September 21, 2018
Groan.. another early morning flight before the rooster crows. I’m usually puttering around through the wee hours of the night and then too nervous that I will oversleep that I barely get any sleep the night before. Yawn. So not a morning person. Who books these flights?? Oh yeah, me! ๐
As usual we were running late and on island time. We didn’t get out of the house until past 4:30 am. Thank goodness IAD is a hop and a skip away. Plus we decided to suck it up and drive and pay an arm and a leg for garage parking instead of stressing over Red Top Cab always being 20 minutes early for pickup. Always. Did I mention we are always running late?
Luckily line at the checkin kiosk was non-existent. Breezed right through there. Security on the other hand, well…
Security lady directing people to lines was clueless! She seemed confused on why I was entering the line on the left. She was looking for the word “Premium” on the ticket as the line sign said Premium Passengers. Duh! Lady, “First” is “Premium”!! ๐ Sorry, I have no patience in the morning. Did mention I am not a morning person?!
So sleepy ๐ด that I passed up on brekky and mimosas on the flight. Hook said his seat mate (we were on separate rows) ordered JD on the rocks for his first drink, then proceeded to down 2 more JD and Coke. Before 7 am!
Pit stop at the Admirals Club in MIA for a couple of hours. Nice reno on this place. It is brighter and more seating. Food offerings were the usual.
Quick flight from MIA to Exuma, admiring the stunning waters of the Exuma chains.
I love landing at the family island airports. So chill and a much more relaxed pace. Stepping off the plane and breathing in the fresh, warm, salty air and I can feel the stress lifted off my shoulders. If only my carryon beach bag did not weigh a ton with all my electronic gadgets… ๐
Short wait at Immigration. Customs was easy. The Officer asked about alcohol. I replied that we had 1 bottle of wine. She then asked if we had a drone. I replied no, I wish. (I really wished we did. I contemplated it, but ran into analysis paralysis and ran out of time to purchase one ๐) Customs seem very keen if one had a drone as she repeated it a few times.
Our host Charlie was busy so he sent a taxi to pick us up at the airport. Our taxi driver’s name was Janet and we had a good chat catching up on what’s changed around the island.
Finally we reached our villa in Rolle Town. Bay View Villa #2 is our home away from home this trip. This is our second time here and the views just do not disappoint.
Charlie remembered us as soon as he saw us. We enjoyed some great laughs and shooting the breeze with him last visit ๐
We met our neighbors Janet and John. Very nice couple. They seemed like they would have been fun as neighbors but alas they’ve had their week of fun and were leaving the next day.
We unpacked quickly and hit the road. Hook decided that our first meal would be at, where else? Santanna’s! So off we went to Little Exuma.
Dee was off island, and so was Mom. Instead we were welcomed by a new friend, this cutie pie. โค๏ธ This is Lucky and he is a precocious puppy. I want to take him home! Not sure the cats would like that. Ha ha.
We both ordered lobsters, of course. Yum! Just as we remembered. Welcome to Exuma indeed!
After lunch we popped on over to Mom’s Bakery. She has the best rum cake ever!! So good that I caught Hook sneaking a bite (a huge bite at that!) as he was putting it away when we got home. ๐คจ
Her grandson Alex was in charge today. What a wonderful young man. So friendly and welcoming. And he is a huge Caps fan! He showed us his photos of him at the Caps playoff game. We don’t normally follow hockey but when the Caps made it to the playoffs this year and kept on winning, we jumped on the bandwagon and became fans. Go Caps! ๐ ๐๐
We were still full from our late lunch that we ended up just snacking for dinner on the 405 Cracklins that Hook brought. LOL. Cracklins. Classy. Real classy! ๐
Down for the count at 8 pm. Boy we really were tired! More to come…
************
Meals and prices are posted so we can track our expenditures and in case it helps others plan their budget…
Lunch: Santannaโs $113 including VAT and 15% gratuity (gave $120)
2 lobsters at Santannaโs
2 Kaliks
1 bbq chicken takeout
2 cokes takeout
~~~~~~~
Sweets: Momโs $12 (gave $15)
1 choc rum cake
1 pineapple turnover