Back to the Bahamas

A Lego version of the Liberty Bell in the airport, on our way to the gate.
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After spending a very late night the evening before, we were out of the house by 7am and on our way to Philadelphia Airport. This was a first for both of us, being that E always flew out of Laguardia and I always left from Newark. After a bit of terminal confusion (my fault - I admit it), we found the right spot, checked in with the Raving Fans rep, and then checked in with the airline. We headed up to the gate, and once there I heard my name called: there were two red-heads saying hi to me. I recognized one immediately and thought the other looked somewhat familiar. I introduced E to the one who looked familiar and she says "I know, I sold you your house!" She laughed tho - thank goodness! We hadn't seen her in years (she sold us our first house in 2002).

Our original gate, before being switched to A21.
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A little while after we had settled into seats to wait for boarding, an announcement was made changing our gate. This ended up being a good thing since we passed a much better shop for breakfast than we had originally tried (all we wanted were bagels.... how hard is that??). K and his wife showed up a few minutes later, as well as a few other faces that I vaguely recognized from area meetings.

after 15 years I arrived back in the Bahamas

The flight down was uneventful, though somewhat turbulent considering how windy it was. We were a little late getting down to the island because of a stall on the runway. But after an easy trip through customs and immigration (I always forget that the Bahamas is a different country), we went outside and found our shuttle to the hotel. P and his wife were on the mini-bus, and after a few minutes it was packed and ready to go. E and I were forced to sit apart, but the drive to the hotel was filled with beautiful views and laughter from the excitement (and sometimes fright!) of riding as a passenger of a mini-bus driven on the "wrong" side of the road!

We arrived at the hotel and were herded in to the lobby and over to the welcome desk. It was one line after another, first to check in and get our little packet of information. Next to get our room number and room keys. Of course our room wasn't ready, though most of the people around us were able to go right to their rooms. We got the first of many wristbands for the "all-inclusive" part of the hotel, then we headed downstairs to the buffet for lunch. We were still carrying our carry-on luggage and our jackets, so the break from the weight was a relief. We sat outside and enjoyed the weather.

Back at the check-in desk we found out our room still wasn't ready (and wasnt until well after 3pm - we checked about five times). So after wandering a little and seeing what was at the hotel and the hall between our hotel and the casino at the next hotel, we finally got into our room.