STJ Trip Report Part 1: Ya gotta roll with it…

Travel discussion for St. John
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jmq
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Joined: Tue Aug 08, 2006 9:32 am
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STJ Trip Report Part 1: Ya gotta roll with it…

Post by jmq »

Greetings all

Started looking for a place to get away for some birthday shenanigans back in the fall because I was facing the big Six-O come April. We also had the opportunity to still include our daughter in our plans because her spring break was the same week before Easter.

The irony about that is we have been looking forward to our travels being uncoupled from the tyranny of the school schedule once she graduated from college, but lo and behold she choose teaching as a career (HS Chemistry).

Key West seemed like it could be a good fun in the sun choice for birthday mirth. I know many who have gone and extolled the fun times to be had there – good drinks, good eats, live entertainment, sunsets, etc.

We were there a hundred years ago - staying on the beach on Marathon Key, out to KW for the day and for sunset festivities on the pier which included 2 guys in kilts - one a bagpipe player and the other dancing an Irish jig - but when he twirled about, you did a double take - did I see what I think I saw? Yup - nothing on under the kilt! :lol:

However, for this trip, I was dismayed at the prices when looking at the nicer well reviewed places with a pool, plus travel logistics that likely had to involve travel on a Saturday and therefore consideration of puddle jumper flights all the way into KW vs driving in from Miami thru holiday/spring break week traffic. I had a tough time wrapping my head around paying $600 to fly to Florida from NJ/NY.

That made us say screw it – why not pay a bit more just go back to our fav STJ and save Key West for a non-prime time when we could also enjoy that Overseas Highway drive thru the other keys, and, significantly lower prices?

So we started looking at STJ and wanted to stay in town to facilitate beach bar access etc. The prices at old reliable Gallows Point are really starting to get out of hand, and some other options we looked at weren’t available for that week, but then a six night gap opened up for Grande Bay unit on VRBO that looked like a decent choice, so we booked it in late November.

Airfare at that point in time was over $500, and in November it seemed too early to book a flight for early April so started with daily vigilance on that, set up alerts etc. as we’ve never paid more than $440 even in peak season. We have flown out of PHL, JFK, EWR so we are pretty flexible, and so committed myself to wait this out.

Well the airfares just kept going up and up and up, and any ones that “dropped” were with awful times, durations, and connections. As we were confronted with the concept of paying $900RT to STT, we even started thinking about where else can we go before the Grande Bay cancelation deadline is up.

And that activity in January led to research resulting in serious consideration of the Bahamas out islands at airfare price points of ~$600 and a VRBO house on the beach with walking distance to a tiki bar for <$300.

Even though this trip was for MY birthday, the girls weren’t especially hot to trot for it, with my wife pitching the idea that kind of trip might be best for “just the two of us”.

Well, no use fighting city hall but was glad that I did that research as we really need more warm weather options to get away from the cold weather in the northeast. That’s one thing I vowed that is never going to happen again – I am not going to go from November thru March ever again without getting away to someplace warm – preferably someplace with a beach.

In that vein, we’ve also been curious about the gulf coast of Florida as a quick getaway option (we’ve never been!). Low and behold, in mid Feb., I was asked to attend a business conference in Orlando in late March, so grabbed the opportunity for my wife and I to fly into Tampa several days early, rent a car, and try out the gulf coast.

We also explored a bit for future reference – drove straight out to Clearwater Beach for great grouper sandwiches on the beach here http://frenchysonline.com/ then drove that 20 miles of barrier island down thru St. Pete beach, then on down to where we were staying in Siesta Key. We were underwhelmed by the vibe and look of that Clearwater/St Pete area – glad we scoped it out so we avoid future consideration.

Accommodation choices were a bit slim but we got a place in Siesta Key a block and half from the beach and 2 blocks from the village. Location was great, some things about the “resort” were a bit tired, but the beach was outstanding and the village had some fun bars and restaurants, good coffee shop, a great breakfast and a great ice cream joint, and what a glorious joy to see and feel the sun again! While Feb was very mild here in NJ, it wasn’t particularly sunny, but March was terribly gloomy, cold, and with a heavy wet snow storm thrown in.

Siesta Key...
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Waiting for this...
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Side odd observation about the mixed drinks we had in FLA: no matter where or when ordered, they were pretty darn weak - so we stuck with beer and wine.

