Back from the Islands

The babymoon at Biras Creek in the British Virgin Islands was everything we'd hoped it would be and more! It was super relaxing, yet we always seemed to have something to do. We didn't have to plan any outings, make any meals, or decide where to go for dinner. All we had to do was relax and enjoy one another's company! Despite the 20-30 other couples who were also at the resort, we still felt like we were the only ones there and just enjoyed it being about us and what we wanted to do (or not do).

Our trip didn't start out as smoothly as we'd hoped it would have due to the morons running the friendly skies. Were at the Orlando airport bright and early Saturday morning to get to the island by Saturday afternoon, but the planners at American Airlines made a BIG oops and forgot to make sure that their crews were already in Orlando and ready for the Saturday morning flights as they had assumed. Nearly all of the flights in our area seemed to be having the same problem... no crew. The first leg of our flight was delayed 3 hours as we waited for a crew to arrive. Needless to say, this delay caused us to miss the next leg of our trip out of San Juan. We spent the entire day in the San Juan airport on stand by for flight after flight heading to Tortola (the largest airport close to our destination), until we were finally told at 10 pm at night (after the last flight of the night had gone out) that we weren't going to get out of San Juan that day. The airline gave us a hotel at the local Marriott, so we caught a taxi there to finally get some dinner and get out of our travel clothes (fortunately we had decided to only take 2 carry-on bags, so we didn't have to worry about either lost luggage or being without clothes if something like this happened... it's crazy how light you can pack when you don't have a little one with you.). We got to the hotel where the hotel attendant hooked us up with a suite (which isn't quite the same quality as other suites that I've seen, but we didn't complain!), so we washed up and headed down to the hotel bar/restaurant where live salsa music was playing and dancing was going on all around us. After dinner we went to the hotel casino to see if the bad luck we'd had with our travels would be evened out with good luck at the roulette and black jack tables... it wasn't. :) We had fun, but quickly blew a bit of cash. :)

Sunday morning, we were up early to get to the airport for our "confirmed" flight to Tortola. We did actually make it to Biras Creek nearly 2 hours later! After arriving at the airport in Tortola, getting our passports stamped, and going through customs, we caught our taxi-boat to Biras Creek where we were greeted by the General Assistant who gave us a tour of the Biras Cree area of the island by golf cart, while we sipped yummy fruit drinks. After the tour, we were shown our villa and given the meal schedule. We didn't have long to wait for the BBQ lunch, which was the next meal of the day.

Since we arrived early on Sunday, we still had most of the day to do the things that there are to do on the island. So, even though we'd technically lost a night due to the airline delays, we didn't miss out on most of the water sports or anything. Also, the resort was aware of our travel issues, and the general manager granted us an extra day at the resort free of charge so that we could enjoy our full vacation so we didn't actually arrive home until Thursday night instead of Wednesday as we'd originally planned.

So... what did we do while we were there for fun (in addition to relaxing)? We took out the boston whalers for snorkeling (I even drove the whaler one day), we went kayaking (and decided that team kayaking is not something that the Donalds will ever win awards for), we played a few games of life-sized chess on the beach (Keith taught me to play while we were there... and I beat him at my first game, but he got his revenge later on. I've never learned before now because I was always afraid that I'd like it too much and I knew it was a time-consuming game), we ate really good food, drank some yummy island drinks (mine were virgin, of course), enjoyed a couples' massage, took a half day trip to The Baths, attempted a game of pool on a snooker table (again... the Donald will not be winning any awards for this), rode our bikes around the island, hung out at the private beach, and just enjoyed our villa. Our villa had a beautiful view of the ocean from both the bedroom and lounge area, a semi-outdoor shower (it had walls around it, but was open on top with just a roof a few feet above to protect from rain and stuff), a comfy bed, an iHome (and I had my iPod with us), and it felt like we were the only ones anyone around! At night, all you could hear was the roar of the waves which was SO calming. Each villa is issued 2 bikes for getting around on the island too, so we used the bikes as transportation to the beach and the docks. Our villa was perfectly positioned right behind the main hall and dining area, so we didn't have far to walk to get to breakfast, dinner, the front desk, or the "dry" activities (the spa, the TV/dvd/Wii, billiards/snooker).

We didn't have any scary biking experiences like we did on our trip in Belize, but we did get to see the not-so-nice part of Virgin Gorda on our taxi ride to the Baths. Biras Creek is at one end of the island and the Baths are at the other end, so in addition to getting to see the island from its highest point (Virgin Gorda was formed from volcanos so it's VERY hilly), we got to see the areas where the island natives live. These areas were not the nicest. It's crazy how one small island can have such a huge gap in the quality of living. Regardless, everyone we came across seemed nice and had smiles on their faces.

The morning that we went to the Baths happened to be one of the most rainy days we had there. It was raining a little bit on the taxi ride over, but once we got to the Baths themselves it started pouring. There was no lightning though, so we didn't let the rain stop us. We got in the ocean and did the obligatory trek through the boulders that make up the Baths. It was a fun hike. It was raining on the way from the main beach across to Devil's Bay, but the sun came out when we got there so it wasn't raining on our way back.

As far as being apart from Annabelle goes, I guess I did okay. After we left San Juan, I wasn't able to get ahold of my mom for the first couple of days, so I started getting nervous. I was able to send emails to her, but her responses were bouncing so I didn't know she'd responded. After a couple of days, I finally got onto skype and got a friend to call my mom and check on everything. He relayed the message that everything was fine, and I finally got to talk to my mom on skype for a little bit. After that I felt much better, and mom was able to email me at another address so we kept in touch once a day. It was funny because in order to keep from missing Belle too much I had to try to not think about her. As I mentioned above, I had my iPod with me, and when I was making a playlist for the room, I purposefully had to skip the songs that remind me of Belle because just thinking about the songs made me sad so I can't imagine what hearing the songs would've done! It was almost like when you break up with a boy and you have to not think about him in order to keep from getting sad. Weird; huh? I survived though, but was SOOOO ready to see her by the time we got back! When I finally got home and got up the stairs to see Belle, she gave me 1000 of the biggest hugs in the world! She kept hugging me, then looking up at me, then hugging me again! She didn't cry or anything, and Grammy said that she was great the whole time and didn't cry about missing us, but by the last day was acting like "alright... so are they coming back now?" For the next few days (and even still much more often now than before the trip), Belle was so cuddly... I LOVE it! I had a great time, and I know Belle and Grammy did too, but I don't want to have to leave Belle that long again for a while. :)

If you haven't seen them yet, pictures are posted on our travel gallery.