Travel Tales Part II - A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Grenada
When I think about the second leg of my November journey, I can still hear the sweet Caribbean-accented voices of the flight attendants, "welcome to LIAT, the airline of the Caribbean" ... in retrospect, they should warn passengers that LIAT is an acronym for "leave island any time." In my case, though, I thing the airplane gods must have really wanted me to have some sort of semi-romantic interlude in Trinidad, which incidentally was nowhere on my travel itinerary.
It was Friday the 16th, not Friday the 13th ... but there were elements at work that day that conspired against a smooth, uneventful transition from a place in the Leeward Islands or northern(ish) Caribbean to an island in the Windward or southern part of the Caribbean. My friends on the St. Kitts & Nevis Friendly Forum found this little side-story quite amusing, and they wondered how I have become so gifted at the art of embellishment. What is really sad/wonderful about this little tale is that it is all true ... and I even left out a whole bit about a near altercation with a LIAT agent in Barbados, who was intent on “shushing” me when I tried to tell her that a bunch of passengers were left by her colleague on the other side of the airport, oblivious to the boarding call for the
impending departure of our long awaited flight - my third and final flight of the day which would finally get me to Grenada. The loud-speakers appeared to be broken and nobody cared. But this will have to form the basis for a whole other chapter, because I don’t want to re-live the horror of being embarrassed in front of a bunch of strangers in a strange airport by a young lady who obviously enjoyed tormenting tourists!
OK, so fasten your seat belts and come fly with me. November 16th was a stressful morning. Little sleep, because I feared that I would miss my wake-up call and my early morning flight out of St. Kitts. My LIAT ticket to Grenada involved multiple transfers via Antigua and Barbados, but the pay-off would be that I could reach Grenada by noon, (yes, I know, what was I thinking? ) When I checked in at the LIAT counter, the desk agent informed me that my flight from Barbados to Grenada had been cancelled. Apparently, the airplane gods could only get me from St. Kitts to Antigua, and then from Antigua to Barbados, where apparently, I was to stay. My original flight was evidently taken out of the air because to poor ticket sales - in other words there were too many empty seats; but LIAT forgot to put me on another flight to connect me from Barbados to Grenada. So, I started weeping and getting all agitated and the desk agent, Shaniqua, moved heaven and earth to re-book me on another flight.
Shaniqua is now my ticket angel, because between checking in other departing passengers, and keeping an eye on incoming flights, she suddenly looks up with a big smile and says, you are booked on flight number 777 leaving Barbados at 11:15 a.m. Now we're talking! My response to Shaniqua, at this point, goes something like this: "well at least it's not flight number 666!" (Where is Rod Serling when you need him?!) The ticket angel responds with a big grin, "Oh no Ms. Capraro, three sevens are very good luck ... I think today is your lucky day and you will have a very pleasant adventure!" I think she used to work at the Marriott Casino, in Frigate Bay.
Of course, in Barbados it was announced that flight number 777 was delayed. 2:00 p.m. came and went - no sign of my flight. After about an hour the waiting passengers began to get nervous. An agent came to get us all to escort us to the Grab 'n Go or Stop 'n Shop or some such place, to grab a complimentary meal, but while people were getting their meals and drinks, the flight was called! Huhh? Back to the gate we all ran. We were eventually corralled onto the plane at which point I realized that some passengers were going on to St. Vincent and finally some were going to Trinidad. But, my ticket said Grenada. I asked the flight attendant and she reassured me that we were stopping first in Grenada, then some passengers were going to St. Vincent and Trinidad. I had a bad feeling, but my ticket angel in St. Kitts said that this was going to be my lucky day!
Once the plane was in the air, the pilot made that DREADED announcement that many LIAT passengers before me have heard: the plane was NOT going to land in Grenada or St. Vincent, but was going straight to Trinidad! Due to a fuel shortage, the plane would not make it all the way to all three stops, unless one or two stops were cut from the itinerary. For some reason they were unable to fuel up in Barbados. Why? Don't the have fuel there? Does LIAT owe them money? The flight attendant reassured us that they had been in communication with LIAT headquarters and all passengers bound for Grenada would be accommodated on flights later that evening. Uh huh!
