Le premier jour:

After spending a long and exhausting few days at work, it was nice to wake up on Thursday to possibility. With very little planned – outside of a flight and accommodations booked – I had no idea of how I would be spending the next six days and was quite glad. While I think it is always better to travel with someone else - there is still a great feeling in knowing that you are completely on your own schedule, or lack of one.

My flight felt really long despite only being 4 hours. It was a lovely, brand new airplane. But, because of that, the in-flight entertainment system had not yet been installed. No biggee. At $380 (tax included) my flight was a bargain. WestJet has some incredible deals as they now fly direct to St. Maarten three times weekly on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. Both Air Canada and Air Transat also fly direct.

I ended up sharing a taxi van with some other people at the airport including a nice couple from Vancouver who sat beside me on the plane, some French men and a Dutch couple who were headed to “Club Orient”. (Raised Eyebrows)

I was actually quite happy to take the long way there through Maho, passing Baie Rouge (my all-time favourite beach) and Marigot…but then, we stopped. Ugh, traffic. It turns out there was a major accident just beyond with a dump-truck and a car. Fortunately no one was hurt but we did end up having to sit in the sweaty taxi-van for almost an hour. I took out my camera to pass the time and got some good shots including this one of some cows who were literally running wild on the streets.

When I finally arrived at my accommodations in Orient Bay, I was greeted by LouLou the pretty, French lady who owns the Villa I am staying in. After she showed me around I made my way to the grocery to pick up some essentials for my stay – French white wine, fresh bread, and good cheese – and settled in for the night. One glass of a really good Aligote and I was down for the count.