Day 1:
We got a ride to JFK. Security was a breeze. We waited in the airspace lounge until boarding. The flight was uneventful until we started making our descent and we saw the breathtaking views, like nothing I have ever seen before (chalk sound). We got off our plane and walked right onto the tarmac, first time I ever did that. I tried taking a picture but security told me to put my phone/camera away while on the tarmac. We went through customs, went very quickly, and then picked up our luggage by the outdoor carousel. We asked where we can find the domestic flights area, and we were pointed in the right direction. We showed up to the intercaribbean airlines desk to check in. I gave them my print out of the confirmation in fear of not being able to access it on my phone. They said that we were NOT on the flight. I said “what?” They said that I didn’t pay for it, so they dropped my reservation. I told them I tried paying for it but upon check out I was told to pay at the counter. They said they are sorry, the website has some issues. I said whatever (thinking that no one flied these domestic airlines anyway) “can I please have 2 tickets for the flight?” “There’s only one seat available.” I said “compensate one of the other passengers to take a later flight” (that’s what they do in America). She responded “we can’t do that.” (me thinking it’s a third world country at this point, they’re very lax) I said “okay, have someone sit on someone else’s lap or the aisle. She said “we can’t do that.” Me “Fine, can you put me on a later flight?” Agent “all of our later flights are booked for the day, the next available flight is tomorrow afternoon.” Me “is there nothing you can do?” Agent “No.” I told her to give me some time to think. At this point I wasn’t sure whether we should spend the night in Provo and just fly to Grand Turk the next day to which we will lose more vacation time traveling, or make a last minute booking on Provo, it’s supposed to be beautiful. There was a restaurant right where we were with a sign that said free wifi. DW and I went in to try to see what kind of cheap hotels we can get on the island of Provo. We found some cheapish hotels but the wifi was so spotty that we weren’t able to make any bookings. We decided we were going to stay on the island rather than shlep to another island the next day. I asked someone in the restaurant if we can use the phone. She said we can use her cell but try to limit the call because they only have limited amount of minutes (who has minutes any more these days?) I called the cheapest hotel (not the actual cheapest, the cheapest one that looked nice with a pool and beach) and made a reservation. Okay, not everything on this trip was ruined. We got into a cab and told him where we were staying. He said, “you’re staying there? That’s the only resort not in the main part of the island, you’re going to need a car otherwise you will be paying $50-60 one way each time you want to do something.” Oh no, what did we do? The hotel was a condo hotel, Northwest Point Resort. The grounds were beautiful, the pool was nice, but the beach did not remind us of the Caribbean. Sure it was nicer than anything in NYC, but it was no Caribbean beach. The room was very big; living dining area, full updated kitchen, huge bathroom, two terraces… We decided to take the rest of the day to just relax and figure out how to rent a car. We made a reservation with Dollar using the chabad code being that I was technically too young to rent a car. We went to check out the lame looking beach and just chilled the rest of the night.
