Day 1 (November 7, 2019):

Our annual Remembrance Day weekend trip south is finally here. October has been particularly intense this year, so this annual “escape”  to warmer climates has been something we look forward to, prior to the Christmas rush. And when you live with a musician, trust me when I say that the pre-Christmas season is anything but tranquil. 

This year’s destination is Saint Maarten - or Sint Martin or Saint Martin - your choice!  We were originally supposed to fly Halifax-Toronto-St Martin tomorrow morning, but Westjet inflicted a nasty schedule change, requiring us to cobble another way to the Caribbean. Flight frequencies were so sporadic out of North America to the island that we ended up flying Halifax-Montreal-Newark, overnighting there, and Newark-St Martin tomorrow morning. 

We both got home from work literally 100 minutes before flight departure time. So by the time we made it through security at Halifax airport, we felt very frazzled. The flight to Montreal was on time, and after an hour delay on our connection from Montreal to Newark, we arrived in the Big Apple at 11PM. By 12:30AM we were settled in our hotel near Newark Liberty airport for a short rest before continuing the journey to St Martin tomorrow morning. 

Join on this four day visit to what promises to be a very interesting island, comprised of two nationalities Dutch and French. 

Packed, but on time: Air Canada Airbus A320 from Halifax to Montreal. 

The seemingly never-ending rush hour tail lights upon descent into Dorval. 

Canada’s reality:  “pot” disposal bins are now in all Canadian airports, along with signs encourage passengers to toss their cannabis before heading out of the country. 

Passing our three hours in Montreal in the Maple Leaf Lounge. 

The future is here:  robotic floor cleaners keep Montreal Trudeau Airport spic and span. 

And let’s compare the “cool futurist robotic” atmosphere of Montreal to our arrival at Newark Liberty. That’s the condition of the Air Canada luggage carrousel (circa 1970?!)...

... so the seven suitcases from our entire flight were sent to a United carrousel, which had a padlocked cover preventing the bags from arriving. The air canada baggage agent above didn’t seem to care one bit. It took an hour for the guys in the orange vests to manually retrieve those seven bags, including ours!!