Aruba time
Trip Start
Oct 04, 2008
1
2
31
Trip End
Jun 30, 2009
Aruba,
Aruba
Monday, October 6, 2008
We said our goodbyes to family and friends, who have all been brilliant.....
BIG THANK YOU to Lee & Donna (our son & partner) for letting us stay almost to a point where we were no longer welcome ! AND to Helen & Les (Kim's Mum & Dad to those who don't know) for letting us stay at weekends and feeding us...
All our friends have been amazing, inviting us to visit (on several occassions by some) knowing that we could not resipracate....and of course for listening to all the travel stories.....THANK YOU.
For all those who hate us for going travelling for a second time......something, somewhere was determined to punish us.......
1.Welcome Home
.The flight from London to Miami was delayed, so we knew that making the connecting flight to Aruba was going to be tight, what we didn't know was that American Airlines and the US authorities were going to make the transit an obstacle course !!
First, Immigration took nearly an hour, this alone could have caused us to miss flight, but Kim grabbed an AA employee by the throat (not really) and said DO SOMETHING....they managed to get us through on another line.
Second, we went to get our luggage to carry through customes and guess what....it wasn't there....we checked and they said don't worry, just go to your connecting flight, so we ran.
Third, You had to go back through security, and we were chosen for the full checks including body search (thankfully not the rubber glove type), at this point we had 20 mins before departure and the gate was 10 mins away, to make it worse, they were not in a rush despite telling them of the urgency...
Colin concluded that they are rude, arrogant and paranoid.
Forth, we landed in Aruba at midnight....waited at the baggage reclaim until we were the only one left and no bags seemed to be going around, so it dawned on us that we were in trouble, we went to fill in forms and Colin thought he better go through to deal with the hire car as we were the last flight that night
2.Happy Birthday
. Yes you guessed it, the car hire company had closed down and gone home......WE WERE STRANDED......at the airport with no luggage, no car and no taxis at 1am in the morning !! the end of a 23 hour marathon, nerves were frayed, but fortunately a taxi arrived and we went to the house....it surely must get better !!!! After 2 days in the same clothes, desperate to swim but no cossy....we got the call, bags had turned up..it was like Xmas !
From the moment we arrived we have been in a tropical depression....thunder, lightning and extreme rain for 3 days.....we have never seen skies so black in Aruba....see pics....oh I forgot it is called liquid sun here. Sunny Smiles from Aruba.
Finally, got an email from GAP the tour company saying that they had cancelled the South Africa tour !! PERFECT.......
Comments
Off again!!!
There's no stopping you two!
You're right, I took a certain amount of pleasure in reading about your epic arrival in Aruba. If the rest of us have to suffer the hum-drum of work etc, then a little bit of lost lugguage and the odd delay is nothing!!!!!!
Not really sour grapes! Have a great time. I look forward to the updates - nice to know I'm going to have my regular distractions from boring old work when I'm on the computer.
Who did the baby belong to in the photos? You're not grandparents are you???!!!!!!
Love from Karen