Saturday 7/5: We headed up to OKC to Jason's bud Dawg's 4th of July cookout. We had a great time hanging out with old friends, catching up on times, missing friends out loud, and poking fun at each other from time to time. Good food, good times. After that, it was off to NW Arkansas to stay the night at my mom's place. We ended up driving through a downburst halfway between Fort Smith and Fayetteville...FUN. Made it safely, watched the lightning show, and called it a night.
Leaving Saturday 7/5
Sunday 7/6: Got up, went to church, ate a good lunch, took a nap, and then headed to the airport. As soon as we arrived, US Airways told us that our flight to Charlotte was delayed because our jet was still in Charlotte stuck on the ground. Evidently, a line of thunderstorms was going through at the time and the airport closed down till the weather moved through. When it finally got up in the air to head towards us, it was late enough that we'd end up missing our connection flight for Ft. Lauderdale. Soooo, they rescheduled us for a flight the next morning from NW Ark. to Chicago O'Hare to Fort Lauderdale. We called mom back to tell her to come pick us up so we can try again tomorrow. Good thing we had an extra day built in before our boat left for the Bahamas!
Monday 7/7: Got up waaaay early, got to the airport early, only to find out that this time, our plane WAS there at the airport, but was having maintenance issues! So, American decided to get us there by going from NW Arkansas to Dallas-Fort Worth (yeah, we're closer to DFW...sheesh) to Fort Lauderdale. Take off, land smoothly at DFW on a very short flight. FIVE HOUR LAYOVER....crap. Then, a 3 hour flight to Fort Lauderdale..... However, we started running into thunderstorms near Panama City and especially around Tampa/St. Petersburg, so we had to alter our flight plan a little, run down the west coast of Florida to avoid the weather, find a 'gap' in the storms, and then descend for the airport. A little bumpy, but made it with no problems. Got to the airport and waited for our hotel shuttle to arrive from just 2 miles away. Took the guy an HOUR to pick us up. Made it to the hotel, checked in, ate at Kelly's Landing (good New England food), then came back and crashed for the night. It stormed pretty heavy around 10-11 that night, but we were so out of it, we just opened an eyelid, mumbled about it, and went right back to sleep.
Tuesday 7/8: Woke up again way too early in the morning...went to Port Everglades and started checking in our stuff for the cruise over there. Waited an hour or so on the boat for departure, then finally got underway. The boat ride lasted about 5 hours or so....they fed us breakfast and lunch buffets, which were pretty tasty. Jason and I won some trivia game contest and took home a brand new water bottle! LOL Cheapskates! We were traveling against the sea current, so the boat ride was a bit choppy at times.....choppy enough to make Jason nauseous, but not completely sick. It took an hour and a half to disembark from the boat and get through government customs, then a taxi took us to our hotel....which was a van stuffed with about 9-10 of us, plus baggage, with no air conditioning.....FUN. The hotel we stayed at, Island Palms, was in downtown Freeport...right next to the Hospital and Police Department. However, if we wanted to go to the shopping, most restaurants, and the beach....we were going to have to take a taxi. Taxis run $6 per person one-way. Guess what we spent most of our money on??? The hotel was alright, but part of the deal was trying to get you to show up to some presentation on buying a timeshare at their sister resort. We told them we would try to go to the presentation tomorrow *wink wink*. We settled in, ate dinner at a nearby Wendy's, walked back to the hotel, and crashed out.
Wednesday 7/9: We decided to avoid the timeshare presentation and went shopping. First, we went to the Port Lucaya Marketplace and browsed around the shops there. They had little boutiques that reminded me of state fair-type vendors and some nice jewelry stores and things. Jason's favorite find was the Harley Davidson store! :-) We had a nice breakfast at Cally's, got our drinks on at a corner bar, and scoped out the marina. We then headed out to the International Bazaar, which was another large marketplace. However, this place was nearly a ghost town. Two nearby hotels were fenced up and boarded up and the marketplace itself was over half-abandoned itself...only a handful of shops open. It was nearly creepy how quiet and sparse that place was. There was one Asian shop open that did make the trip worthwhile...stocked up on our Bruce Lee memorabilia. :-) We then decided that we were close enough to our hotel, so we decided to walk the nearly 1-2 miles back to the hotel. High 80s...high humidity....mmmhmmm....that was a workout. Made it back, swam a little, then went out to a Mediterranean restaurant to sample some good seafood and try out a local delicacy called fried conch. Pretty good. Walked over to the Isle of Capri casino and wasted 5 bucks or so, then headed back to the hotel and crashed out.
At Port Lucaya Marketplace after our
Bahama Mama and Peach Daiquiri
The beach at our sister hotel.
Friday 7/11: Got up, packed up, and checked out. Waited on our guide, called, found out that this snorkeling trip didn't make either. CRAP. Ate breakfast at the hotel, sat around, read by the pool, played ping-pong.....killed time basically. Took a taxi to the port, went through customs, and waited awhile till we finally left. The trip back was much smoother since we were traveling with the currents and the cloud cover made for a great sunset. Dinner was good and we enjoyed this cruise more than the first. Played 4 bucks on the slot machines in the boat's casino and came out with 40 bucks. That would come in handy for our flight tomorrow. Made it to the port, waited an hour before we could disembark, then FLEW through customs, waited 20 minutes for our hotel shuttle, then finally made it to bed by 1 am. That was good because......
About to get on the boat to head back to Ft. Lauderdale
Sunset from our boat.
Sunday 7/13: Slept in.....we needed it. Snuck in some breakfast and had a good lunch as well. Called, called, called, got the runaround....found out they didn't send our luggage yet. Why in the heck not?!?!?! They tell us that they'll try again tomorrow and hopefully we'll get it. Grrr.....they're about to get something from me.
Monday 7/14: Slept in again...trying to find out information....find out nothing. Get a call from US Airways around noon. They tell us that the luggage should be in Charlotte for the last flight to XNA and that it'll take two hours to deliver it to us so we should have our baggage back by midnight. We decide to chill out and catch a matinee: Hellboy II. Decent movie. Go to Backyard Burgers for dinner. Get a call from US Air. The peeps at Fayetteville, NC got our baggage to Charlotte faster than they expected, got it on an earlier flight to XNA and it was there at the airport waiting to be delivered to us! FINALLY!!! CLEAN CLOTHES!!! That dood delivered it to us at 8:30ish that night, dropped them off, and hightailed it right out of there. Guess he knew better than to stick around and try to answer our questions. Finally unstressed and finally get a decent night's sleep.
Tuesday 7/15: Leave Fayetteville, AR and make it to McAlester to eat lunch with my parents. Spent a good hour with them, got back on the road, and finally made it back to Ardmore by 4.
Summary: I don't think we will be using US Airways again. I'm more of an American Airlines girl, just because I've used them so much. They were pretty decent to us....the US Airways people at XNA were top-notch despite the other junk. Timeshares and people that try to sell them stink. Grand Bahama Island was nice and relaxing, but the aftereffects of previous hurricanes are taking a long time to heal. The taxi drivers were the nicest and friendliest people we met there on the island, but they got expensive really quick. When we go back, we'll probably go to Nassau instead. This was the first time I've ever had my baggage lost, and I pray to God that it will be the last.
All in all, it was eventful. It was stressful. It was aggravating. It was relaxing. It was comical. It was a blur. It was a good time. Thanks to our family for making this vacation happen for us!
*This is an edited piece that actually Jason wrote but I edited to make it sound like it was coming from me. :)
1 comment:
Goodness, I didn't realize you guys had such a rough time. Good or bad, they are memories and stories you can tell you kids!
Post a Comment