Hey Virgin Islands … my bad!

 2010, 4 - Consulting Lifestyle, Virgin Islands  3 Responses »
May 312010
 

When leaving Tortola by ferry to St Thomas, one has another number of things to be aware of.

  • Be aware of the usual complete Island disorganization, lack of adequate signage and the general customer service skills associated with a jackass, donkey or alpaca. Customer service in the islands (any god damn island in the West Indies) only operates at three levels
    • Disdain & Incompetence
    • Utter stupidity combined with disdain and incompetence
    • White people awareness and attention

Generally, unless you’re a foreign person of whiteness, local white associated with an island or a well known singer/cricketer/politician, one will generally get the customer service in the first two categories.

  • Buy a return ticket. Don’t attempt to buy one way tickets. If you know the times that you want to return and leave, then buy the return ticket on one ferry line (Native Son, Smiths or Fast Ferry).
    • If you buy a one way ticket to go, then it means you will have to buy a one way ticket to come back. This means that you’ll have to get into a stinking, steaming pile of humanity, figure out which ferry and what time you’re going and then deal with customs twice – once on the US side at St John’s or St Thomas, then you will have to deal with customs again, when boarding your plane
  • Unless you’re looking to get soaked or work on your tan, do not go on the upper decks of the ferry. There are some nice pictures of the islands from the top deck but if you’re alone then you’re better off on the bottom deck.
  • Buy some water before you get on the ferry, because it is going to be hot and sweaty on that ferry.
  • If the following sequence of events occurs
    • Buy ferry ticket from one ticket counter because you are directed to so
    • You assume that because you were directed to buy a certain ferry ticket and follow the aforementioned advice of the sales person, that you don’t need to double-check the ticket, because they are supposed to do their job
    • Then board the ferry assuming that it would be for the desitination and time you were told … no one checks your ticket for accuracy, they just take the ticket (BTW … WDMC??)
    • Then talk to a passenger inquiring about traffic in Charlotte Amalie, only to be told that the ferry is going to Red Hook (Otherside of the island)
    • Then get off the ferry, find the sales clerk and proceed to say … “What sort of FUCKERY makes you so retarded!!!”
    • The sales clerk proceeds to snicker at the mistake and gives you a “Sorry man .. my bad … but why all you Trinis have to get on so … it’s a small thing”
    • Do not reply with “If it’s a small thing, it might be what your husband have, or small thing would not be used to describe you or small thing might the “FUCKERY” that make you so retarded … is that a small thing, you describing … but for your information, me missing my flight back home to civilization is not a small thing … you check” The reason not to reply like this, is not because of shame or disgrace, but because of the overwhelming guilt you’ll feel at making a hard back woman cry.So here is my apology to all Native Son ferry line staff in the British Virgin Islands …

      I’m sorry for making your staff, cry!!! My bad!!

Ferry Time

  • rishiray's photo
  • rishiray's photo
  • rishiray's photo
  • rishiray's photo
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View photos at SmugMug

 Posted by rishiray at 6:18 pm  Tagged with: , , , , , , ,

Brekkie at Little Dix

 2010, Virgin Islands  No Responses »
May 302010
 

Almost everyone has heard of Little Dix Bay of Virgin Gorda, known in some circles as “the world’s most famous beach resort”.  It was by Laurence Rockefeller as an exclusive, secluded retreat for honeymooners and America’s “rich and famous”.  You know anything with the Rockefeller name has to be a bit posh. His original design included 50 no-frills bungalows privately spaced along a gorgeous crescent beach edged with perfectly manicured lawns, towering palms, and colorful tropical foliage – one of the most beautiful settings in the Caribbean.

 The morning’s breakfast was on the Pavilion patio which included a huge fresh fruit buffet with assorted cereal, pastries, smoothies, and juices.  In addition, eggs, omelettes, waffles, and pancakes could be ordered freshly cooked on the grill. 

My breakfast was two western omelettes with bacon, green/red peppers, onions and 2 lbs of mushrooms – now who really cares about my breakfast, right? Well the thing is that getting an omelette well done in the USA, requires an act of Congress plus a whip on the omelette cook – here I got my omelette very well done without major drama and fits <End of food rant> and two juice smoothies (Orange, Pineapple, Strawberries and Mango)

Not the worst surroundings in the world for breakfast ….

