TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Final Day - Thursday May 19

Awoke early and packed our stuff up. Leftovers for breakfast, then one last relaxing soak in the pool. Checked out around 11:45 AM.

Drove to Simpson Bay for lunch, and on the way nearly got hit by a crazy old scooter driver. He just raced out of a parking lot. Thankfully he had good brakes, or else he would’ve ended up crashing into one of our passenger side doors. Yikes!

Lunch was at Vesna Taverna. I had the Greek Trio Appetizer and March had a Ham and Cheese Sandwich with fries. Both plates were very good. Sally, our waitress, was quite the character and had us laughing a lot. No service charge was added to the bill.

Returned the car to SAX Car Rental and arrived at the airport around 1:30 for a 4:00 flight. As you entered the American ticket counter line, two tables were set up, and once we showed our completed VERIFLY information and negative Covid paperwork, we were good to go. The line was somewhat long for those checking in bags, but we only had carryon bags, so no waiting there at all. That process took us all of five minutes. We headed outside for one last beer. Once back in the airport, we breezed through the final passport and security checks in about 10 minutes.

For those who are questioning the timing of Covid testing to leave the island: our tests were completed at 8:19 AM on Wednesday and our check-in at the airport was on Thursday at 1:30 PM, (more than 24 hours later). We had NO issues.

Once in Charlotte, we learned that our flight to Boston was delayed one hour. One of my bags was pulled by Security. Juggie's Magic Spice containers were swabbed thoroughly. LOL We relaxed in the Members Club until they closed down at 10:30. Our flight left an hour after that. Landed in BOS around 1:20, took an UBER ride and arrived home around 2:45 AM. It was a long day, but so worth it!

That a wrap! Thank you for the kind comments on my sometimes cryptic and convoluted reporting!

Thank you so much for all your reports. It's always nice to read other travellers experiences to help pass the time between visits.

Been there, done that, several times, that last soak in the pool, or just sitting out under the gazebo at BSV, staring at that beautiful ocean!!

Regarding timing of Covid tests to return to the US, it is one calendar day ahead of the flight, no time limitations at all.

I don't understand your statement regarding Verifly with those who are checking a bag. I know I am obsessing on this, but if you have to check a bag, which we will have to do, does completing Verifly get you anything in SXM, as far as avoiding lines? (And not for nothin', but I don't understand how folks go to SXM with only carry on bags. Good for you!!)

Jo,

It’s been our pleasure sharing your trip with you. My only wish is the weather had been a little more cooperative for you but there are things you can change and things you just have to deal with and you and Marc seem to deal well with all the little adversities far better than most.

Again, thanks for sharing your trip with us. We all had a good time. 🙂🙂

Last year we had to open all our spice bottles to be inspected and swabed that was in our carry-ons. Can't remember if it was in PJIA or MIA.

Huh. I guess they were looking for drugs. There was a drug sniffing dog in Orlando on a recent trip through there. Don't remember them there before.

Thanks for bringing us along on your trip. I enjoyed all your reports; they helped get me in the mood as I arrive two weeks from today. Thank you!

Carol,

Please don't obsess about VERIFLY. Many people don't use it and make it through just fine. The man at the table didn't even ask us for VERIFLY, but once we told them we had it, a big smile came to his face and he said "that's easier". It personally saved us a minute maybe. So if more people used VERIFLY the line would definitely move faster.
And I stand corrected, we did not have to show the negative Covid test results as they were uploaded into the VERIFY app.

As for only using carryon luggage, someone posted this comment on TTOL a LONG time ago: After packing - remove half the clothes and take TWICE the money! I think it was something like that. And oh so true!

OK, thanks re Verifly.

Regarding clothes, I just can't do it without checking a suitcase, going to SXM. We just went for a long weekend to Indiana and we each took a small bag which had to fit under the seat. That was almost too stressful for me!