
After what feels like an extended pause he
continues, “not a big problem, but one that will require us to
return to Baltimore as we can't safely cross the water”
A tense silence fills the cabin and people shift in their seats uneasily. I'm doing good not panicking, while Sandy pretends not to be breathing fast. I'm compiling a list of vacation ideas that do not involve flying, when I notice the plane
keeps making slight turns, always to the right. Gulp.
I won't bore you with the thoughts that cross the mind, while one's hurtling through space in a plane with an undisclosed malfunction. Mind over matter -- I will myself to relax.
Of course, I fail miserably and my heart is hammering away thu-thump ... thu-thump ... thu-thump, thu-thump,thu-thu-thump!!!!
Will this be the last last picture I take?
Suffice it to say that we land without incident. When we are finally released back into terminal B, the urge to fall to my knees and kiss the carpet is overwhelming.
In a little over two hours we have traveled approximately a hundred feet.
I won't bore you with the thoughts that cross the mind, while one's hurtling through space in a plane with an undisclosed malfunction. Mind over matter -- I will myself to relax.
Of course, I fail miserably and my heart is hammering away thu-thump ... thu-thump ... thu-thump, thu-thump,thu-thu-thump!!!!
Will this be the last last picture I take?
Suffice it to say that we land without incident. When we are finally released back into terminal B, the urge to fall to my knees and kiss the carpet is overwhelming.
In a little over two hours we have traveled approximately a hundred feet.
After walking off some nerves we pick
up a donut from Dunkin Donuts. Thanks to our unplanned arrival the gate area is crowded and tempers flare when the flight to Albany leaving one gate over finds out they are suddenly faced with a six hour delay. Poor Southwest is having a field day.
Since we all gave up our boarding
passes getting onto the first plane we line up in the same order
again and use our passports as a boarding pass. If all goes
according to plan we will end up with a 3 hour delay, but instead we
sit at the gate, and sit, and sit … I fall asleep for a while … and
we sit.
By the time we touchdown in Aruba after
an uneventful flight, we have racked up a four hour delay.
One of the perks of being Dutch is that I get to go through the (only marginally faster) residents and Dutch citizens line.
One of the perks of being Dutch is that I get to go through the (only marginally faster) residents and Dutch citizens line.
A representative from Optima car rental
is waiting for us when we exit the terminal and drives us over to their office
where our car is already waiting at the curb. Let the adventure begin!
Aruban drivers are a bit crazy. Traffic
stuck? No problem! Let's just cut across the median and drive through the
bushes to get by! Yikes, I'm glad our rental has a "V" license plate indicating clueless tourists at the wheel.
Little herd of wild goats hanging out
on a roundabout.
We have no trouble finding the Coral
Reef Beach Village and Apartments. The Dutch owners, Jet and Hans are already
waiting to show us to our room for the next 3 nights.
We have the cutest little room just
steps from the ocean; you can see it right outside the window and Jet
tells us we can even roll the bed outside on the patio and sleep
outside. Mosquitoes be darned --- that is so happening!! Maybe not
tonight, but soon.
Just a few steps to the water
Little crab on the dock
The resident cat
After taking some pictures around the
hotel we walk over to the local beach shack, de Zee Rover, where they
fry up the catch of the day for you. Since it's the catch of the day
you are limited to shrimp and whatever kind of fish they happened to
have.
Today is mahi-mahi day and we place an
order for 2 filets, a bit of shrimp and 2 orders of fries, all for
just $20. We stop by the bar while our food is being prepared and I
ask the bartender to pick something local for me; he returns with
“heaven in a bottle,” a tropical banana drink that is indeed
quite yummy.
I love sitting out on the dock! What a
cool place to have dinner.
The shrimp are the biggest I have ever
seen!! Sadly, I'm not very fond of them, but Sandy happily gets to
work ripping off their little legs (ewww). The fish is amazing though
and we eat until we can eat no more.
The lights from the restaurant next to
our hotel, the fancy Flying Bonefish, has lights hitting the water
and it looks so beautiful! It feels so nice with the warm evening
breeze that I decide to sit in the rocking chair in front of our room
to record everything that happened today.
It's not even 9pm, but having just come
off night shift we are running low on sleep so we will call it a day
and hope for an early start tomorrow.
Dinner: De Zee Rover
♥
Breakfast: Obrycki's
Snack: Dunkin Donuts
Snack: Dunkin Donuts
Hotel: Coral Reef Beach Village and Apartments
No comments:
Post a Comment