Today I’m at the the start of my homeward bound journey. But that won’t begin until the mid-afternoon.
Morning
My remote access had been cut off in the middle of work the day before. Restoring connectivity wasn’t easy. I did some work on the computer once I had my access reinstated, and nobody could explain why I’d been suspended in the middle of work. Then I dawdled over breakfast and finished reading a book my Kindle and starting the next one. I relaxed at the beach the rest of all day.
At 15:00 I put on long pants and my boots for the first time in 8 months. It felt quite strange to be wearing that much clothing. My light sweater for airplane use had deteriorated and I’d thrown it away. I did have a backup thick undershirt ready in my backpack. The taxi driver came by at 15:30 to take me to the airport and I was a bit worried because we had no A/C. The breeze from driving kept me dry enough despite the heavy clothing.
Airport
I’d planned on getting there a bit over 2 hours before the flight. Armed with my passport and boarding pass I joined the very long snaking line of passengers waiting to check in. One of the BA employees pointed those of us with boarding passes to another line and 30 seconds later I was handing over my paperwork and bag! That was the fastest check in I’ve had in many a year. Now I had too much time on my hands. Judging by the size of the terminal building, I decided it would be better to wait outside security. There was a bar and seating area where the taxis and buses and local pickups were, so I order another final Carib beer and sat down at a bench.
Shortly thereafter I was joined by a gent who I’d met the day before at the la Sagesse Bar; he was returning to the U.K. with his family and friends. It is a small world indeed. We chatted and relaxed until it was time to enter. We’d timed it quite well. I was the last person in line both at the initial security check and the subsequent take-off-your-shoes and remove-all-electronic-devices one. The waiting area was as bleak as I’d presumed, but now it was only a 15-minute wait before the boarding process started.
St. Lucia
I’d chosen a window seat almost all the way in the back in the hopes that even if the flight were moderately full, I’d have on open seat next to me. That plan worked out, at first it looked like the flight would be quite empty, but we had a 1-hour stop in St. Lucia where many passengers embarked.
I looked out my window and saw a trolley car roll up with two official looking characters. They planted the car under the wingtip and raised the stairs so the two inspectors could look at the wing. At first, I suspected a bird strike but then I realized that the strobe had failed. This is, unfortunately, part of the minimum equipment list. In typical Caribbean fashion they poked at it and knocked it about. That was a bad sign and I was mentally going over my hotel room options. Soon thereafter the pilot confirmed that the bulb was indeed broken but was required for night flight and it would only take an hour to repair. While the rest of the passengers groaned, I saw the engineers continue to poke at the light and thought that an hour wouldn’t be enough time.
But there was a spare on board and within an hour we had a functioning light and were taxiing towards the end of the runway for take-off.
After dinner aboard I read my book and tried (unsuccessfully) to sleep. This was the start of the long homeward bound journey.