12:23pm Nov. 22, 05 Tues.

12:23pm Nov. 22, 05 Tues.

So, we are sitting on the 5^th level by the coffee shop, looking out the windows at St. Maarten. It's a beautifully clear day, sunny and blue with a relatively calm breeze (if the sail boats outside are any indicator). What we can see of the island from here looks "resort-y" (note after the fact: wrong!) but we have yet to actually go and walk around. That comes next. We left home sunday night for a 9:40pm flight. It was a relatively uneventful flight, no alarms and no suprises. We got into Newark, NJ at about 5:45am (e.s.t.). After finding a bite to eat we walked to our gate, on the very opposite side of the airport, layed out on the floor and slept! A bit about New Jersey: Don't go there! At least not the airport. Every "service person" we met or saw was unbelieveably rude. I've heard my entire life about the lack of civility in NY/NJ, but until now have only half believed it. It's true! Speaking to anyone is an insult, eye contact is reason enough to fight and heaven forbid you actually want some form of service, especially if you're paying for it. You take what you get, when you can get it and you're thankful for it. Or else. If I had any illusions the management cared I'd of said something. But every person at every shop/restaraunt was the same. I don't know, maybe the entire airport is staffed by one large family of rude people. It's a valid theory, seeing as all the staff, one shop to the next, were in the same uniforms. The only break in this was Starbucks, which was an oasis in a desert of apathy. They alone were in standard starbucks outfits. (note after the fact: On the return trip, starbucks was staffed by the same group of trained circus animals we dealt with everywhere else. The barista actually called both drinks wrong and stopped in the middle of our order to grab her birth control pills from her boyfriend. And then got upset at us for making sure we got the drinks we payed for and not the ones she screwed up on because she was too busy talking to her boyfriend. Lovely.) But truely, avoid NJ if at all possible. I did not see one thing to recomend it the entire time we were there. Even the airlin staff were rude. We had a four hour lay over, durring which we napped on the floor by the gate we were departing from. About an hour and a half before departure, I woke up to get us coffee and check our boarding time. When I attempted to ask the woman at the flight desk about our status, she told me she didn't know and to go look for myself. At the display. Which was not near our gate. I did, to my displeasure, and found our flight had been moved. When I went back to confirm this with the flight desk, no one knew and no one would check for me. They just said that if that's what the display said, that's what was. Very helpful eh' ? In any case we dashed to the correct gate which ironically was right next to the gate we had arrived in at. A half hour in line got us safely aboard and headed to San Juan. Once again the flight was uneventful and without incident. Oh, but the adventure was coming. Later...