Well… It was a wonderful vacation. Loved St. Lucia and Sandals was a great resort.
We had a final drink at our favorite bar and everyone bid us goodbye and said safe travels and please come back. So many wonderful staff members and we will be acknowledging them on Tripadvisor by name. Apparently, corporate reads those reviews and takes them seriously.
We checked out of our room and the shuttle came to take us on the hour long journey to the airport. Our driver was speedy and going around the hairpin turns, I felt like I was in the car with Mr. Toad on one of his adventures. Yikes!
The airport check-in went smoothly and we had hot dogs for lunch. The dogs looked a little weird in color but they tasted great and they served two to a bun.
We boarded the plane and the flight was great. Didn’t realize they would be serving dinner, so we enjoyed a glass of wine along with our pasta.
Arrived in Charlotte on time and we breezed thru security. They are very organized and with global entry, we walked right thru. We went to the carousel to get our luggage. We had to get our bags to go through customs and then turn them right back in so they would get on the flight to Philly with us. A few bags came down the belt, but then everything stopped. We waited about 20 minutes and finally a worker climbed up into the bowels of where luggage emerges from, and after a few minutes, the bags started to flow. We grabbed ours, and they were immediately whisked away to the next plane going to Philly and we went to the lounge to wait for take off.
After an hour or so, right before our boarding time, we sauntered down to our gate and looked around for two empty chairs. There was a lady in a wheel chair in front of the only two seats left so I squeezed in…And I mean squeezed in…behind her wheelchair and Allan sat next to me. The lady saw it was a tight squeeze but she didn’t offer to pull up a bit to give my legs more room.
There was a man next to Allan who was amazed that you could charge your phone at the seat without having to plug it in. Then he went on and on about electricity, and transformers, and wires, and we had no idea what his point was. For a minute there, I thought he’d be pulling out a tinfoil hat and telling me the transformers were working and he was receiving the messages clearly. Fortunately, they called our group and we got up to board the plane.
I squeezed out from behind the woman and her wheelchair… only to watch her stand up and walk to the line. What???? She saw me with my knees practically wrapped around my neck. She couldn’t have pulled her chair forward a bit? Unbelievable. Fortunately, since we were group 1, we left all the crazies behind.
The flight was fine… I dozed a bit and then we went to get our luggage. Again, another carousel wasn’t working and the worker was literally heaving the bags to the floor! I had my precious gift (🤪) wrapped inside my bag, the shell saucer and who knows what the other part of it is for, but still…I didn’t want it broken.
Fortunately, the belt started to spew the luggage out and our bags were unscathed since the worker no longer had to hurl them over the belt.
We meet our driver and he drove us back to Bethlehem, arriving about 2 am. He was very efficient, was waiting for us, and he was a very careful driver. AND… He was a Mets fan! He goes to spring training each year and gets to talk with the players.
It was a wonderful vacation and we will definitely be going back to a Sandals resort next year.