.. with about 70kg of luggage, we made it to Tortola!

The wait on SXM was pretty boring though, but we made it. They really should fix that terminal lounge, so there’s a decent place to sit. Anyway, as usual, LIAT departed late. At Beef Island, we grabbed a taxi to the hotel, and I swear my arms just got longer from dragging all that crap up the stairs. Luckily we’re on the first floor, everything has to go down tomorrow again. Too bad I’ve already killed 3 roaches so far, but hey..
Tomorrow, we’ll first get a car, to take everything up to the appartment. And we might even get some work done in the afternoon :)

Full of things to do.

First, I went to pick up the laundry, then delivered it at the moving company.
Then, I had a meeting with the landlady, to transfer the utilities back to her account. Took quite some time, since they needed to have some info we didn’t bring (which meters were installed), as we figured they’d be able to look it up. Either they couldn’t or just were too lazy, so I had to go back home and check it myself. Some minutes later, everything was done!

The last bits of cleaning and shopping, amongst other things, filled the rest of the day.
At night, we went for dinner at De Tropen, together with some friends. Tomorrow we’ll fly to SXM at 9:00, arriving in Tortola at 5. On paper, of course :)

Today, the movers came! Unexpectedly on time as well. And fast! They managed to pack and wrap up everything we had in about 4-5 hours time.. The result is one 20ft (partially) filled, ready for shipment to Tortola. Some things still need to be done though, like doing the last laundry, sorting out luggage, and putting some extra boxes in the container after all because it won’t fit (or needed to be washed first ;)

We’re in a (simple) hotel for a few nights, the same one in which “it” started some months ago.. Our tickets out of Curacao are booked on the 15th, with a return date of 5/9, since our permits aren’t finished yet. Tomorrow will be the last ‘real’ day, although it feels as if we’ve already left, since the house is empty, and everything that made it ours is gone.

.. and then we’re moving!

Unfortunately, I couldn’t get an earlier flight, so I’ve just arrived in Curacao. Just in time to start preparing for everything, although supposedly the movers will be doing all the work..

Right. So because of the Festival (and probably other reasons as well), flights from Tortola to SXM are full. Soosh is flying back today at ~17:00, then onwards to CUR at 20:30. My flight is at 19:20, resulting in missing that flight. At the airport, I tried to get on an earlier flight. Winair had room on the 18:00 flight, which would be perfect, since I’d still have a chance of making the connection to CUR. Given that there was a seat available ofcourse, according to our travel agent, everything was booked..

The 17:00 left, so I waited patiently for the next flight. Which, of course, did not arrive on time. Or actually, at all.. WinAir just cancelled the 18:00, putting everyone on the last flight for today: the 19:20. Which left at around 19:50, but who’s counting. Worse thing is, Soosh checked with the airline in SXM for a seat, they had plenty available. But, after arriving in SXM, I found all the check-in desks abandoned (apart from the cleaners). The plane was still on the ground, actually -right next- to the one I just got out of. No way to get on tho :/

So, now I’m sitting in the hotel (Maho Beach). Pretty nice, and not too expensive (yay showing papers and getting the local-rate \o/).. I might be able to get on the morning flight tomorrow ;)

Today, we went shopping in St Thomas (USVI). Since Tortola is pretty small, and we needed a bunch of things to make the house more enjoyable to live, we took the 10am ferry to Red Hook. After clearing customs on St. John, we arrived at the dock. From there, we took a taxi to the carrental place, where we (obviously) got a car for the day.

Driving around was pretty fun, we found the mall (eventually), and had some lunch. At that point I got reminded again how horrible US water (and thus, sodas) taste. But anyway. We shopped and got a lot of stuff (towels, plates, knives, forks, other basics). A little searching later, we found the Cost-U-Less, where we got some bean bags and chairs. Since the car was filled to the top (literally), we decided to head for the dock, and catch the 3pm ferry back to West End. Returned the car, and loaded our stuff on the boat..

At first, I thought we brought a lot on board, but in the end, there was a shitload more from other people. Seems like this is the normal way to go shopping ;) A speedy trip later, we got back to Tortola, cleared customs (paid $40 or so for the whole bunch), we were ready to grab a taxi to the appartment. Turned out noone could actually take us up the hill. No one from the office was available to give us a ride either, so we took a taxi to town, to get a company car there.

In the end, we got everything where it needed to be, and at night we had a perfect dinner at Spaghetti Junction ;)

And back to Tortola!

This one was fun.. Since Soosh is already there, and picked up the keys to the appartment, I already packed some stuff for The Move ™. The company booked me on a very tight connection. Normally, there are a few options on a Wednesday. You take the 9:00 flight to SXM, then the afternoon Liat or WinAir flight to EIS. However, lately I realized everytime I was in SXM, there was another, earlier WinAir flight to EIS.

This time, ofcourse, my first flight was delayed (ie not arriving early..). At customs at 10:50, while my next flight was leaving at 11:15. But, I still had to wait for my bag, check in for the 11:15, pass customs / security again, and get in the plane. Luckily these small airlines are “always” late, so it wasn’t an issue when I checked in 15 minutes before departure. Even my checked bag wasn’t an issue, the pilots needed to do some testing for their first flight of the day anyway.

The flights were pretty ok. The WinAir flight was quite fun, very small plane (seats ~16).. And I got half a day extra!

Thanks to TB, my new server is now installed in the rack in Amsterdam!

Guess we’ll have to plan some migrations soon.. :)

Pretty uneventful weekend. Which is a good thing I guess, given that I’ve been travelling / on the road since I started the new job.. So, only fun stuff! Together with Soosh, I watched Spiderman 3, some series, went out for dinner, and so on ;)

Oh, and I also upgraded Wordpress! Looks like nothing broke down..

Like I said some posts ago, my flight back to Curacao is from Miami, not Fort Lauderdale. One thing I keep “forgetting” is how bad Miami International Airport sucks. I really can’t help but hate that place. It’s too busy, too crowded, and basically a complete chaos.
And not different today, ofcourse. After Rob dropped me off, I went for the check-in desk. Holy. Bloody. Hell. A bunch of AA check-in desks, but also a huge crowd crawling around them, with no real lines.. Didn’t feel like waiting at random, so I bugged one of the AA ladies. According to her, “self check-in is available”. That’s a first, normally AA doesn’t allow that crap for international flights, afaicr. But hey, sure. Too bad the machines (after I finally found one available) suck; the touch screen is very unresponsive, and somewhere during the process, you have to wait for an AA representative to check your passport (wth). Also, for bags to be checked, you have to wait “somewhere around here”, until they call your name, so you can drop it off. Screw that, I’ll take it as a carry-on.

In the end, it worked out, got my boarding pass (with the famous SSSS as always). This basically means they’ll check your bags, and put you through some extra scanner-gate. Again this proved to be an advantage; ever since the first time I had that ‘flag’ I just skip straight to the front / other line, instead of waiting behind a bunch of others. They’ll send me over to that other lane (with virtually no people waiting) anyway when I get there, so it doesn’t hurt anyone. 10 minutes later, I was free to go, and met up with a colleague who was on the same flight.
Nice flight by the way, I really could get used to that businessclass stuff. Nice views over The Bahamas and the Dominican Republic :)

Then, at Hato, Customs decided to start checking all passengers’ luggage. Probably because some flight from Valencia just arrived, it’s the first time -ever- I actually see them do active checking. Took forever, I think we waited a good 30 minutes before we got outside. Afterwards I went to the old office, to hand $friend his Apple Airport Extreme, which I bought in Puerto Rico.

Time for weekend! ;)