The "Vacation Preparations Are Beginning!" Story

A trip to Philipsburg, the capital of the Dutch
side of the island is a must.

It was an ordinary day.  And … I'm excited!  Just pulled up the American Airlines web page and saw that airfare for our next vacation in the Caribbean has just been reduced over $100 per person.  Now I could have just ordered the tickets myself, but I choose to use my travel agent, Karen, so that I have less trouble keeping up with cancelations, re-booking, etc. that goes with purchasing your own airfare.  For over 15 years now I have ordered the tickets through Karen at Liberty Travel.  I know I have to pay for the service, but the couple of bucks that it costs is worth not having to constantly check the AA website to see if the flight has changed or has been canceled.  

A ferry ride to Pinel Island is always a fun day excursion.

I need to get into vacation mode now and begin the process of buying medical travel insurance, a "Park and Fly" hotel room near the Baltimore/- Washington Inter- national Airport, canceling the newspaper, calling the credit card companies to report upcoming travel plans, sending an email to the rental company in St. Martin to give them my credit card # to pay the balance on our rental, renting a car for vacation, lining up a house/cat sitter, …. and the list goes on and on.  

Heading to Le Piment, our favorite island restaurant, is
a tradition for our first night on the island.

But, it gets you in the mood for vacation.  And, it's fun to do when the snow is accumu- lating on the ground outside my home office window.  The prepara- tions for travel are at times stressful, but they really get me into the mood for vacation.  Lists must be prepared in preparation for the trip.  What clothing to take along, what camera equipment to take along, what electronics to take and what books to place on the Kindle must all go on a list.  

A visit to the Ma DouDou "factory" to pick up a few bottles
of island flavored rum is always a must.

Another list will show the side trips we want to take once on the island, the restaurants we want to visit, the island friends we want to visit, the gifts we want to purchase, and the flavors of Ma DouDou rum that we need to buy to bring back with us.  Now I know this may seem like endless tasks to perform just to go on vacation, but it's the anticipation of the trip and the planning that makes the time go more quickly before it is time to finally go through security at the airport and board the plane.  

And, vacation would not be complete without a trip
to the Sunset Bar and Grill to watch the planes land.

Carol just got an email from a former friend from work who thought we should see just one more landing at the Princess Julianna Airport before we fly there once again.  Rather frightening landing, but that is how the big commercial jets land on the island.  That is why visiting the Sunset Bar and Grill, at the end of the runway, is on our list of things to do.  Just love to take photos of the planes making their landings.  Actually that's always on my list every year!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.