Wednesday DEC 18-20, 2012 VANCOUVER - DALLAS  FORT WORTH - MIAMI - BARBADOS

HEADING TO THE FERRY, SUNSHINE COAST BC CANADA

Well the trip started off with some excitement - it snowed all morning in Sechelt on the Sunshine Coast BC Canada!  We  almost never get snow but today was the day!  Fortunately we had no snow settling on the ground but it was very pretty to watch those soft white flakes coming down in their thousands.  We drove to the BC ferries terminal at Langdale, and due to the many micro climates on the coast where we live, there was lots of snow as we reached the Langdale ferry terminal as our altitude increased a little and the weather backed up against Mt Elphinstone and the North Shore mountains in Vancouver.  

We arrived on time into Horseshoe Bay after the 40 minute ferry trip and the weather was getting worse with every mile!  By the time we arrived downtown Vancouver the traffic was very heavy, there were buses stopped all over the place and it got worse!  We went over the bridge and then got stuck on Granville street it was closed - the streets were rutted ice and there were cars sliding everywhere!  On the news we heard all the traffic and weather reports - the brand new Port Mann Bridge opened just two weeks earlier was closed due to ice falling from the overhead struts and damaging cars and injuring passengers in the cars!  The TransLink bus service had most of their buses stopped all over the city because of the slippery roads.  The Vancouver City folks responsible for the roads said this was the worst combination of weather causing havoc on the roads that they had seen in 7 years - but not to worry - the bicycle lanes had priority and 3 men assigned to them to keep them clear!!

Suffice it to say we finally arrived at Vancouver airport more than 2 hours after leaving the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal - we were so glad to have not had an accident with the car!  It was good to have had the 4WD as we used it all through downtown Vancouver.  We left the Jeep at Park N Fly and enjoyed a well earned beverage with dinner.  Tomorrow we fly to Miami via Dallas Fort Worth with American Airlines - our flight departs at 840am.

Thursday Dec 19, 2012 Vancouver to Miami via Dallas

Well everything went smoothly for us.  The usual service on the flights these days (we were flying American Airlines) we actually had 1 free checked bag and got a cup of coffee on 1 flight and a coke on the next flight!  Not to worry, Terry had picked up a box of 20 TIMBITS (donuts) in Vancouver at Tim Hortons and a mocha coffee!  In Dallas we picked up a tuna salad sandwich and cobb salad as we walked from gate to gate.  We only had a 45 minute connect time between flights and it's a good job we weren't any later arriving since our flight Dallas to Miami was over sold by 18 seats!!!!

We arrived in Miami and had to take the SKYTRAIN to get to the luggage carousel, our luggage arrived yippee - so much better than the time when we arrived in Miami many years ago when our suitcase came out on the carousel upside down with no bottom on it at all - just our personal items balanced precariously inside!

Once we had our luggage we had to take the elevator back up to level 2 then walk about 10 minutes to terminal E for the Miami Airport Hotel where we had a reservation - thank goodness - since when we arrived at 830pm they had big signs everywhere saying "SOLD OUT NO ROOMS AVAILABLE" quite fitting at this time of the year don't you think?!!  On the way to the hotel we passed a massive snaking long line and up above it said "REBOOKING _ MISSED CONNECTIONS".  There was a huge snow storm through the midwest yesterday with up to 19 inches of snow in some areas and over 1,000 flights were cancelled in the USA yesterday.  This same storm passed through BC and the West Coast over the last couple of days.  But not to worry we haven't said Goodbye to it yet - tomorrow they are forecasting freezing conditions in Miami although they are saying that storm and cold front is coming down from the North West.

We caught up on email using our "internet on the go" hot spot that we bought last year for the USA - and shared a sandwich from room service.  Even managed to watch the finale of Xfactor on TV before it was lights out and we crashed.  Considering that we are 3 hours ahead in Miami 11pm still felt like 11pm to us!  The rooms here are small but really quiet when you consider how many planes and passengers are coming and going.  They have been recently refurbished with a comfortable oversized easy chair and oversized round red leather ottoman to put your feet up on while watching the flat screen TV.

Friday Dec 21, 2012 Miami to Barbados

When the alarm went off at 6am we were both fast asleep, and struggled to come awake.  It was a good night's sleep even though we did wake up a couple of times - I think waking up at 2am in Vancouver the morning before had something to do with it!  The day started with Terry having a broken hearing aid - the last time this happened was exactly 12 months ago when we were in St Barts & St Maarten and there was no way to get this fixed until we arrived back in Sechelt.  Terry sent a quick email to Linda in Sechelt, who will be joining us next week, but we are very doubtful that she can get any assistance from Terry's hearing aid supplier in Sechelt before joining us - we can but hope!

