Aruba 2021
Day 16: Wednesday, August 11
Saying goodbye, posting money, long delays...
I had set the alarm for 7:30pm and told Sakari to set hers for 8am. However...I didn't sleep well and woke up at 6:30am.
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I did some last minute packing and cleaning and then hung out with the hubby out by the pool since it would be our last time doing this. We found a little critter in the pool that needed rescued.
I scooped him up and put him on the land. I've done my duty for the day.
The hubby packed the car, I made sure everything was clean and back in place, grabbed the towels from the dryer and put them back in the bathrooms and we were ready to roll at 8:28am.
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First on the agenda was to get the tank filled up with gas and $8.77 later we headed to breakfast. Wendy's was right next door. We were out of there by 8:42am and on the road to the airport.
On the way to the airport the hubby would feed me and give me my drink as I drove. Talk about service!
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We had instructions on where we were to take our rental car and park it in the parking garage. We were parking the car at 9:05am.
We hauled our luggage right across the street.
We entered the building only to find out we were in the wrong building and had to go next door.
We made it to Southwest and there was no one there! Looks like we will be first in line. We took our spot in the A-List line and waited.
We waited and waited and waited. They told us the counters opened up at 10am for Southwest. All of the other airlines arounds us had huge long lines and I just knew by the time we got checked in and headed to security and everything else it was going to be so backed up. Getting there early wasn't paying off for us.
The Southwest employees were there at 10:02am but boy did they take their time setting up! By this time the lines had formed and it was time for us to go up. They were officially open for business. We took a step toward the counter and they called someone from the regular other line. Geesh. All this time waiting and being the first here and they don't even call us.
We were able to check our bags, get our boarding pass and we were out the door by 10:12am.
I love this little area. It's so pretty.
We came to a halt and had to wait in line. There were 2 lines and at the front of those lines there were 2 ladies checking your boarding pass and passport. They would let people go into the building one by one (family) as there was room inside in the line. You had to get in and away from the doors so they would shut.
We were inside by 10:19am. Once inside there were more lines. Passport control. Of course none of the self service machines worked.
We were out of this building and into the next long hallway by 10:25am.
Ok off to another line. Sakari wanted to know when It all ends. She didn't remember this many lines last time. Well, it was time for security and xray.
Done with security and shoes put on and belongings picked up by 10:31am
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Whew, we made it. Well that was easy! All the shopping and last minute gifts were available.
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We really didn't need anything so we followed the signs to the gates.
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I personally knew we weren't done yet, but the family did not. Then we hit a huge open area and we were to collect our luggage. The family looked really confused at this point. HA HA, yep, we're not done yet!! It was 10:33am
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Time to roll our luggage into the US border protection line 2 minutes later.
We were done with this line by 10:52am, so one of the longer wait times we've been in, even though there really wasn't much of a line.
The hubby was putting our luggage up on the conveyor belt 2 minutes later and off we went.
Annnndddd...here we go again. Time for another security check point at 10:54am
No lines in security meant we were done there by 10:56am and headed for the escalator upstiars now.
We had the absolute furthest gate there was. All the way at the very end!!! This is always my luck. Lots of walking.
Yep, still going...
Whew, we finally made it and we had our choice of seats. There was only 1 person and one other couple ahead of us. I really don't know how that happened when we were first in line at Southwest and the couple they took before us wasn't anyone sitting here.
It was now 11:06am and Sakari and I decided we would walk back and get some drinks. Along the way the smell of the cinnamon rolls drew us in. Even though we had breakfast, this sounded good. The line was LONG and took forever.
I have to say, it WASN'T worth the wait. They didn't live up to their name and the taste was not like I had had before. Too bad because they were expensive! $20.33!!! This was for 2 cinnamon rolls, 1 pop and 1 Gatorade.
We started to head back and wait!!! We forgot to get daddy a pop. Oops. That meant we were standing in long lines again. Ugh It would cost you $3.51 for a bottle of pop.
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We had quite some time to kill before our plane was to take off. Sakari sat around drawing (of course) and we just spent time on our phones and trying to charge them for the flight.
