No, you cannot sleep in the airport. This is not "The Amazing Race."

As some of you read, we are flying into San Juan at midnight the night beofre our 8:30 am flight to St. Thomas. I was going to book a room at the Best Western in SJU but someone suggested possibly sleeping in the terminal since by the time we get our luggage and into our room then get back up to get ready and head back to the terminal we will really only have about 4 hours of sleep. And I can think of a lot better things to do with $200 on STJ than crash in a dingy hotel room at San Juan airport.

So...my question is...after we pick up our bags, what is the best place to set up camp for a few hours of shut eye? I am assuing we can't check our bags that early and hang out at our morning gate. So just anywhere outside of security then? Are there better places than others? I have not yet had the pleaseure/displeasure of experiencing thsi airport but I assume it is relatively large compared to most Caribbean airports. This plan isn't set in stone yet so any input would be helpful.

Saturday, May 22, 2010.

So, I had an arrival today. My guests made the 1:00 boat from town, hooray. Love the downtown boat. I was headed for the dock at 1:40 p.m., and much to my surprise, saw this:

Access to the dock is closed, for what I thought was a steel pan fundraiser. I drove back around, through the round-about, and somehow managed to back up to the dock. THERE WERE PEOPLE EVERYWHERE. And me, holding my little sign, and looking for my guests. All of a sudden, a helicopter swooped down, a DEA cigarette boat circled the harbor, the ambulance took off, and some "drunk man" was arrested and handcuffed while trying to board a power boat. Food was being sold in the park, and the steel pans were being set up. They were also doing tours on the Coast Guard cutter, tied up at the dock where the ferries should have been.

I felt like I was hallucinating. And I still could not find my guests. I asked someone at the dock what was going on, and his reply was something along the lines of "Safe Boating Week, and they are doing reenactments". Really?  Yup, your tax dollars at work;  all of the bells and whistles were out in full force today. I was actually too stunned and befuddled to pull out my camera.

I finally learned that the passenger ferries were diverted to the old barge dock at the creek. Cluster fuck? And that the main ferry dock had been closed since at least 8:00 this morning, according to the car rental agent, and she said departing guests were freaked out. Apologies to my guests who left this morning, I had no idea.

So, welcome to St. John! I don't think Tourism was at the creek to hand out free rum punches. It must have been a very warm welcome to arrive here, after traveling all day, to a harbor filled with every sort of local and federal agency swooping and swarming around. Enjoy your visit!

The round-about, again!

No, no, no!!! You do not stop in the middle of the round-about, ever. And certainly NOT to drop off a bus load of children on a busy Friday afternoon! If I had a child getting off that bus, I'd be pissed!