We had breakfast at the Miami Airport Hotel in the 7th floor Top of the ? restaurant included with the room (eggs, ham, hash browns and toast with coffee) and then went downstairs to checkin - back to terminal D for international flights.  Then the fun started.  First we had to line up to check ourselves in - lots of people having significant difficulty doing this, some machines not working and an American Airlines personnel would eventually appear to help.  After checking ourselves in and declaring how many bags we had we then had to go to another line at the end of the bank of "self service" machines and line up to have our bags weighed (max 50 pound each ) and tagged.  Then  we went to another very long line - at least 50 passengers - to drop off our tagged bags!  

While in "drop bags" line, another set back - the conveyor belt stopped working!  So the next 20 or so passengers were told to drop their checked bags in front of the counter - and two old shrunken grey haired men (at least in their 70's) came tottering out from behind the door where the conveyor belt normally disappears with your precious bags. These two chaps started pulling the bags with handles and wheels back behind the two swinging doors - this was not a very speedy operation but no problem, a supervisor then appears and tells us to "follow him" with our bags.  So we followed as if he was the Pied Piper and we walked IN A LINE for another hundred yards to the very end of the conveyor belt for the next bank of checkin counters!  He took our bags and threw them on to the conveyor belt just as it disappeared under the flapping plastic as I looked at our bags, I turned to Terry and  said "it's too bad I didn't have my camera out to take a photo since I am not sure we will ever see those bags again!"

SANTA ON THE BEACH AT OISTINS, BARBADOS

One observation this morning is that there are banks of American Airlines counters with NO ONE at them, not AA staff and not passengers!  All the passengers are milling around in long lines, 20 feet back from the AA counters, in a very unorganized fashion trying to figure out what to do and where to go - unbelievably amazing how the airlines have put all the checkin responsibility back on to the passengers who simply don't know what to do - this was total chaos this morning!!!!

Then it was off to the SECURITY line (yes it was a very long line) - no problems - we stripped naked, placed everything on the conveyor belt and walked through the Xray machine which did NOT buzz!  OK OK we weren't quite naked!  On the other side (we have now spent the last 60 minutes in lines) we go two flights up and catch the SKY TRAIN to gate D43 for our 1005am flight to Barbados.  While on the SkyTrain a complete flight crew of 5 including the PILOT get off at the wrong station!!! and then run back into our carriage.  I am pretty sure they will be our flight crew today and miss the turn off in the sky for Barbados!

At gate D43 there is an announcement that the flight is "over sold" and they are looking for 8 passengers to voluntarily NOT fly to Barbados and they will each receive $800 voucher for a future flight - no, that would not be us offering to do that!  Then as instructed we all line up to board the flight - then an announcement tells us to sit back down - the pilot has called the Maintenance department!  The flight is expected to be delayed by 15 minutes.  

About 45 minutes after scheduled departure we are boarded and waiting to depart.  The Pilot tells us that the brakes have been fixed, but that one passenger has not boarded and they are now looking for the "needle in the proverbial haystack" looking for the one checked bag of that passenger so that they can take it off the plane so that we can leave!  We eventually leave about 50 minutes behind schedule for the 3 hour 8 minute 1600 mile flight.  We lost 2 hours in our time zone  between Vancouver and Dallas, 1 hour between Dallas and Miami, and 1 more hour today between Miami and  Barbados.  So we are now 4 hours ahead of Vancouver time and scheduled to arrive in Barbados around 3:10pm.  The sky is blue over the Caribbean Sea with white clouds dotted everywhere.  The forecast for Barbados is 29 degrees with some rain showers in the area.

