TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin arrived

Arrived yesterday from Atlanta via Philadelphia
Flight form Atlanta was full and delayed 30 minutes as the plane was held waiting for 4 late passengers who were arriving from New York whose arriving flight was late.

Never new an airline to hold back a take off but the late arriving passengers were surprised and very grateful
While awaiting for the guests, the pilot walked through the plane greeting all passengers with a smile and a handshake

He was comical to several questions when asked and responded that he would make up time by taking a short cut through some turbulence and was going to fly the plane like it was stolen, his other remark that his therapist said he needed to "get out more"

We arrived on time and although we saw the new jetways, we exited the plane and took a bus to the terminal, with the previous two other plane's passengers already departed we breezed through immigration in 5 minutes and waited about 20 minutes for luggage

Greeted by Thrifty car rental representative, we enjoyed a "quick" lunch with Abraham at Little Jerusalem (He doesn't cook fast)
we shared an always delicious shawarma / hummus platter, a couple Peroni's and a ting, the shared platter was more than enough


off to our "villa" in Orient, while we stayed last year in a magnificent villa in the low lands, I would consider So Chic a nice two story condo
the upper deck looks out over the pool unto the ocean and the place as all that is needed along with a complimentary bar which probably won't get used too much

Will do a separate review of our dinner at Astrolab which will be closing for the season very soon if you wished to visit

Off to Mango cafe for breakfast and then to Super U in Hope Estate for breakfast items and lunch every other day

Looks very cloudy from the storm pushing through but the sun is trying to shine
We have 16 more days so no worries for sun everyday
Orient yesterday looked terrible with the seaweed but we are more pool anyway besides lunch at beach bars

mahokid--sounds like a pilot that actually enjoys his job, which is nice. That was good PR of Delta to delay the flight. I think I have seen that 'villa' online before and it looked interesting. I may ask you some questions about it, if you don't mind.

Enjoy!!

Have a great time! Sounds like it is off to a good beginning.

I've been on flights that they have held for passengers on incoming flights before. Nice when they will do that. They did it for us one time and I remember the door closing as we went on the jetway behind us.

Looks like a great start. Every year we treat ourselves to a shawarma at Little Jerusalum. Not fast but worth the wait! Hope the sargassum clears up for your beach time

enjoy your time. wish we were there too.

Carol,
always happy to assist others with questions

Seaweed really bad today, luckily we prefer the pool.

Walked down to see JC at yellow fever and only 3 chairs filled

Seaweed about 10 yards thick in the surf and 10 feet thick on the beach

Looks like the orient end maybe had less

Wow, not good. I saw a picture of Dawn Beach recently that was also very bad.

Are you coming to the Royal Islander next week? Looking forward to seeing you and Renee!

Checking in Saturday 8.26.23, ready to hit up the Dutch side

See you at the pool!