Wednesday, March 11, 2015

As always Planes trains and automobiles.......


The 2015 Trip With My Boys   * disclaimer.... we have no internet, so will be using a "hotspot" off Tracy's phone.  We do not have  spell check.  Giiven these two things, there will be spelling errors and there will be no pictures.  I may fix these things when I make it home, I may not.
Planes, trains and automobiles.....  Okay no trains, but everything else.....  We all got here, not without issues, or a story to tell. 
Jay and I were scheduled to leave Rochester at 6am on Wednesday, February 4, 2015.  I thought we were safe, no  snow for days.... just really cold.  Or so we thought.  Little did we realize the rest of the country was experinecing a terrible storm.  Flights were being delayed and cancelled all over the place.  When I went to "Check in" at home, we found  that our flights had been delayed.  At first glance, it was only delayed by a few minutes.  Not bad.  No, at closer look it was delayed  12 hours and 15 minutes.  We would arrive in San Juan at 2am.  An even closer look  we found it left us with 20 minutes to change planes at JFK.  Given the fact that we would be changing from one terminal to another, I thought it wasn't going to happen.  When we looked a the new seat assignments, Jay was in row 5 and I was in row 25..... Saddness, but hey we would both arrive in Puerto Rico at the same time.
We got to the Rochester airport and inquired as to if we could get on a different flight.  The guy at the counter told us that perhaps through a different airport we could get to PR sooner.  He said that we could drive to Buffalo and get an ealier flight, not happening!    He did say that once we got to JFK, there may be more optSions, or we could wait until tomorrow, Thursday.
Given the weather and the forcast of of bad weather, we didn't want to chance it.  Off we go.  We made it to JFK.   The scheduled arrival by the time we took off had us landing gave us 10 minutes  to make our connecgting flight.   I have this wonderful husband who says, so no big deal, if we miss the flight we take the next one.    No stress.   I didn't stress.  We landed, got off the plane and headed to the terminal.   Ripley's belive it or not, where we got off the plane in Terminal 4B, there were no monitors with flight information.   We knew  based on an app I have that we had to get to Terminal 4C.   Jay spotted a "bus stop" for getting to terminal 4C, and asked if it would get us to the Puerto Rico flight.   To our pleasure the woman "manning" the bus stop was New Yorican"!  Yes she said in Spanglish.  She assured us we would make the flight.   We boarded the bus with the other Puerto Rican bound travelers.  As we got to terminal 4C, Jay over heard a conversation between this lovely woman and the terminal saying the terminal for the Puerto Rico flight changed from terminal 4C to terminal 4B.  Back to where we started!   She told us just stay on the bus, he'd take us there.  Apparently no one else on the bus heard the conversation. 
We got back to terminal 4B and were first to the gate for our plane.  ....and I was worried.   Everyone else at the gate in terminal 4C had to change to terminal 4B, in addition to the people who got off the plane with us, got on the bus, got off the bus and didn't get back on the bus.  (follow that?)

Fast forward... we land  1:30am in San Juan.  Jay had called to change our rental car the night before when we heard our trip had been delayed.  We get to the rental car desk and they have us arriving at 2pm on Thursday.  My sweet husband  being who he is, was able to turn it around and get us al car.  We made it home to Moms at 3am.  We went right to the house thinking she may be up.   Hey never know!   She wasn't.  At this hour, our only option was to  make our way the local Walmart parking lot and sleep until morning. 
We had a really nice visit with Mom in Arecibo.   I do need to point out that I have noticed since watching modern family, that Mom sounds a lot like Sofia Vegaria's  character when she says "Jaaayyyy".   Close your eyes, hear her say it and that's what Mom sounds like!   Love her to peices!!!!

Sean and his girls arrived as expected on wednesday evening.  (The twist to our trip ~ traveling with  9 and 11 year old girls).  They arrived in Puerto Rico on Wednesday evening at 9 pm.   Got their rental car.  Drove 2 hours west to Rincon and couldn't find their hotel.   They did find the local Police station,  at which point Sean realized he couldn't speak Spanish and the officers (3 of them) didn't speak English. After much going back and forth, with McKenzie in tears the police escorted them to the hotel only to find out it wasn't open at that hour.   The police had already left them.  Sean and the girls drove around for a while until they found "2 beautiful girls from New Jersey", who knew of the security guard at a bar, who knew some people at a hotel who then went over to open the office for them.   (following this?),  After the cost of two hotel rooms later they made it to a room.  The price of driving around an Island where you don't know the language.   The joys of Carribean travel.
Tracy and Kosti made it to the Island on Saturday.   We spend some time visiting Mom and then headed west.  Prior to leaving Mom's the girls made fast friends with Sally the salamander.  Jay and I thought there was no way they were catching it, but no they did.

We spent the day driving.  Please now if you ever travel to a Carribean Island that 90 miles takes 4+ hours.    You think it has been fun and an adventure til now. ... No, the fun is just starting!  Thanks to Kosti's navigation skills we manage to find our condo complex.  Looks lovely at first blush.  We punch int he code at the security gate.  Our directions tell us our unit is in the first building on the right.  We pull in.   It just didn't look right.   I can't wait to load pics of this place.  First waring, there is not another soul or car or sign of life to be seen..... looks likea modern version of a an old west ghost town.  The build foundation was cracking.  There were wires hanging out where light fixtures should be.  There were weeds growing in the stairwells.  No numbers on the condo doors.   Not looking good.  We parked, Kosti and I explored.  Not a soul anywhere.  

After some walking Kosti and I did find a building in a bit of better shape, with numbers on the parking spots and unit doors.  We found it.  The first key box we tried did not work the second did.  The until isn't bad.  It is modern.  Pretty stark.  but hey.... there are no weeds growing in the stairwell.

This is where I leave you for today.  It is 12 noon and I have too many Karribean Kositi's to continue writing.  Never fear though,  the stories continue... you are going to have to check back for more.   

 I miss my little Red Rose but I know she is having fun with Mikey, Sammy and Charles Barkley.   I have my husband, Popi Cruz and Tracy, Kosti and Sean and the girls for adventure!  We are so enjoying the sun and warm!   Check back soon as it all  continues! 

Hugs to you all, enjoy the day!   Be grateful for today!


                                                                                                     Janet

No comments:

Post a Comment