By J. Oldham (BonaireTalker - Post #15) on Thursday, April 22, 2004 - 4:48 pm: |
Already in PBD....we flew out of Jacksonville, Florida at 0600 on Easter. Caught the connecting Air Jamaica flight in ATL to Montego Bay. The plane was only partially full which we later discovered was most likely due to it being a holiday. The seat on the Airbus planes were not comfortable. I think they need to have new cushions put in. Regardless, the champagne and food made up for it. Landing in Jamaica for the first time was interesting. Moving around in the Montego Bay airport will make you appreciate the organization of U.S. airports. It was a slow day and it was chaos. The airport intercoms were not working. We were all told to go to the lounge and wait until our flight was called. We went to the gate instead. Lucky that we did. There were only four of us on the entire plane. Someone finally went to the lounge to get the remaining passengers. It was still a light load with only 20 or so on the plane. We moved about freely, played cards, and drank champagne. Upon arrival in Bonaire, we made our way through immigration and had a new experience: we had to have our bags scanned to EXIT the airport. One of my bags fell off the belt and I strained my arm picking it up. We went out the door and were met by our ride to Harbour Village. Having only been to the Caymans, I was stunned to see the donkeys everywhere and the people driving so fast. I am a police officer in the US and the driver was wracking my nerves. We arrived at HV and were met by the bellman who immediately took control of our luggage. Check in was a breeze. We were whisked away to room 117 where we were stunned! I am a bathroom freak and I have to have one that is spotless. HV held up their promise. The entire one bedroom suite was tiled in dark hues. There was a huge shower with a thick glass door. All of the faucets were imported from the UK. Exotic soaps and hair products. A large clawfoot bathtub, double sinks with marble top vanity. A safe in the closet. Ceiling fans everywhere. A nice porch by the bedroom. French doors, a wet bar with refrigerator. Nice robes. A great beachfront patio with a hammock. And ice cold A/C. While my wife lounged in the hammock, I unpacked. Suddenly there was a knock at the door and I found a waiter delivering a nice red Merlot from Chile. I don't like red but this bottle was excellent. I continued unpacking. I placed all of our valuables into the safe to find that we no longer had our return tickets to the U.S. I back tracked to the last place we had them which was on the last plane. So, we determined that they were either in the airport, on their way to Montego Bay, or in the driver's van. I called the front desk and she assured me there was no need to worry (I should have believed her since we would later not want to leave Bonaire anyway). She made numerous calls within a span of five minutes to the driver, the airport, and the airline. No tickets to be found. So, we had her call AB Carrental to come and get us so we could start making arrangements for replacement tickets at the airport. While we waited at AB at the airport, one of Marc's employees asked us if we had lost our plane tickets. She advised that security was holding them at the airport. They had fallen out of my bag when my bag felt off the belt! We ran across the lot to the security office and retrieved the tickets. The security folks were not very nice (one of the few unpleasant people we met). So, now relieved, we got our car. Maybe I was expecting a new car or something. Instead, it was a beat up RAV4. But by the end of the week, I understood why it wasn't a big deal. There's no way to keep things new in that climate. We went to town and decided on the Rib Factory for dinner. We got the corner seat on the balcony. The sun was beating down and it was hot as you know what. I was afraid that this was going to be a miserable trip. But the sun finally went down and we decided to have the mix which was ribs, beef, and chicken. Nothing exciting but the beef was different that U.S. beef. We actually liked it a lot. The waitress were very nice and I think we were thrown off guard because we are used to the rudeness in the U.S. We learned our first lesson of 'island time' at this meal. No one is in a hurry for anything. Once your food arrives, don't expect your glass to be filled on a regular basis. You may have to wait. you may have to ask. And don't expect the bill to show up right after you finish the meal. Things are slow in Bonaire. Once you know that and accept it, you will be fine. Plan on two hours to eat. After that, we were beat. We got married the day before at 4 pm and didnt get to the hotel until midnight. Being at the airport at 4 am had worn us out. Off to bed we went at HV.
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By Scott D Jarrell (BonaireTalker - Post #28) on Thursday, April 22, 2004 - 5:18 pm: |
Enjoying your trip report, looking forward to the rest.
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By Carole Baker (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #3374) on Thursday, April 22, 2004 - 6:34 pm: |
J, wonderful report. Sounds like you were really getting into the "feeling" of Bonaire. It's hard not to! A wonderful honeymoon on Bonaire....can't get much better than that! Looking forward to more trip reports! Carole
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By Cindy Bourgeois (BonaireTalker - Post #20) on Friday, April 23, 2004 - 6:22 am: |
Sounds like a wonderful honeymoon. Congratulations on your marriage! I'm looking forward to Part 2.
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By Lorraine Meadows (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #839) on Friday, April 23, 2004 - 2:37 pm: |
Congratulations! Sound like a great trip so far. I'm anxious to read the rest. Masha danki for sharing!
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