The "Vacation Jitters? Nah!!" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Packing!  Soon time for Carol and me to head back to the islands as Jimmy sings in his song.  Have my date book colored in according to the color of the sky and water that will await us when we land in St. Martin.  Days and days of yellow umbrellas and orange beach chairs are in our future.   Now all we have to do is hope that the skies cooperate and the airplane lands on the runway as it's supposed to do.  We had to buy new suitcases since the old ones were getting pretty shabby.  Mine had a few tears as well as one of the outside pockets had been dislodged by a baggage-handler in one of the airports we travel though.  Carol's suitcase had the metal framework compromised  and it bent inward toward the luggage compartment rather then along the sides as it is supposed to do.  Oh well, they lasted for a few years.  We don't spend hundreds on luggage, since no matter how careful we are with it, the airports seem to use it for target practice.  New suitcases weigh only about 4 pounds each with hard molded sides.  We'll see what happens to them after departure from Baltimore with a stop in Miami and then on to St. Martin.  Hope the sides are still molded in a suitcase shape by our last carousel stop.  I recently found a photo online that shows the airport runway in St. Martin.  This runway is usually in the top 10 on just about any survey taken which talks about scary runways.  As the pilot prepares to land he or she must plan to catch the front end of the runway as close as possible to the start because of the short distance of the runway.  To top that off, there is a beach with people, chairs and sand on it directly in front of the runway separated only by a 10 foot high chain-link fence.  I stopped worrying about the landing years ago.  Figure the plane is bigger than anything in front of it as we cross the azure blue water leading up to the pure-white beach.  The photo that I found shows the far end of the runway after the planes land.  There is only one runway so after planes land they must turn around at the far end, head back up the runway halfway, then turn in towards the airport common.  No problems as long as the air-traffic controllers don't allow another plane to land too soon or one to take-off too soon.  This photo below shows an American Airlines plane that had just landed and has turned around to head to the airport while a KLM Jumbo Jet if preparing for take-off.  Neat shot!!  I can' wait to be in the American Airlines Jet that is just arriving.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

Four engine Jumbo Jet landing over Maho Beach.

Click on photo to enlarge.  American Airlines jet in the foreground while the KLM jet prepares for take-off at the far end at Maho Beach.