On another day, we explored Longboat Key on up to Anna Marie Island and really liked the look and vibe of the beach towns on the north end opposite Bradenton. Had a great lunch here http://beachhouse.groupersandwich.com/ so this area needs to be put into the cold weather getaway playbook - - it’s pretty sweet to get on a plane and 2:20 later be landing in TPA or similar gulf coast airport on a $200RT flight. An early fight out can put you on the beach by noon, and a later flight out will optimize a 4 night getaway without breaking the bank. Will also have to explore options further south – Ft. Meyers, Marco, Naples, Sannibel, Captiva, etc.

But I digress…

Back to January…held onto the Grande Bay reservation...and still watching AF prices to STT go up. Then during the daily morning check late in the month I saw airfares out of New York at less than the $900 prices I had been seeing (my alerts popped up a few hours later with the same info).

But they were crazy early departures and had a connection, plus they were on AA out of LGA (which is a mess on a good day but now featuring massive construction), so normally I might not have clicked thru on it, but getting a little desperate at this point, so clicked thru and saw a price of $620 - for FIRST CLASS (!)

Ok – so maybe that offsets the negatives. Let me put a 24 hr hold on them and discuss it with the girls. But when you put in for 3 tickets, the price jumped to $1500 each. Cleared the cookies/history, went back in put a hold on 2 at $620, then tried another computer for the 3rd ticket a minute later and that ticket was $1800, so I guess they were only selling two 1st class tickets on that plane at that 620 price. Noticed there was another AA flight that left within 15 minutes that had a different connection - also with 1st class available at $620 – so, booked me on that plane.

We decided we were OK with this – we said what the heck – first class could be fun - and joked that if one plane crashes there would still be someone to take care of the dog!

I was on LGA-CLT-STT leaving at 6:15am, and 2 gates over they were on the LGA-PHL-STT leaving at 6:30. They had a super tight connection in PHL (who flies NYC to PHL??) so we checked bags with me (free with 1st class). And we were scheduled to arrive within 40 minutes of each other before 1pm in STT.

4/8 day of departure finally comes. We are excited to be going back to STJ, excited to see the sun again, and excited to be flying first class. Still stupid cold at <20 degrees, driving practically in the middle of the night to get to LGA, which is eerily empty.

Make way, I’m in the front row! Tons of overhead space in first class, get an OJ right after I’m seated. My plane gets pulled out from the gate on time and then sits. I watch their plane pull out and leave, which I’m happy about, because of their tight connections. I had more leeway if we weren’t delayed too long.

But then the dreaded announcement comes - one of the engines won’t start, and it will be around a 2+hr delay, so you can get off the plane and make other arrangements to make your connections. Rut Ro. This is not good. I will now miss my 1st class CLT connection.

However, it turns out another advantage of being in first class (and I was in row 1) is that you can bolt off the plane and get to the service desk ahead of everybody else on your flight who had to rebook. While the service agent was working with me to get me to STT (and this took a good 10-12 minutes) the line behind me built to over 50 people.

She was able to get me an extra legroom seat on a flight to Miami (apologizing for the bump down to coach) that was leaving quite soon, but that unfortunately would just miss a connecting noon-ish flight to STT, so I was faced with a LONG layover in MIA, and then first class MIA – STT. I asked about the bags and she called down to the tarmac to get them pulled and over to the MIA flight. Another advantage of First Class – those bags are specially tagged and are first off the plane.

During this, spoke to the girls who were already in PHL and about to get on their STT flight and I told them to just get themselves to St. John and I will meet them there sometime that night. We were confident they could do this as this was our 8th trip to the VIs in the past 12 years and they actively engage in the travel logistics process.

While I was pretty bummed out about all this, I tried and mostly succeeded to roll with it, knowing where I was going, and knowing it would do no good to make this a completely sour journey. Still…there were moments…

When I got to MIA, I did a walkabout to stretch the legs and look at eating options, realizing that I wasn’t enjoying my first class meals and drinks like the girls were – grrr!

Then I walked past the entrance to the AA first class lounge Admirals Club. That’s restricted to international first class passengers – I was aware that domestic first class doesn’t even get you in, unless (perhaps?) only if you also have a boatload of AA loyalty points that I do not have.

