Day 2 (November 8, 2019):

The morning rush-hour at Newark’s Liberty Airport was brutal. 30 airplanes ahead of us, waiting to take off. It took 55 minutes! The only consolation was a great view of Manhattan in the distance as we waited.

It must be hard to live in the shadow of Manhattan. Newark is often overlooked as insignificant, but in fact, it has quite a large city center. That is Red Bull Arena in the bottom right hand corner, and the Passaic River runs through the city.

So where exactly is Saint Martin? The airplane icon, taken from the United seat back map, shows its proximity in relation to the other Caribbean islands.

That’s a view of our hotel, a few seconds before landing.

If I told you there was a marching band to greet Pam‘s arrival out of the back of the United Airline Boeing 737–700 upon landing at Princess Juliana International

Airport, would you believe me? I wouldn’t either.

For years I have wanted to stand in this very spot! What airplane aficionado would not? This is the end of the runway at the Princess Juliana International Airport in St Martin, known as the world’s fourth most dangerous airport, and more widely known as a place like none other on earth in terms of getting close to landing aircraft and/or feeling the jet engine thrust of departing aircraft. This is actually the reason I chose Saint Martin for our 2019 Caribbean trip.

The guard rail reads, “jet blast, do not stand, danger”. Hopefully, while I am here, I will have a chance to experience the world-famous sandblast of a departing aircraft in this spot. The Internet is filled with YouTube videos showing people doing exactly that, as risky as it is.

On this, our first day on the island, we didn’t get to experience the landing of a large jet. But this inbound deHaviland Twin Otter prop provided a foretaste of what we hope to experience while we are here.