Day 2: Monday, July 20 

Flying into St Thomas

We didn't need to set an alarm clock because our flight didn't leave until 11:05am and here recently, I've been waking up at the crack of dawn (at least by 7am). However, just to be on the safe side, I did set it because the only luck I seem to have is bad luck. 

We packed everything, called Kendra to make sure she was up and at least moving around, then we decided to just go ahead and go downstairs to check our 39.4# luggage(s) in so that we didn't have to worry about pulling them around while we went to go eat breakfast. 

Now we have always flown with Southwest Airlines and we enjoy them. This would be our first experience with another airline and it just happened to be Spirit. I have always heard nothing but bad things about them, but I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt (not to mention $$ played a HUGE factor). 

So the difference between the 2 airlines: 

SOUTHWEST: 2 free bags per person, free carry on and free personal item (like a purse/bookbag/briefcase)

SPIRIT: You pay for each and every bag and carry on and a free (limited size) personal item. 

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SOUTHWEST: Your bags can be up to 50#

SPIRIT: Bags can only be 40# 

SOUTHWEST: The price of the fare is the price of the fare (unless you upgrade to them pushing the magic button to sign you in and then it's an extra $15-20 pp)

SPIRIT: You pay for the flight, then pay for your seat (which are all different prices depending on where you sit), and any other upgrades you might want (like zip along the check in, be the first to board and so on). 

I just wanted to note that also SPIRIT seemed to be the airline that is always the furthest from anything in the terminal. 

So we headed downstairs and over to baggage check in. And kept going and going and going...all the way to the right and to the end. Whew! We went to the kiosk, weighed our bags, then up to the counter to turn them in. We were really pushing it with the weight due to all the non-perishables we had in the luggage to save $$ on food while in STT.

After checking the bags in, we headed back to see what might be open for breakfast. We quickly found a McDonalds and ordered. By this time, Kendra was making her way down to check in her bags...slow as usual. 

Remember I said I wasn't waiting around this time and pushing the limit on time frames? I told her McDonalds was open for breakfast, we had just finished eating, and we were heading to security to check in. Over to the trams we went and notice there really wasn't many people around again. 

I decided to check the weather at home, here in Orlando and in St Thomas where we would be later. 

I couldn't believe it was hotter at home and even in Orlando than it was in STT!

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After getting over to the terminal, I decided to check in with Kendra to see how far along she and the family had made it in the terminal. 

I wasn't shocked to see that she was still over at the other terminal eating and hadn't even caught the "subway" over to the plane terminal and it was already 10:41am. We were boarding in about 15 minutes and she still needed to check in with security. But, that's her for ya. Once again, I'm not waiting. Although she had a point, which was that "we have assigned seats so why are we in a rush?" I just don't like to chance it or be running to the plane. 

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We were boarding the plane and I let her know. I received a text back saying "Ehh, we have plenty of time". Okie dokie.

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The next thing I texted her was OMG!! There's absolutely NO leg room and no holder behind the seat...just a little bungee thing, and the pull down tray was next to non-existent! YIKES!! I was in shock.

For those of you that wonder about how everything is working with the COVID situation... Southwest has adopted a system that you are supposed to sit on either the isle or window seats and leave the middle seats open unless you are traveling with family. Since there wasn't many people on our flight, I couldn't really tell you how well this is enforced. 

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With Spirit, they had EVERY SINGLE SEAT taken. There were a lot of people flying to STT! ​

Now I had read what the airlines are "doing" to help sanitize. I didn't realize that the following was part of it and it caught me (and the family) off guard. I was like "hmmm, their air is weird" but it was sanitizing everything and destroying those COVID particles ;)  LOL

Before long, the plane was almost full... and last but not least...well actually, I'm going to be honest, Kendra was last, along they came and the door was shut.

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They informed us it was around a 2 hour and 30 minute flight (although I swear our booking said 2 hours and 55 minutes or something like that). So, I set my timer to see how close they were. However....they stated that there were some storms and we would have a delay in take off.

We were getting a little bit of rain at this point but it didn't take long before they finally took off.

Up up and away!!!

Then I hear Sakari say "Mom, I think the plane ate a Happy Meal" Um what?

Do you see it?

Before long, it was time to land. I had blew threw about 10 magazines that I brought with me and still had some left over for the trip back home. 

I swear it felt like we were about to land it water. 

I checked my timer as we pulled in....they were pretty darn close!

After landing, it was time to get off the plane "Hollywood Presidential style". I think this is the first time I have ever had to exit a plane (from both the front and the back) and out in the open. Although very cool, walking down steps since my accident is not top priority on my list of things to do! They didn't even pull out the red carpet for us! It was green. 

Our experience at the airport....

We were told to go over and stand in line (outside) along the building, keeping our "social distancing"  between each other. One by one, we walked up to the Army people (2 of them) where they would take our temp and ask the "regular" questions you are asked when you visit a doctors office (have you been around anyone with COVID, have you had any of the following symptoms and so on). Then we were told to head in the building. They were passing out forms inside and you filled that out, grabbed your luggage and out the door you went. No one asked where our originating state was, where we had flown in from, for a COVID test or anything. I thought it was strange.

Once we were outside, we got in touch with our car rental place and were told they would be there shortly. They would only take 2 people with them (due to COVID) but we wouldn't have been able to fit not 1 extra person with us anyhow. She pulled up (we did manage to throw our luggage in there) and Kendra and I took off with her as the others waited at the airport. Their rental agency was just across from the airport. I signed the papers, a little bit of small talk, then off we went to pick up the rest of everyone at the airport....WITH ME DRIVING...ON THE LEFT HAND SIDE OF THE STREET!!!  EEEEKKKKKK!