VIEW FROM OUR ROOM, HILTON HOTEL BARBADOS

Barbados is as far South East as you can go on the edge of the Caribbean Sea - essentially the same latitude as Nicaragua and just north of the islands of Trinidad & Tobago, and Venezuela, South America.  My first vacation to Barbados was in 1973 when I lived in Toronto ( a non stop flight was much easier than from the West Coast of Canada). We love the island and have been back 4 times since then.  Barbados was originally governed by the British but is now an independent country but still part of the British Commonwealth.  It is very clean and safe with the most beautiful white fine talcum powder sandy beaches and aquamarine ocean - but more conservative than many of the Caribbean Islands.  This time when in Barbados after arriving one night early "just in case we had travel problems getting there on time!"  we will board the 148 passenger Wind Spirit tomorrow (the Windstar Cruiseline) and spend 7 days cruising the southern Caribbean islands of St Vincent & The Grenadines - we can't wait!                                                                                                                                        

Terry is already fast asleep in the seat next to me (no surprise there!) so I am enjoying the views out the window of the blue seas below and the Turks & Caicos islands, and I am already picturing swimming on Mullins Beach and my first rum punch ............ 

We arrived at the Grantley Adams airport in Barbados at 310pm - and after completing the immigration forms, were quickly processed into the country - quite a change from last time we arrived two years ago in December 2010 when there were several large jets all arrived at the same time and the lineup was long and slow, especially as many folks were given priority for entry and we never could figure out why!  We picked up a bottle of Barbados Mount Gay rum for under $10 at the duty free store before we exited outside into the very warm and humid temperatures.  As we landed we could see quite a lot of rain cloud around but at least it wasn't raining!

We had reserved half a car at STOUTE's Car rental which is a few yards outside the arrival baggage exit doors.  I say half a car since Terry had booked a KIA something or other - as soon as the rental clerk said KIA I knew it wasn't going to be a large car!

We drop the car off tomorrow at the cruise ship terminal when we check on to the Wind Spirit.  As we flew in this afternoon we flew over the cruise ship terminal and were amazed to see 6 cruise ships (4 large and 2 smaller) plus a ship with sails which is probably the Wind Spirit since we will be on the first sailing after the Wind Spirit comes out of dry dock and a major refit.  But we were amazed to see 6 ships - Barbados is so far South it is quite unusual to see that number of cruise ships here.

Anyway - our luggage fit into the back seat of the KIA and our two carryon bags fit into the 6 inches classified as the trunk!  We decided to stop in OISTIN's town on the way - Friday night is fish fry night each week, a major event with hundreds of folks coming for fish and chips from all over Barbados.  We were early arriving around 430 but we enjoyed  excellent dolphin (Bajan for Mahi Mahi) and chips with macaroni and green salad along with Banks beer and rum and coke sitting at a blue picnic bench.  There are perhaps 30 restaurants here but we bought ours from De Red Snapper (we did pass up the "BELLY HURT HIDE AWAY ROTI SHOP" that we drove past on the way to Oistins!)

We visited with the locals, we played with 4 year old Mark - hide and seek with his hands and feet wearing a New York jacket approximately the right size for a 16 year old!  I must say that Bajan's (what folks from Barbados are called) are very friendly, always have a ready smile.  They speak English - but it's fast and like a pidgin English and trying to understand it is mostly impossible for me - even after asking folks to repeat something 3 times!

Then it was a drive along the coast road past The Gap in St Lawrence (a happening place especially on the weekends with lots of bars and restaurants, and a small harbour where we almost got dumped from a very small dive boat back in the 1980's).  We were booked into the Hilton at Lighthouse Point for one night - this is very close to the main town of Bridgetown.  (Terry had stayed here once before around 1969). It was dark when we arrived around 630pm and all the Christmas lights were lit on all the palm trees trunks, and the banisters and railings - very effective. This is obviously the hotel where all the airlines' crew are put up overnight - lots of them in uniform in the lobby.

There are two towers with rooms and our room 565 is in the Fort Tower overlooking the remains of historic St Ann's Fort at Needham point with its' many cannons still in place here from when it guarded the entrance to Bridgetown and Carlysle Bay. Our room looks South East over the ocean and below us is a very large free form swimming pool, bar and beautiful beach with lots of sun cots.  The grounds are quite large and we enjoyed wandering around and enjoying the humid warm night under the stars.  This is the weekend before Christmas and there are several parties under way for local businesses, some of them quite large, so lots of happy people about enjoying the season.

The rooms are very nice - tile floors, large bathrooms, updated linens, flat screen TV, mini fridge and coffee making supplies.  Considering the age of the hotel it feels very contemporary.  There is also internet available at $26 per day in the room, and free WIFI in the downstairs lobby.  We had trouble getting access in the room and imagine my surprise when I was transferred to the IT department - I was connected to a French Canadian in Calgary Alberta Canada - Jeanne Marie!!  

We sat on our deck enjoying a night cap before going to bed - are we really here?  You bet and we plan to enjoy every moment!!!!