I rolled out of bed a little earlier this morning so I had time to say goodbye to my friend before I had to pack. And I waited. And waited. And called for her. And she never came. My friend did not say goodbye to me. But I had to be down to buisness. I packed everything up and got ready to go.
We had scheduled our favorite taxi to take us to the airport, and we headed down a little early to check out at the lobby. Luckily, that gave me a minute to experience my favorite sound in St. Thomas one more time: the clacking of the rocks as the waves around them recede. Beautiful.
The airport was interesting, if only because departures need to go through customs, not arrivals. Luckily, our global entry and TSA pre-check sped up the whole process, so it was much easier than expected. Except for one thing… we were sick of the hotel breakfast, so we hadn't eaten and it was about 11:30. I was starving. You might call me hanxious (hungry and anxious), but whatever I was it was making me mildly nauseous.
Not to worry because post TSA there was a ton of food options. Me and Mom walked around and got a croissant, water and some snacks. The boys came back with pizza. Suffice it to say I had a lovely lunch with that whole spread. Of course, as I was calmly eating and no longer anxious, an annoucement came on. Thankfully, not for our flight, but it let my imagination run wild nonetheless. The flight next to us had been delayed due to mechanical issues, and then got told it would be another 2 hours as they had to change 2 of the planes tires. Everyone's connections had to be rebooked. The line was about half the length of the terminal. This airport was cramped enough without unexpected delays.
Luckily, our plane boarded on time and we were safe and buckled before the rain started. And then: the dreaded announcement. If we didn't take off before the lightening got within three miles, we would have to exit the plane. This, for some reason, seemed to have a calming and slowing effect on the people still looking for overhead room and seats. It was what felt like another hour until all those idiots had sat down. And just when everyone was settled, the guy in front of me and Mom got back up to get something out of his overhead luggage. MY DUDE. READ THE ROOM. Not to worry, we began taxi-ing shortly. And then we came to a stop. I was worried. Until I was thrown into my seat with the rage of 100 present day MAGA supporters. Oh, I guess we're taking off.
The flight was going smoothly and I was just reading until another announcement came. There was severe weather in Miami, and they were figuring out what to do. Next come the most diorienting circular motion of my entire life. See, Gideon loves the window seat, so he was sitting there with the window open. And I was trying to read. I've gotta tell you I don't get motion sick, but I was a little queasy. If you think it couldn't get much worse for a safe flight, it could. The next announcemnet: Meh, we're just gonna fly through the severe weather. I linked arms with Mom and Gideon. It turned out to not actually be that bad but it was the anxiety of the thought that counted.
Grateful to be on the ground and safe, me and Mom had a mission. When we were at the Miami airport on the way to the Virgin Islands, we found some Fahlo stuffed animals we wanted. Of course, we didn't have room to bring them on the trip, so we left them behind. Now that we were back, we had to see if they were still avaliable to purchase. After fruitlessly looking through a few stores, we found our friends and purchased them.
The luggage carosel was almost empty, so we got our luggage very quickly. We guessed most people must have connections. We found our favorite guide, Jeffram, with ease and greated him warmly. We missed our guy!
We had 11 hours split between 2 days to drive to our next destination, so we decided to get a good chunk of it over with that afternoon and evening. Of course, we also had to prevent the reappearance of hanxious Abby, so we picked up Steak and Shake on the way out of Miami.
After about 4 hours of driving with no incident, we stopped in Gainesville for the night. Me and Gideon decided we liked being Gym Bros, so at the ripe hour of 11 PM we headed to their fitness center. After that was a shower and bed. We were both tired after our work-out!
Nice Deed of the Day:
We gave our favorite taxi driver, Stacey, a $100 tip. She is separated from her husband who was in effect deported, and she was going to visit him soon. We wanted her to have a great visit and hopefully this helps.