 Posted by rishiray at 7:20 am  Tagged with: , , , ,

Dreamy mornings …

 2010, Virgin Islands  No Responses »
May 302010
 

So this morning from the balcony …

Time for breakfast!!!

 Posted by rishiray at 2:16 am  Tagged with: , ,

Virgin Gorda trip madness

 2010, Virgin Islands  No Responses »
May 292010
 

Coming to the Virgin Islands always seems to be an adventure into madness. Getting here from Chicago is not the most convenient week trip I’ve ever done, in fact it’s one of the most circuitous, since the routing involves the following

  • St. Charles, IL to Chicago O’Hare airport
  • Chicago to Miami – and staying overnight for 8 hours
  • Miami to San Juan, Puerto Rico
  • San Juan, PR to St Thomas, US Virgin Islands (Which of course was delayed and late)
  • Then taking a taxi from the ST Thomas airport to the ferry station (The taxi ride is 10$ USD, and of course there was an Accenture person – noticeable by his ACN knapsack, and laminated business card on the bag – duh)
  • Grabbing the Native Son ferry from Charlotte Amalie to Tortola – stopping in the West End 

A couple notes about taking the ferry, if the seas are choppy, do not sit on the upper deck of the ferry, because the ride gets extremely rough and more importantly, you might as well have jumped directly into the sea. I was completely soaked – head to foot. Thankfully my laptop and camera were in my trusty water RESISTANT back pack. Note that water resistant doesn’t mean waterproof … if you jump, into the sea with your bag, water will get into it. Au revoir camera and laptop!

  • Then finally, after meeting my friend in Tortola, we then had to take another ferry from Tortola to Virgin Gorda!!!

So after 26 hours, I was finally in a lovely 2 bedroom condo in Virgin Gorda for the Leverick Bay Poker Run 2010.

After a long day of traveling, the welcome buffet function had Moko Jumbie entertainment and some excellent food – the ribs and the pepper grouper were excellent.

 

It’s a long way to come for ribs and grouper. Seriously long way. So I’ll have to say that taking a short pleasure trip from Chicago to Virgin Gorda isn’t going to be high on my next travel routing.  That being said, Virgin Gorda is pretty god damn spectacular, if you flew in from Miami directly.

 Posted by rishiray at 10:30 am  Tagged with: , , , ,

Finally, my last required mileage run for Star Alliance …

 2010, 4 - Consulting Lifestyle  No Responses »
May 202010
 

Whew! I’m in San Francisco and on my back to Toronto. In the last two months, I’ve would have run myself through 35,319 miles in pursuit of Star Alliance Gold Status. I’ve done about more than that in miles for the year, but the rest count as American Airlines / OneWorld miles.

Flight Distances

  

Flight Time

  

Flights
In Miles 45,972
In Kilometer 73,984
Earth Circumnavigation 1.85 x
Distance to the Moon  0.192 x
Distance to the Sun 0.0005 x
   
Hours 99:13
Days 4.1
Weeks 0.6
Months  0.14
Years 0.011
   
All 38
Domestic 19
Intra-Continental  15
Intercontinental 3
Other flights 1

 

Some interesting statistics about my last two months of mileage runs and accumulated flights

Longest Flight (distance): 3,946 mi, 7:33 h, Frankfurt (Rhein-Main) – Toronto (Lester B Pearson Intl.), 03-19-2010
Longest Flight (duration): 7:33 h, 3,946 mi, Frankfurt (Rhein-Main) – Toronto (Lester B Pearson Intl.), 03-19-2010
Shortest Flight (distance): 256 mi, 1:08 h, Phoenix (Sky Harbor Airport) – Las Vegas (McCarran International), 05-13-2010
Fastest Flight:
523 mi/h, 3,946 mi, 7:33 h, Frankfurt (Rhein-Main) – Toronto (Lester B Pearson Intl.), 03-19-2010  
Average Flight: 1,210 mi, 2:37 h

 

It’s good to track the number of hours I’ve spent in the air, since I’ve underestimated the time spent in the air in the US and Internationally. Most of my flight time has been spent in the continental US.  Time in Spain, Morocco and Portugal doesn’t count, since I didn’t fly across those countries but enjoyed the beauty of the rail systems.

I’m almost there!!!

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