Brian's NYC

Day 1: Once again, I am traveling while ill. Apparently, I physically and mentally phsych myself out and pump up the stress before traveling. Why do I always push myself so hard right before traveling? I came down with a viscous fever two days before we flew, which turned into congestion. 3 out of 4 trips in the last year started this way. Let's not make this more of a habit, ok?

Our flight was originally booked to go from JFK to St. Thomas direct, departing at 8am, landing at 12pm. Nic got an email about a month prior saying our flights had been rebooked due to restructuring within the airline. More specifically we had to leave two hours early (yes, at 6am!!) and arrive 2 hours later (at 2pm...tacking on 4 hours to our trip). We booked a car to pick us up at 4am because I hate being stressed out when I travel and like to allow ample time (note to self: flying on a sunday at 6am = not necessary to leave this early when not checking luggage and have already checked in online. just sayin'). It was very interesting to see how many people were ending their night as we were beginning our day. While we didn't have any traffic making it to the airport, our driver did have to swerve around several pedestrians in *ahem* altered states of mind.

After a layover in Atlanta at 8am, we finally made it to the island of St. Thomas at 2pm, and we were so excited to be in paradise. There was only one problem: I was flying while a bit congested, and on the second flight my ears plugged up in the descent and never un-plugged. This having happened to me before, I decided to ignore it to the best of my ability, enjoy the free samples of Cruzan Rum they were handing out at the airport, take in the beautiful scenery as we were escorted by ferry to St. John, and savor the delicious drinks and food perfected by the resort staff.

Day 2: My ears=not so good. I could hardly sleep at all, and if I did it had to be sitting up, which made for a sore back and neck. I called the islands emergency clinic, and wouldn't you know it they didn't have any room for me until noon the next day. The pain and pressure at times were unbearable, but we still plugged away (ha) with our vacation and enjoyed time spent lying on the beach, lounging at the pool, and enjoying those frozen rum drinks.

Day 3: FINALLY got to the clinic! It was accessible to us by taxi, and is located at the top of the island. The view from up there is breathtaking, and I would have much rather been enjoying the sights all day than sitting in the examination room. It was discovered that I had double ear infections in both ears, which I took to calling a quadruple ear infection just to make it sound more dramatic than it actually was. Fluid from my head congestion got caught in my ear drum, and the cabin pressure on the plane also caused wax to build up in my ear, not allowing the fluid to drain. So, I got an inner ear canal and middle ear drum infection. In both ears. The greatest/worst part of it all was having the wax flushed out of my ears (see photo. you're welcome for that, by the way). I say worst because of the pain and mess it created, but the greatest because I got to watch Nic's face as it was happening. After exploring the inner part of the island to find a clinic to fill my pennecilin perscription, Nic and I strolled through downtown St. John and lounged by the pool, all the while enjoying that Cruzan rum! :)

Day 4: St. John has tons of mini islands and bays around the island which can be accessed by boat. The resort had dinghys for rent, where we could explore all of these islands for the day. Unfortunately for us, today the water was too choppy, and the dinghys being, well, dingy, wouldn't hold up. So instead we traveled to famous Cinnamon Bay by taxi to enjoy what many say is the most beautiful beach in the world. We cannot argue with them. The pristine water was so clear we were able to watch a stingray as it swam right by us (good thing, too. we woulda stepped on it). And the sand feels like cinnamon under your feet (duh. and DON'T even try to tell me you don't know what that feels like, sicko). The only negative thing about the beach are the mosquitos. Well, ok, not the beach itself, but the surrounding woods. 70% of the island is protected as a national forest, which means vegetation and wildlife is very abundant, including mosquitos. Sitting for 15 minutes in a taxi waiting for it to depart, I must have gotten a dozen bug bites. Thankfully a fellow taxi rider shared her bug spray. We would have been dinner.

The beach excursion was capped off with an amazing sunset cruise around the island. It was so relaxing and fun to get out on the water, enjoy even more rum, and watch the beautiful sunset while chatting with friendly island natives. The weather was fantastic, the scenery too gorgeous to be given justice on film, and I was with Nic, so the company wasn't that bad either!

Day 5: Our last day. :( And we found out that the dinghy rentals needed to be reserved 24 hours in advance. This means that even though the guide couldn't let us check one out because the water was too choppy the day before, he could have signed us up for one for the next day. Lame. With that idea scrapped, we still wanted to see the island. So we signed up for a guided island tour. The tour was in an open air taxi like the ones we had been using all week, and took us around to see all of the bays and beaches, downtown, and the inland parts of the island. We quickly realized this would have been the perfect thing to do on our FIRST day at the resort, but we couldn't be bothered with all of the amazing scenery we were able to enjoy. A quick trip to an abandoned sugar mill on the other side of the island left everyone running from the mosquitos (and Nic running from lizards). Thankfully we thought ahead and came prepared with a giant bottle of bug spray. We passed the can around and shared it with our tour mates who were extremely appreciative, including the new mother who asked me (not so much asked as told me) to hold her baby while she applied bug spray (guess I would make a neglectful father, judging from the photo). We later enjoyed a beautiful and delicious anniversary dinner downtown on our last night on the island.

Day 6: The trip back was just as long as the trip out, and was prolonged even more by storms in NYC (glad we missed those!). Contrary to popular belief, there's not much to do in the Atlanta airport. Except eat at Chili's, which we did, and we enjoyed. Chili's, I love you.