1st Post

I am happy to report that on our travels to Grenada we only had one meltdown and fortunately it was not myself or Brian which would have been far worse for the family on a whole.  It was Shaine.  And who can blame him, for after leaving California at 11 pm we arrived in Florida a little after 6 in the morning or after 3 am west coast time.  We waited a few hours in the Miami airport to board our next flight down to the Carribean.  This flight from Miami to St. George in Grenada was nearly empty but by then daytime was in full bloom and all the family was content either watching their own personal movie or looking through the window at the many glimpses of islands below or the ocean sweeping by beneath us. 

By the time we landed, sleep had been short and Shaine succumbed on the seat in the airport awaiting immigration.  He simply sat in the chair and leaned back on his backpack before being engulfed in slumber.  But he was not alone.  Emmett and Briley had both fallen asleep sitting up in their chairs as well.  I implored Kaleth to take a picture of Briley as I was filling out yet more paperwork but she rightly pointed out to me that Briley would be most unhappy, to say the least, with such a moment recorded to my phone’s memory and she was correct.  Although I still wished I’d snapped the photo, parental bargaining tools come in many forms. 

Fortunately, the woman ushering each group of new arrivals to Grenada into the line for customs, waited on our group to go last.  We were, of course, last off the plane due to our numbers and the little boys who each carried heavy backpacks and moved generally sloth-like whenever moving was required.  Therefore this wise woman suggested we all remain seated while she brought our required documents to be checked with Brian only representing our family to the immigration agents tasked with review and check-off.  Here is an area where Brian shines as he had all our paperwork so nicely organized by age. With seven people and eight different documents required, Brian’s travel folder came in handy as our documents were checked and cleared.  At this point, we had to awake our sleepers and proceed to cross officially out of the airport and into the country for our 7 day required quarantine. 

            I do enjoy this airport as you still descend off the plane on a stairway to the ground rather than a tunnel. When the humid warmth of the air hits you upon exiting the plane, it feels like a different world calling for swimming in warm ocean waters, reading in the shade, and sailing along an island coastline. Also, you just feel immediately hot.  Another plus to the Grenada airport is its small size.  Check in was very quick and efficient so my sleepers had little time to get in a descent nap before we walked across the line of inquisition to welcome.  It was during this walk as we were asked to sanitize our hands a third time before proceeding that Shaine melted. 

            His tears streamed down without restraint and he looked at me with such forlorn.  I assured him we were so close but truly we still had to pass another checkpoint questioning the contents of our baggage.   After that we still were not done as we had to pack into a five seater taxi with the seven of us plus the driver before arriving at our destination and being able to rest.  Shaine did manage to stop his crying before continuing but he was feeling the strain of travel and sleep deprivation as we all were. 

            Once our taxi driver had loaded our belongings, we loaded ourselves with Kaleth and Briley behind the passenger seat where Brian sat, myself in the middle with Shaine on my lap, and Emmett and Tobias snug behind the driver seat.  You ask if six people can fit in the backseat with at least three large backpacks at our feet and I tell you it is possible.  There may have been more backpacks but at this point who can recall? My concentration was on the driving which as I had forgotten is quite chaotic on the streets of Grenada.  My prayers went out for our little overstuffed clown car to arrive safely at our destination and we did, thank God. 

Slipping at high speeds through narrow streets with pedestrians still afoot and plenty of traffic in both our lane and the other lane, honking is the universal language used by all.  This honking means anything from “hello!” to, “your in my lane!” to, “your doing something wrong!”, or “I did something wrong so sorry.”  It is difficult for me to determine the honk’s meaning. It seems well understood by all the drivers, however, so who am I to question a working system?  Plus we were not actually given an address for the rental house where we were to quarantine but rather a general area and street.  Although our taxi driver did not know the exact location, he knew generally where to go so we relied on the pictures of the house to determine which one was our destination.  Our taxi driver meandered around until we discovered the house and were free from our topsy, turvy, squishy ride.

            When we arrived at the house, we were greeted by our hostess whom we learned is from California near the Bay area making me think:, “Wow! She has certainly made a good choice to live here rather than there.”  After explaining quarantine procedure and the rules for staying in our house, we were allowed to enter once our hands were sanitized again.  But of course it was not just our hands this time. Our luggage was also sprayed with sanitizer as well as just the general air around us. All in the name of stopping the spread.  It was not long before we all went to sleep at an early 6:30 that evening.  It took us much conviction to last that long. As we learned from our last visit, this seems the best way to adapt to Grenada time.