2025 ST MAARTEN LAND VACATION

DAY 10: LEAVING ST MAARTEN AND HEADED TO FLORIDA FOR THE NIGHT with an ending that is devastating.

It would be our last day on this beautiful island today. I was up at 6am, even after little to no sleep, and couldn't get my brain to cooperate and fall back to sleep. I guess that means I'd have to keep busy by cleaning, doing the dishes and wiping stuff down before we leave.

Again, another beautiful day out and I wished we were staying another day.

I noticed a Royal Caribbean ship pulling in this morning.

After everyone was bright eyed and bushy tailed, it was time to make the last of the eggs for breakfast. These eggs are so dark, which usually means a healthier egg. It always looked like I had added a bunch of cheddar cheese in them.

We hung out on the balcony until almost 10am, which was check out time. Our flight wasn't until 3:05pm so we would have to take our time getting to the airport that was 5 minutes away. 🙄We had a lot of sitting time ahead of us.

We all managed to pile in the o-so-small elevator with no air at 110° with all our oversized luggage and hit the floor 1 button. Down we went. We stood there waiting for the door to open. It did not open. Wait, what is going on? I hit the door open button...nothing. I hit the 1 button again...nothing. Um guys....I think we're stuck. Ok so now what? I tried to push another floor...still nothing. Ok, it was time to hit the emergency button. Nothing like going out with a bang right? It was getting even hotter in here. It rang the front desk. I told them what was going on and then all of a sudden the elevator started moving. The doors finally opened only we were not in the lobby but on the 2nd floor. We gave each other a stare and wasn't sure if we should exit the elevator and pull our luggage down the stairs or give it another shot. Well, we do still have 5 hours until our flight leaves so let's continue to play this game. 😁

Back down to floor 1 and ta-da! The doors opened. The lady on the emergency line was still on the phone and she smiled as we got off. Whew! That was one ride I didn't have listed on my "must do's while in St Maarten" list. But we will go ahead and check it off. ✅

I pulled up my MapsMe app to see where the nearest gas station was. We had not gotten gas the entire time we were on the island and it was borderline E now. Not too bad on gas I would say...even for a SUV that was climbing mountains while we were here. I pulled up and an attendant came over. Gosh I remember the days where there was an attendant at a gas station pumping your gas for you back home. A lot of the Caribbean islands still do this and this would be one of them. It would only cost me $56 US to fill it up too. Not bad at all. I'm used to my SUV costing $100 for a fill up.

Ok, I knew I had spotted a small pharmacy along the strip around Simpson Bay and I was going to stop to see if I could find me some Imodium or something to ease my stomach. I'm not about to bomb the plane bathrooms if I can help it. You're welcome fellow flight passengers. The pharmacy was so small but it had just what I needed. I popped 2 in my mouth and hoped for the best.

It was now 11am and we decided to just head back to the car rental place even though it wasn't due until 1pm. I know people always talk about going to a beach or bar to hang out when they have late flights but who wants to sit out in the heat for hours. The kids said they just wanted to head to the airport. However, dropping off the car rental would definitely kill some time...since they couldn't even locate my paperwork. Then it was time to get in the shuttle to be taken over to the airport. IT HAD AIR THIS TIME!

Once again, the Spirit counter at the airport was not open yet. We ended up just sitting outside because there were no seats inside and at least there was a breeze.

Eventually Karl was hungry again so we headed back inside to the food court. We were actually able to find seats there believe it or not. We had Wendy's, Sakari had Subway and Karl....well he had pizza AGAIN! Geesh Karl. You didn't get enough last night after eating an entire pizza yourself? (Just so you know, Karl has actually gained around 20 pounds since he's come into our family a few years ago. We will fatten him up eventually).

Once we noticed Spirit was open we headed to check in. As you are getting in line for the kiosk, an attendant looks at your passport and puts a red dot on it. Um why? What is that for??? We used the kiosk and don't ya know we were able to scan our US passports here. Now let me get this straight, our own airport in the US won't scan it but in a foreign country it will? Things that make you go hmmm. Then we stepped in line to off these heavy, over packed luggage and held our breath to see if they were going to be over weight or not. PASS! I did good...pats self on back.

Time for the security line (which was small and moved quickly) and then there was another kiosk. You scan your passport, which took us awhile to figure out because you have to actually let go of it and the kiosk will suck in your passport and spit it back out. Then the gate magically opens for you. Cool.

Up the escalator we went and into another security line, which btw has no TSA check-in. Bummer. They only made you remove your shoes if you had shoes on that went up over your ankles. Whelp Sakari, today's your lucky day since you wore your converse to the airport. Then we were off to our gate. WHEW that's a lot to get to where you're going. I almost think they want people to stay.

We would easily find seats by our gate where we would sit and sit and then the announcement came that our flight was now going to be at 4:13pm. Well, an extra hour to kill so I might as well make my hands useful right?

Yep, that worked. But then came another update...our flight was now at 5:05pm.

It was finally time to board the plane and we needed some good luck Sakari.

We would take our seats and the "person" watching began with a lady sitting in front of Sakari and Karl which was taking up all 3 seats, eating chips and food and throwing it all over the place and rocking back and forth...then yelling "I'm pregnant. This is my first pregnancy and I'm upset" and saying how she wasn't going to allow anyone to sit by her because she's pregnant. Um...ok. Honey this is a completely full flight so that's not about to happen. She would randomly stand up, scream, smack the back of her hands and repeat this process. She would stop every flight attendant to tell them she was pregnant and needed water. After the flight attendants spoke to multiple people sitting in seats around her, they told them they did not feel safe or comfortable with her on the plane. She said she would make arrangements to have security board the plane now.

