We took everyone's advice and booked our flight the Monday after the wedding; that way we had Sunday to unwind and pack. Sunday we hugged everyone goodbye one last time and went to dinner at Sticky Rice (it only seemed appropriate!)
Monday morning at 3:00 am we left for the airport. Deliriously tired, we pushed through and made it to our gate with time to spare. There was a MAJOR creepster who was alone, pacing and staring at us. That always makes you comfortable before you get on a plane, right?
The flight to Atlanta was short and we soon landed for our 2 hour layover. Mike decided he needed to refuel and went with Lo Mein. From the airport food court. At 9 am. Before a 7 hour flight. Brave man.
Mike has flown overseas before, but this was my first time. I do not like to fly, be it for 30 minutes or 7 hours--it's just not my preferred method of travel. So of course we are next to some guy seated on the aisle who must have overdosed on Ambien because he was passed out the entire flight, and the in-flight movie was some terrible British screenplay. We also figured that since most of the people on the plane were newlyweds that they would all be ordering cocktails; not so. Just Mike and I, and I promptly spilled mine all over myself and into the girl's purse behind me. Made the rest of the flight very pleasant!
We landed in St. Lucia and I was like a wide-eyed tourist. You walk off the plane, onto the tarmac and into the tiny airport, where the bag handlers grab your luggage and then demand money from you for their "service." Luckily Mike handled that before I was kicked out of the country for assaulting the locals.
We checked in with our travel agent at the airport and were informed that the resort was a short 1.5 hour drive away from the airport...in a minivan. Sigh. It was a bumpy, windy, nauseating drive in which we discovered that the locals drive on the left side of the road and only slow down for speed bumps.
We finally arrived at the resort around 3:00 pm, 12 hours of travel later. We were completely confused as to what time zone we were in. We got out of the van and were greeted with a cool towel and asked what we would like to drink; rum punch? Yes please!
And then we met Meguel. Oh, Meguel. It must have been Meguel's first day, or he just didn't care about his job, and of course fate led us to him. Long story short, we went through about 20 minutes of confusing chatter with Meguel about our reservation, he told us to get food and promised to get everything cleared up. We came back to the front desk and Meguel is nowhere to be found. No one has heard of Mike and I. Meguel appears and tells us he will get everything cleared up. I need another rum punch!
We got checked in (deciding to visit the concierge the next morning when someone other than Meguel is working) and our villa was just beautiful. It was open-aired so there were no windows-just bamboo bars and an air conditioning unit in the bedroom. Birds and cats walked into our room all week; it was wacky!
After the day of travel, we decided to hit up the bar. We were all inclusive at the resort and we were going to make sure we made the most of it. We met a couple from Boston and hung out with them, until the bartender challenged us to sample the island rum.
Now I can handle my drinks, but as I live and breathe, I have never tasted anything as atrocious as this rum. We each ordered a shot and I sniffed it, immediately regretting my decision. Someone across the bar yelled "If you love him you'll drink it!" Well now. I don't back down when I am challenged in a bar.
I can't even type these words without reliving the taste of that rum. It was like someone lit a blowtorch the whole way down my throat and into my belly. Everyone clapped; Mike asked me if I was ok. I asked him why he had 6 heads. It was terrifying, but I did it! Mike was the man though; we bought rounds for the Boston couple and the wife wouldn't drink it, so he drank hers. Amazing.
The rest of the night was uneventful, as we soon headed back to the villa and prepared for day 2 in paradise!
I love you. I laughed out loud twice reading that. Silly.
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