But then I thought what the heck, maybe I can talk my way in there if I turn on the charm (be that as it may LOL), describe my plight, and use some magic words like “good will” and “good faith”, all the way up to playing the separated from my family and birthday trip cards if necessary.

Sure enough, the gatekeeper did relent pretty quickly, saying “I’m not supposed to do this, but I’ll make an exception”. And on up to the lounge I went! So not only does Jed Clampett get to fly first class for the first time ever, but he makes it into the Admirals Club haha.

That was an interesting experience. There are facilities to take a shower. Well drinks and domestic beers are free. There was a spread of fruits, cheeses, hummus, quinoa salad, 2 different soups, fresh baked cookies and brownies, so I availed myself of that, called the jeep rental to let them know I wouldn’t be picking it up to the next day, and settled down to read and wait for word from the girls. Got a sad call from my brother while hanging out – his dog had died overnight – a sweet old golden retriever – but then talk of my travel tribulations provided a needed diversion and we had some laughs, so in a way we helped each other out there.

The girls got to STT on time and were gushing about their first class experience to me on the phone during their ride over to Red Hook where they missed the 1pm ferry by about 10 minutes. Heard back from them later from Grande Bay via a photo of the view from our balcony.

Oh well. At least they got there safe and sound. My daughter did carry on only, my wife had a change of clothes in her carry on. I suggested they take a cab out to Hawksnest or something.

It was still a long wait for my flight, which didn’t leave until after 6. But the first class cabin was one of those newer ones like the girls were impressed by on their flight – it more closely resembles the ones you see on international flights – more pod like, with a seat and elevating footrest that can nearly lay flat.

Wow – the entire experience was indeed pretty cool - pleasant attention from the crew, easy bathroom access, drinks, warm towel, decent grilled chicken meal, closed my eyes for a bit, grooved on my Island Playlist, chatted with the guy next to me going on BVI sailing vacation, flew right over the Bahamas out islands 30 min from MIA, etc.

One can get used to traveling like this -- where you actually feel like and are treated like a human.

When I landed, it was around 8:30 and I was wondering if the Cruzan free shot bar was open. Haha sure enough it still was. But they only had my 2 least fav flavors – Blackberry and Coconut. Are you kidding me? I cannot win today! But I was so amused by the fact that the sample bar was still open that I just good naturedly busted the chops of the young server about the lame flavors and we made each other laugh.

Got bags pretty quick and was hoping against hope to catch the 9pm ferry but that wasnt going to happen unless I got a private cab who would bust it there, so just resigned myself to the 10pm and texted the girls about my later arrival.

While killing yet more time at the Red Hook bar, a wave of travel exhaustion come over me akin to how you feel after a transatlantic overnight to Europe. Had been up since 2:30am and still wasn’t on STJ. Jeez – yet another opportunity to get completely WTF beside myself.

I trudged onto the ferry. At least it was pleasantly warm and breezy. Went to the top deck and let myself enjoy the sensations of the nighttime ferry as the vague outline and the twinkling lights of STJ approached above the dark water, and above that, lotsa stars and a near full moon. OK I’ll let my spirit go with that instead of the negative stuff.

Got off the ferry and Cruz Bay the beach was absolutely hopping with tons of people, boats, etc. for the Love City Country Music Festival.

Wait – where are the girls? Weren’t they supposed to me there? Texted them – they would be right down. My wife gets there after a short bit and apologizes that they fell asleep. Well I’m running on empty here too (!)

But it was all good when I got to the condo because they had a Happy Birthday banner and some streamers up, and tub of gelato with candles on it – they had marched all over town finding that stuff, plus a bottle of rum and beer, when they could’ve just went to a beach or up to the pool etc. Nice! Earlier, they had availed themselves of drinks and eats at Joes Rum Hut with a railing view of the music festivities.

Happy to be back together, the next morning we had a great breakfast at Cruz Bay Landing, I mixed the beach drinks = two 1000ml water bottles – one with Gatorade made from small tub of powder mix we bring down, the other with Key Lime Cruzan (yummy new flavor that the girls had sampled when they landed in STT), crystal light pink lemonade packets, and water – plus we had a working ice maker in the condo!