Once in Piarco Airport, Port of Spain, the passengers are informed that, in fact, the later flights were sold out and that we have, instead, been guaranteed seats on the first flight in the morning. By now I am wondering how in heaven's name the ticket angel in St. Kitts could possibly have suggested that this is my good-luck day? Things seem to go from bad to worse when an agent informs about 30 of us that we are being provided with overnight hotel accommodation at their expense. I should think so! Too good to be true ...you see, they were sending us to a place called the Belair and everything that I had read on TripAdvisor about this place was BAD! A real fleabag of a place. AND not safe for single females. OK, here we go ...
So, now it is close to 5:00 p.m. I have not eaten ALL day, and I am cranky and hypoglycemic. Well, for some reason, I start to think that this is all quite funny and I start laughing ... and laughing .... and laughing .... and really wanting to cry ... so, I go outside for a smoke.
Then, I think some kind of Karmic payback began to kick in to make up for an unpleasant experience I had to endure in St. Kitts two days earlier: you see, a couple of "Good Samaritans" decided to help save the day/evening for several of us. Once I had some nicotine in me, I stopped with the hysterical laughter and I was able to really focus ... at which point I became aware of these two gentlemen (with a capital "G".) One was a curious, cultured hybrid of Yul Brynner and Denzel Washington, (complete with a hypnotic Caribbean accent, of course) Grenadian-born and a frequent traveller; the other was a British businessman who works in the Caribbean basin and has a home in Grenada. They were both talking to the stranded passengers and seemed to be doing their utmost to advocate with the LIAT and airport agents to send us to better digs. Basically these gentlemen were telling us, whatever we do, it was imperative we not stay at the Belair Hotel, as it was really bad and in a seedy neighborhood. See? I already knew that because I am a travel forum junkie and I read all this on Trip Advisor. So, I was armed with information and a back-up plan! O.K., I didn't really have a back-up plan, per se, but I knew that it is always a good idea, in theory to have one, and I knew the reasons why ... but I digress ...
It was Friday the 16th, not Friday the 13th ... but there were elements at work that day that conspired against a smooth, uneventful transition from a place in the Leeward Islands or northern(ish) Caribbean to an island in the Windward or southern part of the Caribbean. My friends on the St. Kitts & Nevis Friendly Forum found this little side-story quite amusing, and they wondered how I have become so gifted at the art of embellishment. What is really sad/wonderful about this little tale is that it is all true ... and I even left out a whole bit about a near altercation with a LIAT agent in Barbados, who was intent on “shushing” me when I tried to tell her that a bunch of passengers were left by her colleague on the other side of the airport, oblivious to the boarding call for the
impending departure of our long awaited flight - my third and final flight of the day which would finally get me to Grenada. The loud-speakers appeared to be broken and nobody cared. But this will have to form the basis for a whole other chapter, because I don’t want to re-live the horror of being embarrassed in front of a bunch of strangers in a strange airport by a young lady who obviously enjoyed tormenting tourists!
OK, so fasten your seat belts and come fly with me. November 16th was a stressful morning. Little sleep, because I feared that I would miss my wake-up call and my early morning flight out of St. Kitts. My LIAT ticket to Grenada involved multiple transfers via Antigua and Barbados, but the pay-off would be that I could reach Grenada by noon, (yes, I know, what was I thinking? ) When I checked in at the LIAT counter, the desk agent informed me that my flight from Barbados to Grenada had been cancelled. Apparently, the airplane gods could only get me from St. Kitts to Antigua, and then from Antigua to Barbados, where apparently, I was to stay. My original flight was evidently taken out of the air because to poor ticket sales - in other words there were too many empty seats; but LIAT forgot to put me on another flight to connect me from Barbados to Grenada. So, I started weeping and getting all agitated and the desk agent, Shaniqua, moved heaven and earth to re-book me on another flight.
