We had a wonderful trip to St John, our fourth visit in the last five years. But this trip, more than any of the others, was fraught with problems, mostly generated by myself.
Our minor adventure begins in Houston, our departure point for this trip. We upgraded to first class on United down to San Juan, and were fortunate to get on a 737-900ER, a new plane in service right around a year. It felt bigger and cleaner than most of the jets we fly on United. It's nice to have that kind of leg room and a decent meal on a flight that extends over four hours. Unlike the horror stories of poor service on United as of late, we had excellent service on this trip. First Class still has at least some merit besides bigger seats.
The excitement begins in San Juan, where we connected with Cape Air and their fleet of Cessna 402's. These are dual propeller planes that extend Jet Blue and United's network from San Juan to several smaller Caribbean airports. After a failed attempt to catch an earlier plane (full) we were anxious to get over to St Thomas so we could catch the 7pm ferry to St John. No such luck. First they claim the plane is delayed due to weather in Mayaguez, where our plane was originating. Then the plane lands about 20 minutes after our 6:15pm departure time, and they tell the five passengers we'll load up shortly. Another half hour passes, other flights leave. Not us.
Eventually they line us up, near 7:40pm, and we discover they were waiting on another couple from a connecting flight so that they wouldn't have to take two trips over. Fine, but please, just tell us so we can go get a drink or dinner or something. Poor, poor service. The flight takes a bit more than a half hour, and it was too exciting for our tastes. Thunderstorms have now formed in the area and in this little plane, we're flying under and around them. For a nervous flier like myself, this was nerve wracking. It's pitch black, the guy flying the plane is in his younger 20's, and all you can see is the lightning. I know that the plane is safe, we're probably not that close to the lightning, but it's a rough flight and that's all you can see. Eventually we land, at 8:15, and we had hired Warren Gordon to take us to Red Hook. He has managed us through Carnival on St Thomas in the past, and we'll use him in the future.
We catch the 9pm ferry and arrive at 9:15, now haggard from the travel day. Our villa manager was there with our jeep, but our plans to get the groceries are shot (9pm closure) and we're off to our house, Honeymoon Cottage in Francis Bay. We arrive in the dark but there is some solar lighting leading the path to the house. We get the bags in and take a brief walk around, both landing on the screened in porch. The door closes behind my wife. Uh oh, this is one of those locks that you can open from the inside even when locked. We turn around and there is no way in the house.
No mind, I probably haven't locked the front door. I have no shoes but traverse the grounds and make it to the front door. Locked. Minor panic sets in. We have nothing other than the clothes on our backs, no jeep keys, no phones, nothing. We're in the middle of nowhere. Never having burglarized a house, I'm now searching for potential ways to break in, or where we will sleep around Francis overnight. Finally, I check the sliding glass door in the bathroom, accessible by a small path from the back deck. Open. It has an unusual lock, and I had fiddled with it when we walked in, and had inadvertently unlocked it. We're safe for the night.
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