Trip Report: October
12 - 25, 2003
by NHDiane
This is my first attempt at a trip report, and as you know, I'm doing it from my office computer, so will try to keep it brief, but informative.
Getting There... We booked with US Air and checked bags straight though to SBH. A little unnerving for us, but felt it was worth it. Flights all on time and smooth..through Charlotte & SXM on the way down, SXM and Philly on the way back. It's our first time with In-Transit and I have to say...what a terrific experience! We checked two bags and had a carry-on. No lines, just scanned carry on and we were through. Caught an earlier flight to SBH on a 6 seater WinAir. Unfortunately, our luggage stayed in SXM until Tuesday AM! Had hoped for better luck than that, but it was not to be. Quite a few people coming and going on the island and I think there was more luggage than passengers, thus the hold up. Rental car ready and waiting. We arrived at our villa and it was as wonderful as we had remembered from last year! By the way, on our return, one piece of luggage decided to stay in Philly but we got it delivered to our home the next day by US Air.
Restaurants highlights.... our first night was pizza at Andy's and as usual, it didn't disappoint. Along with a few Caribs it was perfect. Their mussels are terrific..our favorite pizzas are the Vitale and quatro fromage. We chose Pipiri Palace twice during our stay and had wonderful meals both times. Met Pierre and his staff which were quite entertaining. Lobster, scallop special and salmon were among our choices. Other places we hit..Case de Isle: wonderful meal with Maine lobster on the menu! Great service and more seafood was on our plates. Terrific creme bulee..my favorite. We tried Vietnam Restaurant and loved it! (also the air conditioning!) Very clean and the food was terrific. Too many choices and we wanted to get back, but didn't make it. Managed to find the 7th game of the World Series at Santa Fe Restaurant in Lurin. Mussels are one of our favorites and this place has great ones! Alas, our beloved Red Sox lost after 11 innings. But we hung in there with a few other diehard Americans..Sox fans outnumbered Yankee fans 2 to 1, but it didn't help! Lunched at LaLangouste and had a wonderful lobster citrus salad! Again wanted to get back to dinner but didn't make it. We finally got to try Mayas and enjoyed Mahi Mahi and shrimp. LeToiny was a terrific experience as well with wonderful service and gourmet food! We enjoyed LeBartolomeo at the Guanahani one evening, savoring the beautiful atmosphere and ate filet mignon, stuffed sole and wonderful, creative desserts. Very expensive, as was LeToiny but worth the trip just to be pampered. We also tried Fellini at the Manapany and were extremely disappointed. There was no staff to speak of and believe it or not, the bartender/waiter also was in the kitchen! They shouldn't have been serving dinner...we won't go back because of the experience..I had pasta which looked and tasted like it was out of a can. We were also disappointed by LePlage, food was pretty good but service wasn't. Unfortunately, Francious Plantation wasn't open and that was the one spot we really wanted to try. They don't open until Nov. 3. We also hit LeSelect and LaCantina numerous times for beverages during our shopping trips to Gustavia.
Shopping... Gustavia and St. Jean mostly. Found a terrific little shoe store called Human Steps. My husband ended up buying two pair of Pradas. Worth the trip. Also couldn't pass up Laurent Eiffel, where I bought a beautiful pair of leather sandals. They have a wonderful selection of handbags in the most beautiful colors and all sizes! Couldn't begin to decide on one so passed them all up! Now, I'm regretting it! Went into just about every jewelry store, but held off on buying. (Maybe next year!) Did get to the cosmetic shop (sorry, forgot the name!) and purchased a supply of some different products I had inquired about here on the board...Also bought several for gifts. If I can even come close to having skin like the woman that sold it to me, I'd be happy!
Notes of interest(?) - construction is still underway around the airport. They made quite a bit of progress just during our two weeks. Our weather was perfect..a little shower in the AM one or two days, plus at night but we had high 80's the entire time. Read five books!
I think I've touched on just about everything. As you can probably tell, our vacation is very low-key and we have a very hard time tearing ourselves away from our villa. It's just too comfortable!
It's back to reality now...and reading other posts here to bring the island images back. I have many stored away in my memory for the snow filled days that I'm afraid aren't that far off!
NH Diane
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