Got the jeep, all the beaches really crowded, including no parking left at our fav Maho, but got parking at Francis so hung out at the far end of that.

AHHH! Finally – a beach chair, a good book, and toes in the STJ sand with those vistas we all love…

Back for early birthday dinner reservation at Zozo’s on the railing timed for sunset. It doesn’t disappoint – donkeys parading by, bottle of prosecco, and the Pistachio Crusted Mahi is outstanding as usual (but the jumbo shrimp dish was better when they did it on a bed of risotto).

I can't think of a better way to celebrate and I am grateful we got to do it together in such a special place.

WAIT. A jmq STJ report with NO PHOTOS of STJ???

I’ll get to that in Part 2 of the trip report, which will be pretty boring after this, assuming of course that you got through this long winded saga of my travel trials and tribulations haha.
When we come to place where the sea and the sky collide
Throw me over the edge and let my spirit glide
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hoosierdaddy
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Re: STJ Trip Report Part 1: Ya gotta roll with it…

Post by hoosierdaddy »

Wow what a crazy travel day. As I was reading I was thinking how frustrating it may be, but if I knew going in that was the only way I could get to St. John I would take it in a heart beat. Looking forward to the rest of your report.

Thanks
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SuefromMA
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Re: STJ Trip Report Part 1: Ya gotta roll with it…

Post by SuefromMA »

My goodness....what an adventure!! Silver lining was that you got to take the ferry over to STJ in the dark. Never done that... It must have been a very tranquil and special sight. As always, you "roll"... Glad that "your ladies" were safe and sound without you. "Yes"...totally missing some photos! Hope that your luck changed for the rest of your trip!! We all take our "hours on-island" very seriously. Horrible when airlines mess it up and we are left to their whims to correct things... Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip.
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AquaGirl
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Re: STJ Trip Report Part 1: Ya gotta roll with it…

Post by AquaGirl »

Wow, what a day! Thanks for sharing. It brought back painful memories of our trip to the BVIs last Oct. Flights on AA totally messed up multiple times - pilot didn't show up (that was a new one for us), broken planes, delays resulting in missed connections, on and on. Instead of getting to STT at 2pm, we arrived around 8:30pm. Had to spend the night at a STT hotel since we missed our resort ferry and the public ferries to the BVIs.

We had paid for first class as well, but got bumped down to coach when we had to be re-booked twice. We have travel delay protection when using our AA Advantage credit card to purchase the tickets. I sent a letter to AA explaining the issue along with the original and re-booked boarding passes and asked for a refund of the difference between first class and coach fare. They gave it to us as a credit on our AA credit card.

Lesson learned - when there is an issue and they tell you to disembark the plane and go to Customer Service, make a run for it! We had already looked at other options on our phones when it was clear there was going to be a delay, to get a head start.

Loved your mini report about west coast of Florida. Love Siesta Key beach. The other places you mentioned for future trips are nice too. I aspire to be a "snowbird" some day :D

Looking forward to more installments.
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mbw1024
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Re: STJ Trip Report Part 1: Ya gotta roll with it…

Post by mbw1024 »

Wow, how did you do all that at age 60???? [emoji6][emoji6][emoji6][emoji6]
Happy Birthday! [emoji512]
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liamsaunt
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Re: STJ Trip Report Part 1: Ya gotta roll with it…

Post by liamsaunt »

What a saga!! It's all worth it when you get there though... :D

Looking forward to your usual excellent photos.
It's like looking in your soup and finding a whole different alphabet.
jmq
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Re: STJ Trip Report Part 1: Ya gotta roll with it…

Post by jmq »

It was a LOOOONG day for me. In terms of what it started to feel like, the analogy of flying overnight to Europe is apt with that foggy physical and mental exhaustion. However, the first class experience did provide first hand proof that I have to make flying business/first class to Europe a bucket list item in terms of mitigating the jet lag effect.

My BIL is a big fan of vacations that start with leaving well before dawn and sometimes would question why you wouldn't take the absolute earliest flight possible to get somewhere. Of course an argument can be made for that, but this confirmed that its much more preferable to get a 8 or 9am nonstop than a 6am with connections. Not that they fly much - which doesn't stop him from offering advice - they do leave NJ for their annual DRIVE to the Outer Banks trip in the wee hours of the morning.

