Jen's Long Winded Version of Events

So there we were, laying on the dusty, dirty floor of the Miami airport. It wasn't quite time to get up yet, and Aaron was still snoring away. I was glancing up at the clock every ten minutes as I flipped through a romance novel (hey, you've got to get in the mood for your honeymoon, you know). Finally four o'clock rolled around, which was when security finally opened back up to let us into our terminal. I nudged Aaron awake, grunted, tried not to get a whiff of my clothes, and we headed over to security. Unfortunately, all the other sleepers (including the ones who stole all the good chairs, darn them) were also awake and waiting at security. Luckily it didn't take too long before we were heading down the very long terminal, to our gate at the very end.

We killed more time and then our flight took off at 6:20. By this point I'd almost been awake for 24 hours, excluding a 15 minute cat nap I'd gotten on that disgusting floor. I was a little punch drunk, to put it lightly. You see, I'm the kind of person that prefers to get 10 hours of sleep a night, and I don't sleep very well in public places. I could make myself sound cool and say it is because I don't feel safe in public places because of my military training, but I think it'd be more accurate to say that I prefer a comfortable bed and quiet.

I had the window seat on all of our flights, because Aaron and I decided that he didn't want the benefit of the window seat considering I'd have the cost of vomiting. I don't do well on the interior of planes, for some reason. It was fortunate that I own the camera and had the window seat, because I got some pretty neat shots as the sun was coming up over the Atlantic Ocean on the way to Puerto Rico. (Go here to see more.)



In my sleep-deprived haze, I thought the clouds were so cool with their vertical stretches. Beneath them, you could see their shadow on the ocean and each individual wave. I stared for quite some time.



Our flight landed in Puerto Rico around 8 am - it was a short hop. We wandered around the tiny little Puerto Rican airport and killed even more time (Aaron slept). Our flight was supposed to leave around noon or so, and we all boarded. After everyone had gotten settled, there was a long pregnant pause. Finally, the captain got on the intercom system, "Well, we seem to have an annunciator light on. We're not sure what's going on here, but we're going to try to solve this problem."

I leaned over and whispered in Aaron's ear, "What is an annunciator light?"

He gave a slight smile, "A warning light."

I sighed.

More minutes went by. "Well, folks, it looks like we're going to have to ask you all to deplane. Make sure to take all of your belongings with you, because we may have to change planes."

We all deboarded and wandered back into the dismal Puerto Rican airport. By this point, I was so tired (awake for 29 hours) that I was starting to get a major case of the grumps. Can't we just hop on a life raft and paddle? That was going through my head as I pondered the fact that I was a short hop from St. Lucia, and yet stuck, and I couldn't get to my room.

An hour and a half passed without news while they tried to figure out what was wrong with our plane. Finally they allowed us to board (the same plane!) again, but Aaron and I were relieved to see a mechanic wandering away holding an old part in his hand.

We arrived on St. Lucia around 4:30 and were whisked away to Sandals, which thankfully was only a 15 minute drive. As soon as we arrived, we were escorted to the concierge lounge and handed two full glasses of champagne. I was a little giddy (and a hell of a lot smelly after being in my warm clothes for almost 36 hours). We spoke with the concierge about the amneties offered by Sandals, and then they gave us a short tour and escorted us to our room.

By this time I was so tired that I could barely walk. I think I was mumbling and drool was escaping from my mouth unnoticed, and I certainly smelled foul. I hopped in the bath as soon as we got to our room and tried not to fall asleep. Aaron grabbed some champagne from the minibar in our room and poured me a glass. I was extremely grateful.

He ordered us some roomservice (free!) and I tried to stay awake to eat it. Apparently, though, after being awake for 35 hours I finally succumbed to the drowsiness and crashed on the couch, folded over a pillow like an infant curled in a womb. (Anyone with young children should understand what I'm describing as it is a standard young child curled-up sleeping position.)

Aaron told me later that housekeeping and room service came in, both of them making loud noises, and I never twitched. I guess I was breathing pretty heavily, as well, although I certainly wasn't snoring... I hope.

I woke up and sat straight up around 11 pm. It must have looked pretty silly, like I'd just snapped awake from a hypnotic state. Aaron mentioned that I'd been talking in my sleep. As soon as he noticed my less-blurred eyes, he indicated that room service had left me some pizza.

I had no idea that I'd crashed - it was almost as if I'd blacked out. I glanced down at the tray and was confused as to how long I'd been sleeping and how room service had come and gone without me even noticing.

By that point, however, I was so hungry that I just didn't care. I gulped down my entire medium hawiian pizza (hey, I'm on vacation!). Later Aaron told me that he'd eaten a cheeseburger and was watching TV while I slept. Soon I finished my pizza.

And finally... finally. I crashed here for another eight hours.



Aaron's Short Version of Events (from when I was passed out)

When we arrived, we had been up and about for about 36 hours. We were guided to the conceirge room where we were served champagne while we checked in. At this point, we could have gone swimming or drinking or anything that our hearts desired, but our hearts were very sleepy so we headed to our room. We quickly surveyed the room service menu, ordered, and settled in. Being the geek I am, I set to work checking out the TV placed at the end of our bed while Jen, being the dork she is, hopped on the couch and started reading all the little pamphlets about hotel operations and excursions and such. (Jen's note: Psst, I am not a dork.)

Before long, I noticed that Jen wasn't saying much. She had curled up around a pillow and PASSED OUT. She never takes naps and she's usually a relatively light sleeper so I figured she would wake up when room service knocked on the door. Well, housekeeping showed up first to turn down our sheets and Jen slept straight through it. The maid was not particularly quiet, snapping sheets straight and such, but Jen never even stirred. Then room service showed up and she placed the tray right on the table in front of Jen. Still NOTHING! She was curled up so sweetly and so deeply asleep that we all just thought it was the cutest thing. I didn't wake her for her food. I figured she would rather eat cold food than wake up any time soon.

Other pictures of our room (please click on pictures for additional commentary and to see them larger, and as always, more are available on Flickr):

Labels: marriage, traveling