Toni
Senior Insider
I’m referring to my recent trip as “les vacances” since it was, in reality, three trips in one…
It started on May 26th when two friends and I flew to the island to begin our “girlfriend” week. Neither of my friends had been to Saint Barth before and though they were “tingling” with anticipation, they are also both nervous fliers and were not sure of what to expect in that regard. Luckily, our travel karma was good. We met in Charlotte as planned, arrived in SXM to find that our SBC flight would go over early and we arrived on the island way ahead of schedule. As I had hoped, we landed over the hill and both of my friends declared that it wasn’t nearly as bad as they were expecting. I actually think they liked it a bit. So far… so good…
Now, it was my turn to be nervous… Though this was my 14th trip to Saint Barth, I had never driven there before and the recent reports about the (even crazier) driving had me a little on edge. But… it was time to put on my big girl pants and drive, so I checked in with Gumbs, we loaded the car and we were off to the Normandie Hotel where we were to spend our first night. I have to admit that my reaction to the driving was the same as my friends’ reaction to the flight…. really not so bad… maybe I even enjoyed it a little bit...
Upon arriving at the Normandie, we were greeted warmly by the darling manager, Eula and then I looked up and was surprised to see none other than Dennis Carlton, hotelier extraordinaire! Dennis was on the island for a few days and told us that he would be “filling in” as host at the hotel while we were there. While we chatted, the phone rang and my friends were surprised when Eula informed me, “It’s for you.” On the phone was our dear Rosita, who told me that a “gang” had been waiting for us at the airport and not knowing that we had arrived early, didn’t know how they had missed us. She told me to stay put and that they were coming to see us.
Moments later, the “gang” arrived and we were greeted with hugs and bisous by Rosita, Roy and GayleR and her husband, Michael. Gayle, who on her own is effervescent enough, was toting a welcome bottle of Veuve Clicquot, which she presented to the girls and me to start off our vacation. (Merci, mon amie!) Dennis graciously brought out some glasses and we all enjoyed the champagne and conversation…
Wait- did I say we had been nervous? About flying? About driving?... At that point, we didn’t have a care in the world. The warm greeting by our forum friends had set the tone for what was to be a delightful week...
The next morning, after serving us breakfast, Dennis loaded some of our luggage in his car and later, while we were headed to Sante Fe for our Sunday lunch, he delivered it to Les Jardins d’Emmanuel, our home for the rest of the week. To say that he went the extra mile for us is no exaggeration and I will always remember his kindness and our lovely experience at the Normandie.
I won’t detail every other moment of the week, but will just say that from the moment we arrived at Les Jardins d’Emmanuel, my friends were enchanted with the villa (and of course, with Rosita!) and with the island and with the warm greetings that met us in so many of the places we went. As the week went on, there were times when it seemed that we had perfected the art of doing nothing and yet, there were many highlights… We did the drive around the island with stops at the beaches and to climb up to Fort Carl for the views.. We hiked to Colombier one day, we went to the Tuesday night fashion show at the Isle de France and then returned there on Thursday to enjoy the spa and lunch special.
We started each day with fresh local eggs from Vitet and with goodies from Petite Colombe, which is (now that the new sidewalk is in place) just a short walk from EMM. For lunches, we went to Sante Fe, La Plage, Le Piment and La Case de l’isle and of course, one day had cheeseburgers at Le Select. For dinners, we went to Eddy’s, Andy’s Hideaway, Côté Port, Wall House and La Gloriette. (Note: Try the Saint Barth pizza with cream sauce, ham and pineapple. It was yummy!)
On our last night together, we climbed up to the lighthouse and had a traditional Junie toast to the sunset and to our wonderful week.
On Friday morning, we took this photo before one of my friends departed…
The other departed on Saturday, but not before I packed up and moved to La Maison in Saint Jean where I would be spending the next 12 days.
As Ellen would say, there is more to come…
It started on May 26th when two friends and I flew to the island to begin our “girlfriend” week. Neither of my friends had been to Saint Barth before and though they were “tingling” with anticipation, they are also both nervous fliers and were not sure of what to expect in that regard. Luckily, our travel karma was good. We met in Charlotte as planned, arrived in SXM to find that our SBC flight would go over early and we arrived on the island way ahead of schedule. As I had hoped, we landed over the hill and both of my friends declared that it wasn’t nearly as bad as they were expecting. I actually think they liked it a bit. So far… so good…
Now, it was my turn to be nervous… Though this was my 14th trip to Saint Barth, I had never driven there before and the recent reports about the (even crazier) driving had me a little on edge. But… it was time to put on my big girl pants and drive, so I checked in with Gumbs, we loaded the car and we were off to the Normandie Hotel where we were to spend our first night. I have to admit that my reaction to the driving was the same as my friends’ reaction to the flight…. really not so bad… maybe I even enjoyed it a little bit...
Upon arriving at the Normandie, we were greeted warmly by the darling manager, Eula and then I looked up and was surprised to see none other than Dennis Carlton, hotelier extraordinaire! Dennis was on the island for a few days and told us that he would be “filling in” as host at the hotel while we were there. While we chatted, the phone rang and my friends were surprised when Eula informed me, “It’s for you.” On the phone was our dear Rosita, who told me that a “gang” had been waiting for us at the airport and not knowing that we had arrived early, didn’t know how they had missed us. She told me to stay put and that they were coming to see us.
Moments later, the “gang” arrived and we were greeted with hugs and bisous by Rosita, Roy and GayleR and her husband, Michael. Gayle, who on her own is effervescent enough, was toting a welcome bottle of Veuve Clicquot, which she presented to the girls and me to start off our vacation. (Merci, mon amie!) Dennis graciously brought out some glasses and we all enjoyed the champagne and conversation…
Wait- did I say we had been nervous? About flying? About driving?... At that point, we didn’t have a care in the world. The warm greeting by our forum friends had set the tone for what was to be a delightful week...
The next morning, after serving us breakfast, Dennis loaded some of our luggage in his car and later, while we were headed to Sante Fe for our Sunday lunch, he delivered it to Les Jardins d’Emmanuel, our home for the rest of the week. To say that he went the extra mile for us is no exaggeration and I will always remember his kindness and our lovely experience at the Normandie.
I won’t detail every other moment of the week, but will just say that from the moment we arrived at Les Jardins d’Emmanuel, my friends were enchanted with the villa (and of course, with Rosita!) and with the island and with the warm greetings that met us in so many of the places we went. As the week went on, there were times when it seemed that we had perfected the art of doing nothing and yet, there were many highlights… We did the drive around the island with stops at the beaches and to climb up to Fort Carl for the views.. We hiked to Colombier one day, we went to the Tuesday night fashion show at the Isle de France and then returned there on Thursday to enjoy the spa and lunch special.
We started each day with fresh local eggs from Vitet and with goodies from Petite Colombe, which is (now that the new sidewalk is in place) just a short walk from EMM. For lunches, we went to Sante Fe, La Plage, Le Piment and La Case de l’isle and of course, one day had cheeseburgers at Le Select. For dinners, we went to Eddy’s, Andy’s Hideaway, Côté Port, Wall House and La Gloriette. (Note: Try the Saint Barth pizza with cream sauce, ham and pineapple. It was yummy!)
On our last night together, we climbed up to the lighthouse and had a traditional Junie toast to the sunset and to our wonderful week.
On Friday morning, we took this photo before one of my friends departed…
The other departed on Saturday, but not before I packed up and moved to La Maison in Saint Jean where I would be spending the next 12 days.
As Ellen would say, there is more to come…
