Trip Report – June 18-26th, Club Orient

This was our 9th trip to St. Martin and our 8th stay on the island (our first visit was on a cruise). Linda & I took our two daughters (23 & 25) and a girlfriend of theirs (25) along on this trip.

Flights: Flew US Airways from Dulles to CLT then on to SXM and returned back through CLT to Dulles. All flights were on time. In fact on the way down we had frequent flyer tickets for the second flight of the day to SXM but got to the gate for the early flight and US Airways moved all five of us to that flight at no charge. No food service on the short hop from IAD to CLT, and a sack lunch with a sandwich, chips, and cookies for the over water legs. None of the legs had a completely full aircraft.

Rental cars: Used Avis again – got a Toyota and a Kia, both were fine and gave great service.

Hotels: Linda & I stayed in a mini-suite at Club Orient. The three girls stayed in Townhouses Menorca #6 in Orient Village which has two bedrooms. Unit 6 also has a third air conditioner on the first floor, which unit #5 lacked last year. One problem the girls had was no running water shortly after check-in on Sunday Afternoon! The rental office gave them the key to the adjacent unit #7 so they could use the plumbing and Monday morning found out that the water company had turned off the water even though (reportedly) the bill had been paid! Monday afternoon the girls returned from the beach and found the water had indeed been restored. There were also a couple short power failures during the week, later determined to be from running three air conditioners and three hair dryers simultaneously. Our mini-suite at Club Orient was fine. We noted the phone in the room and the internet connection…but wisely left the laptop home. The information by the phone stated that it could only be used to call the office or other units at Club Orient. It would have been nice to have been able to use it to call over to the girls or to restaurants, but my cell phone worked for that.

Cell phone: Used my Cingular GSM/GPRS/EDGE Blackberry with no problems as a cell phone. To use the e-mail functions I had to choose Orange as my network in the manual selection mode and then it worked fine….although the phone went into the “emergency calls only” mode in some locations on the Dutch side.

TTOL Party: Went to the Monday night party at BBB organized by Robbie Watts and had a great time meeting and greeting for a while until we joined the three young ladies at PLP for dinner.

Beach locations: Linda & I set ourselves up a little south of the perch. The new “reservation” system for chairs worked great, and meant that we could leave the “noodles” we inherited from Frank & Anna (thanks) in/on our chairs overnight and they’d still be there the next morning. We also left our TTOL flag on the chairs with no problem! We set the three young ladies up with chairs and umbrellas at Baywatch and Andy & Adrian took excellent care of them all week.

Breakfasts: All but one day we just ate cereal, cheese, fruit & croissants in our units. That other day was Market Day at Marigot and I dropped Linda and the young ladies off at Zee Best (still very good) while I drove over to Simpson Bay to play “Tony Bourdaine” and eat Calalou Soup and Johnnycake with saltfish for breakfast on one of the stools at Hilma's Windsor Castle.

Lunches: This is a simple one: Baywatch every day (excellent every meal) with the exception of Mondays when they were closed. On Mondays we were in Phillipsburg so we ate at Mark’s Place (love that Curry Goat!).

Dinners: We ate at Il Nettuno, Peg Leg Pub, Brasserie des Isles, Papagayo (prime rib night), Le Cottage, Spiga, and Poulet d’Orleans and all were excellent!

Shopping: With four women traveling with me we of course visited DK Gems. Linda, my bride of almost 30 years, upgraded the wedding band I had placed on her finger in 1977 with three diamonds totaling 2 karats. The gold welding of the settings onto the band was flawless! Upon our return home we priced a ring at Costco discount stores that was also three diamonds totaling 2 karats and their price was double what we paid at DK Gems! Each of the younger ladies received (much) smaller baubles in the form of watches, and pendants from DK’s, and Coach Purses from Little Switzerland. Old Dad’s gift in return was spending the entire vacation with four very happy & contented women….

Tiko Tiko: The five of us went on Tiko Tiko on a beautifully sunny Thursday, a perfect day! We were joined by Russ and Lloy and their friend Annie. We all had a wonderful time and our three 20-something young ladies called it the “best day of our entire, wonderful trip”!

Customs: Was a breeze at Charlotte. Those folks exude Southern Hospitality as they quickly and efficiently do their duties!

All in all it was a wonderful eight days!

Bill & Linda