St. Maarten Day 1

So flying in business class on a long trip is kind of a good gig I might add. What I loved about it was the leg room, the endless service, and the drinks. Nothing starts a vacation like a bloody mary at 6 am before your plane even departs, but after having stayed up the whole night before, I felt it owed to me. Well, needless to say, it put me out for about a half hour of the plane ride down to Atlanta where I needed to catch another flight to St. Maarten. I managed to make it to where I needed to be, and luckily for me, the gate where I needed to be was two gates down. Luckily for me, there was no OJ moments sprinting through an airport terminal hoping to catch the one and only flight that day to St. Maarten like I've had in two other previous trips. A sight it would be, yes, had that happened, but alas it did not. Unfortunately, I could have had several more drinks that day had I wanted to, however, I knew that I still had to pick up a rental car that day, and being in a foreign land, I didn't want to be driving inappropriately so as to land me in some gulag. After all, I've seen several episodes of "Locked Up Abroad." I didn't want to be that guy. The flight to St. Maarten was about 4 hours from Atlanta. It was pretty much uneventful, except that the entire group flying down there were just as anxious and excited as I was to arrive at our destination. I, on the other hand was still worrying about what I was going to do all week, how was I going to get the car, what would happen if I made a wrong turn, what if I got a flat tire, what if I hate it, what if I can't connect to the internet to attend a conference call.....and the worry list could go on and on. It's no wonder I have no hair.... Well, we arrived in St. Maarten, skimming over the top of the heads of the gawkers on Maho Beach landing at Princess Juliana International Airport. The first thing I noticed was that there was no air conditioning in the immigration holding tank. All I kept thinking was that I was sweating more than Mike Tyson in a spelling bee, and was certain that I didn't smell all that wonderful having been up all night and all day the day before. I managed to clear customs without issue and proceeded to pick up my vehicle. It was pretty easy finding everything, and the shuttle took me directly to the Avis car place. Entrusting me with their Toyota Corolla, I headed out on the unfamiliar and foreign road, and proceeded to immediately get turned around upon hitting my first roundabout. I ended up heading back into the airport. Yes. Literally into it. Well, two more circles around the roundabout (thinking all the while of National Lampoon's European Vacation...."Look kids, Big Ben, Parliament"), I got going in the correct direction, and literally 4 minutes later, made it to my resort, where I temporarily parked my car in order to check in. After being accosted by a security guard with pointy teeth, I was redirected to take my car to the parking garage around the corner. After getting my ticket, I found a parking spot, meandered my way back to the hotel, and proceded to check in. I was informed that I was upgraded to a suite, and that after asking about the rental car, everything would be ok. I had nothing to worry about. Whew. Made it to the hotel, made it to the suite, which had a huge living room, a huge bed, and a huge bathroom with spa tub, and a balcony view of the pool grounds, I was feeling great about everything. I then found the first bar I could find, managed to have several cocktails, and met Jack, Jim and a couple of other people sitting around the pool bar, hosted by the effervescent Sheryl....whose charm and accent (and efficiency for drink making) are unrivaled by anyone I've ever met. After that bar closed, I was able to hang out with Jim, and several other people at the main lobby bar until it closed (and until I shut down), and made it to my room for a well deserved rest. Day one was a success!