We got to sleep in! That's right. Instead of having a flight at 10 and waking up at 7, we were delayed half an hour! You might say it wouldn't but I promise you that snooze made a difference. Except for Gideon who got up at the same time anyway because the day he checks his texts is the day he dies.
After that we were on our way! The commute to the aiport was long and arduous…a whole 5 minutes to walk to the right terminal. I was exhausted. We tagged our checked bags, did a little reshuffling so everyone's bags were underweight, then headed over to everyone's favorite part of the airport: TSA. Normally this step is much more convenient for us, but we didn't add our TSA pre-check numbers to the boarding passes by accident. If we had flown with Jet Blue, they would have had them automatically, but the connecting flight Jet Blue booked us on the way home would literally take off before our first flight landed. So…yeah we had to go with another airline. American does direct to St. Thomas from Miami, so we took that option. Of course, in all the moving around, we forgot about the whole trusted traveller number thing. Whoops! Normal TSA for the McFarland family today, I guess.
Luckily, the line was short and fairly easy. Mom flagged the x-ray machine…nice job Mom. The agent said there was an abnormality on Mom's crotch, felt her up, and then proceeded to ask her for her shoes. I'm sorry…is there some new anatomy study I'm not aware of that feet are actually a part of the crotch?
Then began the fun part. We foundd a few seats to sit in by the gate, and Dad and Gideon went to grab themselves some plane snacks. While they were gone, the little girl across the way from us started getting antsy, so she spun around until she was dizzy and fell into me. Fine. Cute kid and I understand airport boredom. So then they put her in her carriage and gave her her IPad. Even better! Let her play games silently! Wrong. She watched a TV show at top volume. That her family member set up for her. At that volume. Oh my God. Ok, if that was the only thing it would probably be fine. But these people were pigs. They left food crumbs all over the carpet, trash all over all the tables, seats and floors, and a general sense of uncleanliness wherever they went. They were also just about the highest maintenance people you have ever met. Boarding the plane, two of them were hanicapped and needed chairs to be pushed on. On the way off, though? Who's handicapped? Not them. These people did whatever was fastest and most convenient for them and only them.
Anyway don't mind my tyraid. I had downloaded several episodes of Hunter Hunter to watch on the plane, so when we boarded I went for that immediately. Turns out, airport wifi here does not count as wifi, and none of my episodes downloaded. Not a one. So then I panicked and entered every streaming service I had on my phone hoping something might download. And bless, HBO did download Castle in the Sky, so I was set for the short flight. I watched my movie for a while, ate the Biscoff cookies the stewardesses handed out, then decided it was nap time…which practically brought me through the rest of the flight. Gideon got a picture of my nap, though I'm not sure if it's in Mom's nap folder. But it does exsist somewhere!
In the airport we were greeted by a very very long women's room line. And Mom and I had to go. Dad went to the men's room and Gidein hung around with us, nowhere near the women's bathroom. At which point a woman took it upon herself to remind us Gideon is not allowed in the women's bathroom. I was very close to saying that my trans sister can go in whatever bathroom she wants (even though Gideon is very cisgender) just to piss her off.
Once the bathroom was done the fun began. Mom, Dad and I all got free shots of pineapple rum and then we all headed to baggage claim. That shot was needed to make it through the rest of the day. My bag came out last at baggage claim. I was sure they had lost it. Then we hopped in a cab to our resort. This was when we found out that the Virgin Islands drive on the left side of the road. But there was a scary 30 seconds where I thought our driver was crazy.
The hotel checked us in speedily, although one of our rooms wasn't ready. They got us some more nice cold drinks (rum punch for me!) and escorted us to the room that was ready to hang out in the meantime. There I discovered my new favorite place to sit in these rooms.
I spent a good hour or so reading out there until it was time to get ready for dinner. I even made a beautiful and very sweet little friend!
We had scheduled a nicer dinner tonight, so we all got ready in our best outfits and… you'll never guess it… hairstyles. That's right! Boy meets comb is back. See below. We snagged a cab up to the restaurant.
The reviews were great, but when we got in the place it was so empty… we were scared. But we braved up and got our cocktails and looked over the menu anyway. None braver than Gideon, who wanted us all to try escargots. That did not happen. But we did greatly enjoy all of our food and drink, most of all the fetucinne alfredo. The scenery was also excellent, with all kinds of fun paintings to look at.
On the way to dinner we had seen the bar Mom and Dad went to every night when they were at this same resort for their honeymoon, so we decided we had to stroll down there for a drink and maybe a dessert. It was a much livelier joint than our dinner, with plenty of fun colors. It was also right on the ocean, so the views of the moon, island and ocean were beautiful.
We did have one problem, though. The cab got us there, but how do we call the cab to come back and pick us up? We watched several people just stand on the side of the road looking lost, and they got cabs, so we decided that was the strategy. But when we left the building, a man waiting outside asked us immediately if we needed a cab. So much for not getting in strange loitering people's cars!
But bless the guy was nice enough and got us back to the hotel in one piece. We got ready for bed and tomorrow, because we have to get up early yet again in the morning. YAY!
But before I could fall asleep I had a predicament: I had 20 more pages left in the book I was reading, and wanted to bring one for our full day jounrey tomorrow. I had four options—
1. Finish the 20 pages tonight
2. Start the new book tomorrow without finishing the old one to ensure enough reading material
3. Bring both books and kill Dad's shoulder (selfishly ideal)
4. Bring just the old book and run the risk of being bored
I brought up my predicament to Mom who always gives good advice on these matters, and she gave me the only obvious solution. Hunker down and finish those pages tonight. I was actually quite glad I did, too, because it ended up being my favorite portion of the book!
And with that, I was off to sleep (not enough).
Nice Deed of the Day: Me and Mom cleaned up the trash of that rude family at the airport. (Admittedly for mildly selfish reasons of showing them they were ridiculous.
Boy Meets Comb: Episode 3—
Yipee! We're back, large and in charge, baby! I convinced Gideon to do his hair for our nice dinner, and it ended up looking sooooo cute! He barely needed any help. I can't tell you what his inspiration was because he did it all on his own, but he looked great and I think he had fun with it!
