Trip Recap Continued: Day 7
Posted on August 5, 2007 by Ching under Travel.
Much like the other days, we began this day by having breakfast at the patio. The plan was to spend the entire day at Tower Island. We had to cut that short, however, because we scheduled a one-hour couples massage at Oasis, the resort spa.
Here are some photos we took at TI..
Generally speaking, photography is not permitted at TI. However, as long as you are only taking pictures of each other people don’t usually care. You have to be discreet, though. If it looks like you’re taking pictures of other people then the guests will protest. So Brian and I only took pictures of each other, and only when we were by ourselves.
Although Kent, Dawn, Bob and Mary got some really fun group pictures there one day. You have to do it either really early (before other people show up on the island) or really late (after everyone else has left). You can find some of their pics here.
I didn’t take pictures of the spa because it’s not really anything spectacular. We just got a regular couples massage in one of the treatment rooms. I didn’t realize until the day of our appointment that I could have requested an outdoor massage in the garden. We figured we could add it to our list of things to do on our next visit.
That night we had 8:30 PM dinner reservations at Le Gourmet. However, we really an hour early. We figured we could take this time to bump into some people and visit. We ran into John and Wilma at the internet booth. They were checking out their son’s graduation pictures. He and his girlfriend both graduated at the same time so she was in the photos also. They make a handsome couple.
Anyway, John and Wilma had 7:30 PM dinner reservations and asked us to join them. The maitre d’ was nice enough to accommodate the slight change in their reservations. He found us a table for four so Brian and I were able to get in early. They usually frown upon these last minute changes, but John and Wilma can pretty much get away with anything because they practically live there. They’ve been visiting the resort annually for several years and the last couple of years they’ve stayed for three weeks. They pretty much know everyone.
After the wonderful dinner we had, the four of us headed to the piano bar to meet up with the rest of the TI crew. This was our last hurrah because Brian and I were leaving the next day. Michael and Vicky were leaving the next day also. Their flight leaves an hour ahead of ours. We thought we would be on the same bus to the airport but their pickup is an hour earlier as well.
Here are some pictures we took at the piano bar..
It was on this night when Brian and I realized how old we really were. The last couple of days we spent at Tower Island we noticed another group form consisting of younger people. They all kind of flocked together on the island. You kind of bond with people you hang out with on the island and end up making plans with them at the resort, maybe hanging out after dinner and such. Well, the younger TI group came into the piano bar that night and recognized our group as fellow islanders. One guy screamed, “Tower Island! Woo hoo!” as he walked by. Here is the younger TI set and Brian and I were with the more mature, older TI set. I thought, “Wow. A few years ago we would have probably been with the younger TI group.” How time flies!
Anyway, Brian and I turned in early that night to prepare for our departure the next day. I filled out the room service door tag so we could get our breakfast delivered to our room bright and early. We packed most of our stuff that night. The only things we left out were clothes for the next day and miscellaneous things like toiletries.
The bus ride to the airport was pretty uneventful. Brian and I opted to sleep this time, we’d seen the roadside view on our bus ride to the resort. Between the excursion bus trips and cab rides, there really wasn’t anything new to see. There was a long line at the Delta check-in counter, nothing we didn’t expect though.
After that we went through the security checkpoint. Once again long lines. Although, we were there early enough that we didn’t have worry about it. At this point it was around 1:00 PM. Since we had time to spare, I convinced Brian to grab a bite to eat since we didn’t really know when we would be able to do so from here on out. He is hypoglycemic so he really shouldn’t go without eating for extended periods. Otherwise he gets sick.
I tried to talk him into eating at the Air Margaritaville but he just wanted a pizza. We ended up getting a small, personal pizza for him, a hotdog for me, and a bottle of Pepsi. I have to say, if you can avoid eating at the airport do so. Airport food is not really the best and it is so expensive. Those three things cost us $20. I’m glad we still had plenty of cash to spare, otherwise we couldn’t have eaten.
We ran into Vicky and Michael at the Delta gate. Their flight was delayed. Ours was delayed also, but I was optimistic that this wouldn’t cause us any problems because we had a two and a half hour lay over in Atlanta. Was I wrong.
We get to Atlanta and it took almost an hour to get through immigration and customs. Customs took two seconds but the immigration lines were really long. They had a separate sections for non-US citizens and US citizens. I must say, I’m glad that I am a US citizen now. For one, Brian and I didn’t have to be in separate lines. Secondly, our section was moving much faster. They were paging interpreters every two seconds at the non-US section. Different lines were needing interpreters and the lines were barely moving.
You think you’re home free when you pass customs and immigration, but that wasn’t the case for us. Baggage claim was the worst. Atlanta is an international hub for Delta. Apparently, they had 20 flights arrive at about the same time and they were shorthanded. This caused delays in getting the cargo out. We waited at the carousel over an hour before the first bag from our flight came out. There were roars and cheers when this finally happened.
Brian and I were lucky that we didn’t miss our flight. There were several couples who did and had to be redirected. We barely made it to the gate the designated departure time. Come to find out, our flight was delayed also so we still had to wait at the gate a few minutes. We were thinking that it was delayed because of all the bags they had to sort through (you have to re-check your bags after claiming them; I’m not sure why they don’t just go directly to get loaded on your connecting flight). Come to find out our bags never made it on the plane.
Brian and I went back to the airport the next day, Sunday. We had planned to sleep in that day and recover from the trip, but we couldn’t do that because we wanted to retrieve our bags. One bag was on the 10:20 AM flight and the other was on the 12:45 PM flight. It was pretty bad. Brian wrote about the fiasco here. There isn’t much to say other than we will never fly with Delta again. Although, I’ve heard that most airlines are pretty bad these days.
One of the valuable lessons we learned from the experience is to never check any luggage because you can’t rely on the airlines or the airport to get them anywhere without hassle. We will just do carry-ons from now on. Brian and I joked that if we spend most of our days at Tower Island, we won’t need to pack that many clothes anyway. =P
This is the end of the travelogue. I hope you enjoyed the recap. If you have any questions about the experience or want tips and advice about going to an all-inclusive resort, an au naturel resort, entering another country, or just flying in general please feel free to post your questions in the comments section. We will be happy to answer based on our experience or point to you some valuable resources online that may be of assistance.
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Replies to "Trip Recap Continued: Day 7"
« Trip Recap Continued: Day 6 « this post » Vacation Home Rentals »
pinayhekmi on August 6, 2007
Yes, Ching, it’s not just Delta. I do hate Delta’s planes and just something about them I don’t like. But our flight to Italy and back were full of fiascoes. Lost luggage, having to be delivered to our hotel. There were 8 of us and 3 out of 8 had lost luggages.
Running to try to make it to our connecting flights. Flight delays. I have read reports that its just a shortage of staff, pilots being overscheduled, and basically airlines trying to make money by overbooking and all that follows.
Not checking in bags is a good idea.