TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Day 1 - A spontaneous trip to SXM

Just last Tuesday we saw we could get away and saw $364 roundtripmairfare from Toronto on American. we contacted StudioSXM and the same unit we had last time at Mt Vernon was available at a great rate. We booked SIXT car rental off Kayak.

Left Saturday for our several hour drive to Toronto crossing the border at Detroit/Windsor. Painless. The drive from Detroit to Toronto is nice,if not a little boring, just green countryside. The road speeds up as you approach Toronto Pearson and GPS took us to Crowne Plaza which we
Got with points. Got a nice suite and ordered room service. At 5am got up, drove 4 minutes to the Value Park Garage and took the litlle train to Terminal 3. Checkin at American was painless, went through security and U?S. preclearance for our flighto Charlotte. Flight was pleasant and landed early just before 9 and walked to Terminal D where a 930 flight was boarding to SXM. But we had a checked bag so we walked past to our 11ish flight. Had some nice bagel breakfast sandwiches and we were soon. Boarding. We had 3 seats to ourselves and we had a very pleasant flight to SXM landing early at 3pm. Immigaration was no line and painless, grabbed our bag and exited. Went to SIXT counter and they directed us to their van spot. Felt ike 5 rain drops as we waited for van which showed up right way before Hertz, Avis and others. He took the two of us the the rental shop where there was no line, and we were fast signing papers. We paid 14/. Day for a mini but got a brand new Golf. Nice car. Kind of wooried about the brand new part.

By 4pm we were in our unit at Mt Vernon. Nice/clean as expected.

Unpacked a little and hopped in car to find something to eat and buy some provisions. Le Piment wasnt opened yet nor was astrolabe and Kakoa was wrapping up, so we went to Petit Casino and Got Carib, Champagne, chocolate Croissants and laundry detergent for our stuidos washer.

We ate at yellow sub last June first meal and wanted different, so we went to Rancho Del Sol. Had never been and the reviews have been mixed at best. Got a nice table with a great view and ordered our First Caribs which were doubled by Happy Hour. Had a nice pizza and sampler appetizer followed by the best rum shots (really they left the bottle) weve had on-island. 30 bucks or so, back to the,room. Washed the days clothes and out like a light.

Sun just coming up on Orient and it is beautiful.

And to think we booked less than a week a go. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/toast.gif" alt="" />

Well done!

Great! I love it when a plan comes together!!

The technology is so good this is my first post from orient beach itself. Beautiful day, drove to the yellow umbrella place had front row chairs picked by 815 and a few Caribe sihnce then, the perch is open. It is all glorious and we are blessed.thus far to be here. Stopped by boutique for pastries. Heaven on earth.

Wow. That is beautiful. You may want to buy a lottery ticket or toss a few coins in the slots. I believe you are on a roll!

In the past I always used to book flights no more than two weeks from the date of departure because I always got the best prices then. The planes are not full and they offer good prices to fill the flight. I might just start to do that again when I travel since there is less chance of having to cancel for various reasons. Enjoy your trip!

Thanks for the post

We live in the GTA - Greater Toronto Area - Try YYZdeals for special flight deals

Laundry detergent - we too do laundry when away, we check the type of washer and generally bring some Tide pods with us

Enjoy your trip

J&B

Sounds wonderful - including the airfare.

Mt. Vernon seems really nice in the website photos, but there are very "all over the place" reviews on another website that shall remain nameless. Wondering who to believe regarding the reviews....

Love StudioSXM.
We thought about doing that same road trip to Toronto. Was it really that easy to park and take the train to the airport? What about parking in Windsor and taking the train from there?
Hope you have a wonderful trip!

We've stayed there four time so far. It's super hilly and since the units are individually owned, the state of repair varies widely. StudioSXM has always been excellent. Our first few trips we stayed at resorts.
Mt. Vernon is completely different, you are really on your own. I suppose negative type reviews are from those who want a more resort like experience. Also, did I mention the hills? I cannot overstate how hilly it is.

We like Mt.Vernon for a few reasons: we love the french side, we enjoy grocery shopping for unique things, preparing some of our own meals is fun, orient beach is the best, we have a circuit that runs between Mt.Vernon and Club O--our entire vacation takes place in that circuit so that we maximize beach time, the pizza at Mt.Vernon is really good, the pool is perfect for a late night dip. I could go on but just pm me if you want more info.

Toronto value park garage and train really are that easy, extremely easy.

I think the windsor idea would just be a hiccup to go wrong unless youve done it. As your from detroit it would be easier.

Mt vernon is not for everbody --- but it is for us while still able bodied. It is not ADA compliant in any way.

All units at Mt Vernon are individually owned, so the fit and finish is different in each unit. In addition, the property is a 'self catering' type of place, not for those that want a hotel situation. Parking often is a hike from the lot to your unit. Advantage is that the price is very reasonable.

Catching that same AA flight in CLT is $894.

Exactly...makes no sense.

You could train from Windsor [not sure about parking in Windsor for trip duration]

Check VIA for sched and rates - that takes you to Union Station downtown TO near the lake. from Union Station, you can take the UP Express to the airport [every 15 minutes I think] Again, I think, the UP Ex goes to Terminal 1 [we have T1 and T3], there is a shuttle between terminals

Guessing Windsor to TO by train must be 4 hrs? and then transfer to the airport, so under 5 hrs

No idea of cost

J&B

All details on line

Sounds like you are off to a great start to a glorious sxm trip! Yellow umbrellas by 815 am?! Wow! We've never managed to get there that early! Feeling jealous, as our trip isn't until August 5th....we are counting down the days! This time we will be staying there so we should be able to plant ourselves by 815 as well! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/circle.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/toast.gif" alt="" />

It sounds like your going to have a great time! Yellow umbrellas and the Perch doesn't get any better than that! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/toast.gif" alt="" />

Sitting on plane for departure it has been a great and wonderful near perfect 11 days and will report out experiences soon. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/dine.gif" alt="" />

Looking forward to hearing all about it!