Monday 14 July

(another honeymoon posting)
We arose early, finished packing, then we took a taxi to the airport (which was, just like our taxi trip to the hotel, expensive (we had wanted to take the ferry in to Fort-de-France, then take a taxi from there, but since it was a holiday, the earliest ferry was not running (a later one was, though it wasn't early enough for us), so we couldn't take it). Again, just like the taxi ride to the hotel, the Martinican countryside is a nice sight to behold, with many verdant hills and some houses dotting those hills.
We got to the airport and got to our gate and waited and waited - without any notifications that our Liat flight would be late: the boarding time was supposed to be at 8:45 and flight time at 9:30. Finally, at 9:33, they announced that it was delayed to 10:10. Apparently, the previous flight had been delayed. Our flight to Bermuda had a stop in St. Lucia, which was a 12 minute flight. When we had arrived onto the [old American (e.g. the emergency door instructions were in English)] plane, it smelled a bit. We weren't the only ones to notice it - as the flight stewardess came down the aisle and sprayed air freshener - certainly a first for me. And she did the same for our flight from St. Lucia to Barbados.
We arrived in Barbados and they had a nice little fountains and flowers area (pictured) that also had a little free wifi (yay!). We then went through customs, exchanged our Euros for Barbados dollars, then we tried to go and drop off our luggage for our next flight and then head into town.
However, it was only noon and the lady at the ticket counter said that they could not take luggage until three hours prior to the flight - at 3:30. So we waited for a half hour to see if they would pity us and capitulate - no such thing. Finally, Rachel and I decided we would go to the capital and see the synagogue and Jewish museum there and maybe walk around as well. So we went to the capital and went to the synagogue there and checked out the Jewish museum, about which I will write in a future post. After that, we decided that we would just go and try checking in for our flight.
When we got to the ticket counter, at 3:30, we still had to wait for the Air Jamaica agents to get back from their break for 15-20 minutes. Whilst we were checking in, we overheard another gate agent say it was delayed - it was not supposed to take off until 9 o'clock! When we found out that information, it was 4 o'clock. We decided we should hang out at the airport for several hours rather than trying to go back into the capital. Then, two and a half hours later, we found out that it was pushed back another half hour. Finally, around 9:45 or so we boarded.
Although we had thought that they had forgotten about our kosher meal order, lo and behold, they actually had our kosher meals. The kosher meals on the Air Jamaica flight are from Jamaica - Jamaica, NY that is. Made by Borenstein Caterers, the little slip of paper accompanying our meal said, "is the largest Kosher Airline Caterer in North America and a leader in its field. We meet the USDA standards and supply meals to 52 International Airlines."
After the in-flight movie (something that I only watched because it was showing on the plane and would never have watched otherwise), which was okay, I napped for less than hour, before waking up as the plane entered into its descent. Finally, we arrived after 3 am and were back in the States (of course, we still had to go through customs and then collect our luggage before going back to our apartment, but we were otherwise back).