This entertainment went on during the entire boarding process and let's just say we were some of the first to board. Eventually security came on and removed her, smacking hands and all. I guess we were going to have a peaceful flight after all. What would I do for entertainment now? Oh that's right...I still had Sakari sitting in front of me for that. Creeper status.

It was a decent flight but a little turbulence. At least there were no trips to the restroom for me if you know what I mean. The medication was working.

We booked the Hyatt Place Ft Lauderdale Airport & Cruise Port located in Dania Beach. We used points so it was a free stay for us.

You know after vacation is over and you're winding down and all you want to do is get home, you kinda forget to take notes or pictures of what happened next. I'm sure this is the boring part of the review (although you never know what could happen with this family because there's usually something entertaining) and most of you have tuned out by now. So, with that being said...we walked somewhere close to eat, we walked back, we went to bed (we had an early flight the next day). End of day. 😁

I forgot to mention we had to fly here and stay over night because when we first booked our flight, the flight that would have taken us all the way home disappeared before I could book it. I guess there wasn't enough people? That forced us to fly here and then home the following day. Blah!

I will continue with the following day here since it is short and sweet and boring of course.

We were up bright and early and wanted to get to the airport in plenty of time since we knew it was a busy place. The hotel had a shuttle to take us there but since it was so early, we were unable to take advantage of the free hot breakfast at the hotel since it wasn't opened yet. Instead, we would have to settle for airport breakfast, which was pretty good.

So ending this review with a little switch up...it was Karl's turn to give us luck. I was holding my breath. 😁

THE END...

So since I ended my review with our dear Karl...I'm just going to give a little update that just happened 2 days ago from me completing this review because it might affect our future travels.

Karl was in an extremely bad motorcycle accident the other night (Friday/Saturday). He was involved in a hit and run when he was out riding his motorcycle with his buddies around 12:30am. He was knocked unconscious and rushed to the hospital as a trauma with paralysis of the lower half of his body.

After being checked out, they would determine that he has fractured several cervical disc but most of all, he fractured his T2, T3 and T4 thoracic disc which will require surgery. They were unsure if he severed his spinal cord yet, especially since he has no feeling in the lower portion of his body. Of course he has road rash and they would also determine his left lung is bruised. They tried their best to keep him comfortable throughout the night but most of the time he had uncontrolled pain, even with fentanyl. He said he didn't sleep at all.

That morning, Saturday, he has surgery scheduled to place pins and rods in his spine and see what other damage was inside. However, his blood pressure was running extremely low so they kept talking about postponing it until they could get it under control. After starting an arterial line to monitor his bp, they would start norepinephrine to keep his bp raised enough for surgery. Once stable, into surgery he went.

It ended up being a pretty long 4-5 hour surgery but he was finally out and back in the intensive care unit for recovery. During surgery they would find that his T3 was unrepairable and completely shattered. There was nothing they could do for him other than place the rods between the T2 and T4 for stability. As for his spinal cord, the good news is that it was not severed. However, it was severely injured and very swollen. So, they do not know if once the swelling goes down he will regain feeling in his lower body or if the paralysis is permanent. As of now, he cannot feel anything below the nipples.

Now they will monitor for complications that could arise like pneumonia. With injuries like this it can become difficult to breathe and he is already having problems with coughing. Because he is so thin to begin with and now unable to move, there is concern of pressure ulcers developing (bed sores). They are taking precaution as much as they can by turning him, keeping him off his back, and pad and protecting all boney prominences. Then since he has a surgical incision there's the chance for infection which could lead to sepsis. Having a spinal cord injury makes him prone to sepsis and can also come from a uti or the pressure ulcers if they develop. They have also placed intermittent compression devices on his legs to keep the circulation flowing and try to prevent blood clots. The nurse did tell me how they want to send him to Georgia Spinal Cord Injury Rehab. They said it is a place you apply to and they work with you to "learn how to cope with your injury and live to the fullest with your new life". (That did not sit right with me and I asked if they thought he would be paralyzed the rest of his life and she said she could not answer that question as it is too soon). I guess this place is all expenses paid, including for the family (room and board and food expenses) but what family can just pick up and leave behind their home and job when you have bills to pay? I just don't see it happening. They did mention after being discharged from the hospital, he would need to go to a rehab center here for "many months" and would have a very long road ahead of him.

Today, now Sunday, they have him up in a chair to sit, and he is not liking it at all because of the pain, so I had to have my "nurse talk" with him. He said "momma B, can you just be my nurse?" then added in, "No wait, you're a hospice nurse, maybe I don't want that". 😆At least he has his humor back on day two. They also had a put a central line in his neck, which obviously he's not liking and says it hurts. Poor Karl has not had anything to eat since Friday night either. Just imagine how that is going...just saying.

So now we wait and we pray for a miracle to happen and the swelling will go down and he might regain function. It's all we can do.

As for future vacations with Karl...of course everything is up in the air, probably for quite some time. We are hoping that some day he will be able to continue to come with us sooner or later. I know from my own injury and being in a wheelchair that it is doable. We will manage. We will improvise. He may not be able to do everything we do, but we will include him somehow. Even if it's just carrying him onto a boat so that he can sit on it and puke the whole time when we are scuba diving. 😁 We love our Karl and we are all trying to deal with this the best we can. Sakari is heartbroken but staying as positive as she can. Please keep him in your thoughts. ❤️