Avery and I are here on the US Virgin Island of St John. Vic & Mike and the adorable Bear are here, too. The weather is about as ideal as it gets. The food at the resort is less than ideal. But it's a great beach and a great pool and not too busy. So all in all, we're off to a good start.
Travel here was very easy and laid back for Avery and me. I didn't expect this given the number of flights, ferries, and cabs it took to get here. We flew from Portland to Dallas, Dallas to Miami, Miami to St Thomas. We arrived in St. Thomas about 9 pm. D made all the reservations before our separation, so I don't know why we stayed overnight on St Thomas rather than taking the ferry directly to St John that night. Maybe it wasn't known that the ferry runs until midnight. Regardless, we landed and then took a cab to the hotel. It had been a long day of travel, so we hit the sack immediately.
After sleeping in a bit the next morning, we left in another cab to catch the ferry. The cab (van) had leather covers over its seats so there was no way to buckle in, hence Avery's first ride with no seat belt whatsoever. At the ferry station we had a 45 minute wait until the next hourly ferry left. It was there that Avery said the first thing she's ever said about skin colors, "There are a lot of dark skinned people here. In Oregon there are a lot of pale skinned people." I thought it was interesting that she used the term pale. My guess is that it was used in a discussion at school since I've never used it. The ferry ride was only 20 minutes or so. We were among the last to get on and I let Avery choose our seats. We ended up right behind what felt like massive heaters blowing smelly air on us. But we took it in stride.
Once we got to St John, I found a taxi to take us to our hotel. We arrived about 12:30, so couldn't check into our room. We headed down to the beach bar & grill to get lunch. It is wedged between the pool and the beach. Avery quickly made friends with a 5yo boy who was playing near us in the sand. They built little decorative creations in the sand using sticks and leaves and some trash. Then they went hunting together on the beach for sand dollars. I did a crossword puzzle. After lunch, we headed over to a playground. It was great. This huge playground right on the hotel grounds covered in white beach sand. Avery played a while, I joined her for a bit, then we went to check in.
The service here leaves a bit to be desired. And by here I mean the islands in general, not just the hotel. I guess they are relying in the beautiful beaches and weather for repeat tourism rather than friendliness. We finally made it to our room via a golf cart shuttle. There are 25ish buildings, each with 25ish rooms, scattered throughout the resort. We ended up on a ground floor room with a little terrace. It is a much nicer location within the resort than I expected. The room is fairly standard and without frills, but perfectly comfortable and clean. I actually prefer this emptier room layout to those with massive pointless furniture crammed into it.
Vic and Mike and Bear were on one of the British VIs for a wedding. Their ferry didn't get in until late afternoon. They got to the resort as Avery and I were heading back from a short walk outside the resort to a little grocery store. Fortunately, they are in the building next to us. Dinner was fine. Typical overpriced resort food that is good enough, but never worth even close to what you pay for it. It was great to catch up with V&M. Bear definitely remembered Avery from our trip to Napa at the beginning of the year. He ran up and hugged her. They walked hand-in-hand to the restaurant. He would imitate everything she did. It was truly adorable overload.
On the previous night's taxi/shuttle ride in St Thomas, about 9:30 pm, there were two other families with us. We dropped off the first family (2 adults, 2 elementary aged kids) in some sort of outdoor market in a parking lot. It was a mess of chaos and I couldn't quite tell what it was - a party? a market? just a happening parking lot? I didn't think much of it. I would have felt safe getting off at that stop. The other family was a couple from Texas/the South. The woman commented to me that it was so nice to have a man with her in such a place. Both of them thought the stop was scary and dangerous. When we drove by some kids standing on the street they both recoiled in what seemed like fear. Based on body language, I saw nothing alarming about the situation. It felt safer to me than any number of situations in everyday US life. Plus, it hadn't even occurred to me that it might be dangerous for a single woman and a 5yo to travel alone. I don't know if I have a skewed perspective on this sort of thing, or if that couple does. It just struck me how differently we viewed our surroundings. And I should note I don't have a naive sense about safety. If it feels sketchy, I avoid it. I don't force myself to go forth if my internal radar is going off. It's just that nothing about the situation made me at all nervous.
It's at this point that I thank the gods for giving me a daughter who is an excellent traveler. She carried her own luggage (backpack and rolly bag) through all airports. She didn't complain once on any of the flights. She shut the iPad off midway through our first flight and said, "I'm going to take a little nap." Then she did. Seriously has got to be the easiest kid to travel with ever. I'm sooooooo grateful.
So now it's 5:30 am on Monday morning. I've been wide awake since 3:00. It's going to be a long day if Avery doesn't agree to a nap, or at least to letting me nap while she watches tv or something like that.
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