Shaniqua is now my ticket angel, because between checking in other departing passengers, and keeping an eye on incoming flights, she suddenly looks up with a big smile and says, you are booked on flight number 777 leaving Barbados at 11:15 a.m. Now we're talking! My response to Shaniqua, at this point, goes something like this: "well at least it's not flight number 666!" (Where is Rod Serling when you need him?!) The ticket angel responds with a big grin, "Oh no Ms. Capraro, three sevens are very good luck ... I think today is your lucky day and you will have a very pleasant adventure!" I think she used to work at the Marriott Casino, in Frigate Bay.
Of course, in Barbados it was announced that flight number 777 was delayed. 2:00 p.m. came and went - no sign of my flight. After about an hour the waiting passengers began to get nervous. An agent came to get us all to escort us to the Grab 'n Go or Stop 'n Shop or some such place, to grab a complimentary meal, but while people were getting their meals and drinks, the flight was called! Huhh? Back to the gate we all ran. We were eventually corralled onto the plane at which point I realized that some passengers were going on to St. Vincent and finally some were going to Trinidad. But, my ticket said Grenada. I asked the flight attendant and she reassured me that we were stopping first in Grenada, then some passengers were going to St. Vincent and Trinidad. I had a bad feeling, but my ticket angel in St. Kitts said that this was going to be my lucky day!
Once the plane was in the air, the pilot made that DREADED announcement that many LIAT passengers before me have heard: the plane was NOT going to land in Grenada or St. Vincent, but was going straight to Trinidad! Due to a fuel shortage, the plane would not make it all the way to all three stops, unless one or two stops were cut from the itinerary. For some reason they were unable to fuel up in Barbados. Why? Don't the have fuel there? Does LIAT owe them money? The flight attendant reassured us that they had been in communication with LIAT headquarters and all passengers bound for Grenada would be accommodated on flights later that evening. Uh huh!
Once in Piarco Airport, Port of Spain, the passengers are informed that, in fact, the later flights were sold out and that we have, instead, been guaranteed seats on the first flight in the morning. By now I am wondering how in heaven's name the ticket angel in St. Kitts could possibly have suggested that this is my good-luck day? Things seem to go from bad to worse when an agent informs about 30 of us that we are being provided with overnight hotel accommodation at their expense. I should think so! Too good to be true ...you see, they were sending us to a place called the Belair and everything that I had read on TripAdvisor about this place was BAD! A real fleabag of a place. AND not safe for single females. OK, here we go ...
So, now it is close to 5:00 p.m. I have not eaten ALL day, and I am cranky and hypoglycemic. Well, for some reason, I start to think that this is all quite funny and I start laughing ... and laughing .... and laughing .... and really wanting to cry ... so, I go outside for a smoke.
Then, I think some kind of Karmic payback began to kick in to make up for an unpleasant experience I had to endure in St. Kitts two days earlier: you see, a couple of "Good Samaritans" decided to help save the day/evening for several of us. Once I had some nicotine in me, I stopped with the hysterical laughter and I was able to really focus ... at which point I became aware of these two gentlemen (with a capital "G".) One was a curious, cultured hybrid of Yul Brynner and Denzel Washington, (complete with a hypnotic Caribbean accent, of course) Grenadian-born and a frequent traveller; the other was a British businessman who works in the Caribbean basin and has a home in Grenada. They were both talking to the stranded passengers and seemed to be doing their utmost to advocate with the LIAT and airport agents to send us to better digs. Basically these gentlemen were telling us, whatever we do, it was imperative we not stay at the Belair Hotel, as it was really bad and in a seedy neighborhood. See? I already knew that because I am a travel forum junkie and I read all this on Trip Advisor. So, I was armed with information and a back-up plan! O.K., I didn't really have a back-up plan, per se, but I knew that it is always a good idea, in theory to have one, and I knew the reasons why ... but I digress ...
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