Persevering Paige

We left for St. Martin on September 2nd at 3:30 AM. It was a long day getting to the beautiful island where we were honeymooning, but we made it. Flying into the airport was beautiful. To fly into St. Maarten, you fly right over the beach. You can see the mountains and the crystal clear blue water. We were already excited and we hadn’t even gotten off the plane. We arrived to Princess Juliana International Airport sometime in the afternoon, and from there neither one of us really knew what we were doing since we had never traveled internationally before, but between the two of us, we managed to figure it out. When we stepped out of the plane, we had to walk on the tarmac, and then get into a shuttle bus to get to customs. We had to wait in a little line to get through customs, but it wasn’t too bad. We got our bags fairly quickly, and then we were truly ‘off’. I was a little nervous, as I had booked a transportation company to pick us up from the airport and take us to our resort. We walked down a narrow hallway and then into a crowd of people. I looked at my husband anxiously since the part I was most worried about was getting from the airport to the resort. A few moments later, my eyes met a sign on one of the desks that said “WELCOME PAIGE”–and I knew we were going to make it to the resort. 🙂

Our taxi driver was a man named Edgar. He was short, funny, and had an accent that forced you to listen hard to understand. We talked to Edgar all the way to our resort. He showed us landmarks and explained things the whole ride. Let’s just say, island drivers are much different than U.S. drivers. There is only one stoplight on the island, a lot of roundabouts, and very few cops. You can probably imagine what that means—people just drive without really braking much. It was quite interesting for this cautious driver. People were also walking out in front of cars and I knew right away that I would have never been able to drive us from the airport to our resort myself. I could tell Edgar had gotten frustrated a few times. He pointed to the sign that said, “French side” and let us know that we had just crossed over into the French side of the island. We drove past little villages, shops, residences, corridors, and the ocean was all around us. One thing I immediately noticed was how close we were to the mountains. The island is extremely mountainous, and it is a view that I could appreciate forever. The mountains looked different than Virginia’s mountains. I can’t explain it. It may have been that we were just a lot closer to them.

If you don’t know anything about the island St. Maarten/St. Martin, it is in the Caribbean, but it’s owned by 2 countries: The Netherlands and France. We flew into the Dutch side (you have to, there is no airport on the French side) and were staying on the French side. St. Maarten is the Dutch side and St. Martin is the French side. The French side is considered to be more rural.

We got to our resort, which was at the bottom of a very large hill. Edgar pointed and said, “There is where you stay.” When we got to the resort, Edgar got our bags and we met a woman at the check in table. The lobby was spacious and warm. It was dark with 2 openings on each side. The woman checked us in while another person came over and offered us a glass of champagne. He then told us that he would be taking our bags up to the room for us. We were in room 1337, but before going up there, we were given a tour of the resort. It seemed confusing, but we were trying to take it all in.

It took us about half a day to get the hang of the layout of the resort. Once we did, it was smooth sailing. There were about 6-7 restaurants, which rotated being open for lunch/dinner. There was a pool, and a beach with the mountains on both sides. The walk to the pool or beach was surrounded by palm trees and the breeze was right in your hair. The resort put out a newsletter each day with what was open for lunch/dinner. They kept your mini bar stocked and came up to clean your room daily. You also had the option to order room service for meals. My favorite part of the mini bar was the espresso machine. 🙂 I enjoyed going out onto the balcony each morning, looking out into the foreign mountains, and drinking my caffeine. I forgot to bring bug spray, though, and got many bug bites to take home as souvenirs.

Throughout our week in St. Martin, we enjoyed time at the pool–being able to walk up to the bar and grill anytime we wanted–and time at the beach. Both were amazing and full of beauty. While at the pool, we ran into iguanas. The most we saw at once was 4 or 5. We went to Portofino (the BEST Italian food I’ve ever had), Olio (the resort’s Mediterranean option), Barefoot (the pool’s grill), Market (a healthy buffet), CoCo Café (our morning coffee/croissant run), and the bars at the resort.

We did realize how different things are in France than in America, since St. Martin is owned by France. Perhaps I did not conduct enough research, but I found out the outlets in our room were not suitable for my American hairdryer or curling iron. I almost electrocuted myself in the first 20 minutes of being there. Key word–almost. I didn’t. The outlet looked so different, but I still tried to plug my hairdryer in it. It worked, but it seemed to be getting really hot, almost unbearably hot, pretty quickly. I could also see a small flame. I went down to the lobby and asked them how I use my hairdryer. I was met with an unusual response, “You cannot.” I said, “Oh.” He said, “Outlets in America usually 120 volts, ours 220. So we give you a hairdryer if there is not one in the room.” I thanked the man and then felt insanely stupid. I’m glad I learned before I hurt myself…

Anyway, my husband’s birthday is the 5th of September, so I booked a sunset cruise the evening of the 5th to celebrate him. We took a taxi from the French side to the Dutch side. We had to go to Philipsburg, the capital of the island, to go on the cruise. We got to the marina and had some time before departing, so we walked around Philipsburg and looked at the boats and went into some shops. We also took in the atmosphere. A lot of outdoor dining with people laughing and drinking. It was crowded but you didn’t feel people on top of you. The marina was simply stunning. There was a small blue bridge where we stood and took a few pictures.

When we boarded the boat and took it out into the ocean, I was even more amazed with how beautiful everything was. The houses on the sides of cliffs and the sunset was wonderful to take in. I took so many pictures on the boat. The breeze and champagne were nice as well. I had never taken a sunset cruise in a different country. I can say it will be hard to top that birthday for the husband.

I had to pay 86 euros to get us back to the resort, which I did not mind since we had such a great time. Albert was the nicest taxi driver, second to Edgar.

I felt at peace in this new place with my new husband. I’m so grateful that we decided to take a week long honeymoon, and I’m so glad we decided to do more and leave the states. Money will return, but these memories will last forever, and we won’t get this time back. It was such a blessing to start our marriage out having this week with each other. Truly the best decision, and I highly recommend!

One of our favorite employees at our resort was Elisha, the bartender at the front by the lobby. We spent a few nights just talking with her. She has been on the island her whole life, but she had great insight, and was so funny. Every other day, the resort would provide live music, and Elisha took my hand one night and forced me to dance in front of everyone. Braden watched in amazement. Let’s say that one was out of my comfort zone!

The things I will remember most are the scenery, people on the island, and the feeling of traveling abroad experiencing new things with my new husband. We walked around and experienced so much. It was the best trip to date. I don’t know if I will ever travel back to St. Martin in my lifetime, but I do know that trips like this will be a priority in our lives. They are worth every penny!