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When it was time for another pop, I headed to the bar where I decided to put up a dollar with our names on it like everyone else. I really didn't know what to write so I just started putting our name on it and the dates we had been there. Then at the last moment I decided to put my website on there...just in case.
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I had to find the perfect spot to put it on the wall. There are so many already there all over the bar.
Then back to play the waiting game...and we finally seen our plane pull up.
We were boarding the plane at 1:28pm and we had the first boarding group (A) and I think we were 27, 28, and 29. That meant prime seating for us. Our plane was supposed to leave at 1:45pm.
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We did spot our luggage so at least we knew it was coming home with us...at least on this flight to the US
After boarding the plane we had no idea what was about to happen. We were sitting there and sitting there and not moving. I start to see the stewardess going back a few chairs from us. There was a commotion. Words were being throw back and forth. I hear someone say "She only had 3 drinks" and they were saying "Sir, there's something more than that wrong with her!" They told him to get off the airplane. He walked off without his shoes on. The Captain went off with him. Told him she can't be on the plane.
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By this time everyone was trying to figure out what was going on. The arguing continued with him saying that she was fine and just tired on top of the 3 drinks and he had only had 5 plus they had been up since 2am. They said this was his daughter. He went back to his seat as they tried several times to wake her up. Security came on the airplane. Her body was slumped over and a guard said this is not from 3 drinks. Her mouth was open, chips were all over the floor and her head was flopping.
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This went on for what seemed like forever. A lady in the front was highly upset that she was going to miss her connecting flight. I was just glad we had a 3 hour layover. They told the guy he was to gather his things and get off the plane. He was on the phone with his wife and giving her the same bs story about only having 3 drinks blah blah blah. Finally after a few more shakes and slaps the girl half way wakes up. She's asking what happened. She is in and out. They was able to get her up and got them both off the plane escorted by the police.
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But, we weren't able to leave yet. The captain of the plane said they would have to wait a little more because now there was a bunch of paperwork involved.
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Around 2:25pm we we finally pulling out.
We watched a movie and we were getting close to BWI (Baltimore).
However, we seemed to be circling around and around. We were informed that we were heading into some storms and it looked really dreary outside our window. Sakari and I decided we would take a video of the storms and try to catch some of the lightening we were seeing off in the distance. I made a video of us leaving our beautiful Aruba and trying to land in Baltimore in the storms. I did manage to catch a couple of good lightening bolts in the sky and I slowed them down in the video. It was kinda neat to see it in slow motion. Some lighting up at the top, then in the clouds and then at the bottom. It was like a ripple effect.
It had been hours since we had ate and I was starving. Chipotle it was for dinner.
We were supposed to have a delay of 3 hours and 10 minutes. However, with the storms, not only were we delayed coming into BWI, we were delayed waiting on our plane to leave BWI. We sat around for what seemed like eternity and watched the boards at the airport keep getting later and later with the time for us to leave. We didn't feel like we'd ever get back home!
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We were supposed to pull out at 9:20 originally. Then it went to 9:40, then 10pm, then 10:40pm.
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The times were all over the place.
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We passed our time away just sitting, people watching, and Sakari drawing of course.
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We were so happy to see our plane come in finally.
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It came in earlier than anticipated and we were boarding the plane at 10pm. I guess not too bad and Sakari was happy!!
It was a short hour and 10 minute flight home and we were never so happy to see our city all lit up and welcoming us back home again.
It was a great trip and a very long one. I guess it was really 16 days instead of 15 if you want to count our last day traveling. Whew! I think it's the longest vacation we have ever taken. I have always said that 10 days is usually my limit with being away from home. After 10 days, I'm usually just so over it and can't wait to get back. However, this time...I could have actually stayed longer with no problem. I don't know what it is about Aruba. I could stay here forever!
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I don't know when we will be back to Aruba again. This will be our 3rd time here (by land). I always like to enjoy new places so who knows. We may come back soon or try something else for our next few times. Where ever our little heart desires I suppose.
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I hope you enjoyed the review and see ya next time.
