Day 8 – Sunday August 9, 2015. until we meet again.

We woke up this morning at 810, and breakfast once again arrived promptly at 815.

We asked them to set it up on the balcony.  We ordered the same thing as last time – eggs, fruit, berries, coffee, oj.  We sat on the balcony and enjoyed our last breakfast.  I looked out at the bay and Tzvi looked up at the man across the way davening.

We finished eating, then finished packing up and left the room at 930.  We were in a cab by 940 and on our way to the airport.  When we were on the balcony it was sunny and beautiful, when we got to the lobby it was pretty gloomy, and then a few minutes into the drive it began to pour.  Very symmetrical – it rained on the first day and the last.

At one point we were talking to the driver about how we did the bike tour, and of course since this is a small island and everyone knows everyone (though not that small – there are 70,000 people), she knew Dr. Lou and his new biking company.  She said he was a seventh day Adventist, then said he’s “like you guys.”  Then she stopped and said “I shouldn’t assume, but, well, you’re Jewish, right?  How did I know?  Well, duh.”  How did she know though?  The men were all wearing hats, no one was wearing any Jewish stars or anything, and I had already packed my horns.  I guess its just obvious that we’re Jews?

(Side note, which I forgot to mention yesterday:  When it came time to pay for our tea yesterday afternoon, we told the waiter we couldn’t sign.  He said, “Oh, you are kosher?”  We said “Sabbath observer” and he said no problem and signed for us.  Once again, very good with the Shabbos thing.  I guess they get a lot of Jews there, because the waiter told us that he’s had to do this before, and once even had to go up to someone’s room with them to press the elevator and open their door.)

We made it to the airport in about 45 minutes.  The rain didn’t really delay us since the speed limit is already 30 miles an hour.  Our flight wasn’t until 1230, but they said we needed to be there 2 hours early.  We checked in, and then proceeded to American customs (you do them in Bermuda and then fly into a domestic terminal at home).  Tzvi had just checked off “no” on all of the questions, but then the passport control guy started asking if we had food.  I said I had an apple and an orange, and then another guy made us go over to the side and open my bag.  He made me throw away the apple, and said that next time we should make sure to check off “yes” if we have food, because it’s a $300 fine, but he was waiving it this time.  I’m not sure why I was allowed to keep the orange.  The boys had beef jerky that had been bought in the US, but didn’t inform anyone. Oy.

That was pretty much it.  We went through security, waited at the gate for an hour and a half, and then boarded the plane.  It was nice and sunny by the time we had to walk outside and climb the stairs onto the plane.

TZVI:  The flight was fine and we got to New York quick enough, but once we got there the pilot came on and said something about changing landing patterns or something and that it would be about a 10-15 minute delay.  Then we proceeded to circle New York city for an entire hour.  We actually made the same circle eight times, and after a while I realized there had to be something wrong with the plane.  All of the pieces fit together.  They said the TVs “weren’t working” even though we were over New York.  Or maybe they just didn’t want us watching the news about a Jet Blue plane struggling to land at JFK?

STEPH: Eventually we did land, and after taxiing for five minutes the pilot came on to say that we’d be towed into the gate.

Tzvi: Yeah, sure, nothing wrong with the plane.  And yet after circling eight times we were towed in.  okay…

Steph:  I’m pretty sure they towed us in because we came into the last gate and the plane couldn’t make the turn.  Anyway, we got off the plane, got our bags and then Jose picked us up and drove us home.

It was a great vacation.  I hope we get to come back one day.