The bad news about the photos is that my 6 yr old Sony Alpha DLSR just plain died about halfway thru the trip and I haven't been able to reboot it since. It didn't affect the photos and video already on the SD card, but I missed many other photo opps.

Last trip, doing carry on only, I didn't take my ancient Canon point n shoot with its limited zoom, tiny screen, and bulky underwater case and rented a GoPro instead. I was underwhelmed by the GoPro, mostly because you REALLY need the extension stick to optimize results with the super wide fixed lens on the older model that I had rented.

So this time I took my old UW case/camera, and usually also take the older Canon PowerShot too but didn't this time so I wouldn't have to juggle 3 cameras. Lesson learned for me - always take a decent back up camera.
When we come to place where the sea and the sky collide
Throw me over the edge and let my spirit glide
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SuefromMA
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Re: STJ Trip Report Part 1: Ya gotta roll with it…

Post by SuefromMA »

So true about extra cameras... We could NEVER do carryon only.. We pretty much fill up a carry on with Camera and snorkel gear alone. I recently bought my husband his first DSLR Nikon. We are planning a parks trip to Utah in 2018. So, he is bringing it on this trip to STJ to start practicing... At places like Annaberg ruins, overlooks, view from villa, etc. Need to bring underwater camera and also a Canon point and shoot for beach (which we wouldn't want to bring expensive camera to). I marvel at all those carry on only people. It could NEVER be us... Sorry for your photo losses... But, I am sure that what you "did" get will be great!
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kklay
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Re: STJ Trip Report Part 1: Ya gotta roll with it…

Post by kklay »

I loved reading about your adventure! I've been able to be in first class once and man, what a difference! It does pay to check the price of first vs. coach because as you found out, sometimes the deals are there!
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liamsaunt
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Re: STJ Trip Report Part 1: Ya gotta roll with it…

Post by liamsaunt »

First class to Europe is AMAZING. I've only done it once--John flew me over to Paris on British Airways using some of his points-- it's unlike any other experience I've had flying. They give you pajamas to change in to!! I had dinner and then put on my PJs and slept soundly the rest of the way. It was amazing--no jet lag on arrival!

He flew me home business class. That was pretty sweet too with comfy lie-flat beds and decent food/wine. No free pajamas though :D

I hear you on the camera pain. I always bring a bunch of underwater cameras. I've had multiple ones flood or just plain die on me over the years, and there's no place to get a replacement on St. John. I don't even know if the camera shop that used to be at the shops at Yacht Haven on STT is still there.
It's like looking in your soup and finding a whole different alphabet.
Agent99
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Re: STJ Trip Report Part 1: Ya gotta roll with it…

Post by Agent99 »

OMG jmq- My family and I have had some pretty traumatic travel day adventures but at least we were al together. Sorry you had to start the trip and your birthday by yourself. Sounds like it all worked out tho and your welcome was beautiful. You have the right attitude- ya gotta roll with it! Hope the rest of the trip made you forget about the rocky start!

Our one and only adventure with discounted first class was memorable as well. We took a last minute trip to Anguilla via St Martin on Iceland Air, which was hosting a charter to and from an all inclusive in the Dominican Republic, had extra seats and were selling them at a deep, deep discount. Seemed too good to be true. Little did we know that the all inclusive had a breakout of Noro virus. You don't want to know the rest.

Happy, happy 60!
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Pickle
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Re: STJ Trip Report Part 1: Ya gotta roll with it…

Post by Pickle »

What a start to your vacation, jmq - but I love the sweet ending of your long travel day. Happy Birthday to you!

I agree, it is a drag to take backup cameras, bulky underwater housings and other accessories... but, as far as cameras go, my fear for risking not having a working camera on St. John always wins over a minimum-packing mentality. Sure, a trip to St. John is not about taking photos. With that said, as much as I try to soak it all in at the moment, photos do help remembering and embracing the trip after we return home.

Looking forward to your next installment and photos!
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toni
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Re: STJ Trip Report Part 1: Ya gotta roll with it…

Post by toni »

Thanks so much for posting :) glad you were able to make it down the same day. With the limited number of flights that can be tricky for sure. And first class definitely helps smooth things out and takes some me of the pain away!
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