Off to the condo at Sapphire Beach Resort...Making our way to the condo...

As I slowly got used to driving on the left side of the road, I gained more confidence. I used my MapsMe app to tell me the directions to go and it took me by way of "inner" island instead of around by the water...which I thought was weird and unexpected to me. But hey, I figured it knew the island better than I did. 

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Once we arrived, I remembered the place well...there were only a few changes. For instance, coming in was ENTIRELY different than it was 10 years ago when we visited. I mean I don't remember pulling into a lot that appeared to be some type of apartments or something and then the turn onto a dirt road that was full of potholes and such. But hey, I could see the condo's off in the very near distance. Wait, I think we came in the wrong way. I remember the 'landlord" saying that we would have to stop and check in with the security gate and to just let them know which condo's we would be staying in. We somehow managed to bypass the entire security guard and all. Oops. But hey, we had made it!

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We decided to drop Kendra and the family off first. 

She was located in building D and over between the beach and marina and in front of the pool. I figured she'd want to be closer to the pool than we would because she had Kambriah and they would spend more time there than us. 

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Up next was our condo. So we were in building A and right in front of the beach/snorkeling area and beside the food area. 

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Our layout was exactly the same as hers but we benefited by having palm trees on the side of our building, which would provide plenty of shade during the day which made it VERY nice to sit on the side of the balcony because you got not only the shade, but a super nice breeze as well!

So both of our condo's were pretty much identical, except for the decor. But, we were both located on the end and on the same side of the "end". 

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I will show you around her place first.

There were a few differences in our places (other than decor and color). Our "bedroom" was just a bunch of sliding panels with slats that went around the bed. Kendra's was panels that completely divided off her room from the living room. I had a dishwasher (and I wasn't referring to the hubby) and she did not. My bathroom shower had a small wall you step over, which was a tub if needed (all tiled) and hers did not. Other than that, it was pretty much the same.

Now I'll show you around the resort. It is beautifully decorated everywhere with tons of palms and flowers. 

There is a shop, called the Beach Buzz, which has limited supplies, souvenirs, baked goods for breakfast, coffee, and ice cream. There was also a spot outside the shop (covered) to eat as well. (This is separate from the restaurant beside it.

Here is the restaurant you could order food and drinks at and there was an outside area as well with a stage for bands to play at (although not currently playing due to the COVID). They also had outdoor sofa's under a canopy that you could rent out. 

There was a trailer (down by Kendra's condo and facing the marina) that you could do your laundry. I have to admit, I didn't discover this place until the last day there but Kendra said she knew about it before that and had checked into doing laundry. I guess you buy tokens at the office (also located in the building) and the office closed at 4pm and she never managed to get there by that time. She said a wash would cost $4 and a dry would cost $5. They also had a bathroom there and a shower. 

Up next...the rest of our night

As the evening went on, of course the first thing the kids wanted to do was go to the pool. They headed down there and after I was done unpacking, we met them there.  Kendra decided she wanted to go to the grocery store and off she went. I really didn't feel like going and decided we would go in the morning at some point.

The pool has absolutely no lights in it or around it, so they were swimming in the dark. I looked around to see if I could find any signage stating that they pool closed after dark, but was unsuccessful. I have to admit, it was making me nervous because I didn't know the layout of the pool or the depth and after the kids telling me there were 2 levels, some deeper than the other, some areas having "seats" inside the pool, and so on...I was ready to go until I could check this pool out in the daylight to see what dangers may be lurking under the water that you can't see when it's too dark out. 

We headed back to the condo via beach and Sakari insisted on climbing a leaning palm tree and me taking her picture.

She managed to find a hermit crab on the way back. 

Soon after we got back to our place, Kendra and Kam would arrive. They told Sakari that they were "out hunting crabs" and that they were all over the place. So, out Sakari went. Kendra had all kinds of neat little gadgets in her room like a battery powered lantern, flash lights and so on. I didn't have any of those items. But they were walking up and down the beach finding them everywhere. 

When they came back up to our condo, they had a bucket of them. Kam found 71 and Sakari found 34. Man they were everywhere. I took a picture of a few they had before they went back out to release them. But first, Sakari looked up everything on hermit crabs...one being how to determine their sex. Believe or not, Kendra and Sakari became a pro at this and would sex every crab they came across for the rest of the vacation. Geesh, only my girls. 

Sakari had her 2 favorites...mainly because they had a black and white shell.

They headed back down stairs to release them back into the wild on the beach and I did have a video of it because it was hilarious to watch them scatter in every direction, but I can't find it now. It might have been on my phone. 

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It wasn't long before a security guard (a female I might add) came by and told them they were not allowed on the beach and it was late and young girls should not be on the beach alone for safety reasons. Kendra pointed up to our balcony where we were standing and said "there's my mommy!"  I don't think they realized that Kendra is not exactly a "young girl" despite her looks...she's will be 32 next month! But pointing at me and saying mommy didn't help her case any. But they quickly came back upstairs and then Kendra went home via the sidewalk instead of the beach. 

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About an hour passed and I got a call from Billy saying "Hey, I just made dinner if you guys want to come over" At this point, it was 1:30am!!!!! We passed and said we were heading to bed and off to bed we went where sugar plums would dance in my head...no wait, wrong story...beaches and fish would dance in my head that night. I couldn't wait for a full day in St Thomas.

Up next...Day 3 Our first real full day in St Thomas