Five Blissful Days in Antigua

We are back. We have been back for a week now.. and things have been busy. Can you believe it's December already? 

We spent five deliciously blissful days at St. James Club, Antigua.

But it didn't start out that way. This was our first time travelling internationally, it was our first time on a plane. And it all starts with a Covid test. I made an appointment at a local pharmacy that we recently had a really good experience with. They insisted all appointments must be made online. So I did, Sunday morning. And then we show up on said Sunday morning and turns out the pharmacy is closed on Sundays. Time to panic? Thankfully there is a near by urgent care we step in to. 
Do they have appointments available? Yes.. just a couple of people ahead of us.
Do they take our insurance? Sure, no problem.
Excellent. 

We are seen three hours later and are informed that there is a $75 co pay per person. Aren't these supposed to be free? Not in an urgent care. Couldn't you have told us this before we waited for 3 hours. Hahaha, where's the fun in that?  We begrudgingly pay the money.. and are now going to add call our insurance company to our endless chore list.

Its the day before we have to leave and the result hasn't come in yet. The urgent care is useless.. they give us the number of the lab, the lab says they can see our file but the results are pending.. can't do nothin about it.. and now a real panic sets in. We start to make calls.. M's assistant calls the airline and we discover that we don't need a PCR test. We can fly with a Rapid.. oh thank heavens! We scour the interwebs for an appointment.. get one.. test done and result in our hand in less than an hour.. phew. Stupid Urgent Care, I will throw imaginary dung bombs on you every time I drive by. 

The morning of, we are supposed to take an early morning Uber. Three cancel on us.. we are now forty five minutes late and by the time we make it to the gate we are minutes from boarding. No time to grab something for breakfast.. but we are on the plane. There is limited capacity so they check in our carry on's. Losing our luggage would just be a cherry on the hellish ordeal we have been through the last couple of days.. I am praying and crossing my fingers.. 

And then we land. Earlier than planned.. so that's a good thing. I will commend the government of Antigua for their Covid regulations. We all disembarked into a waiting area. Fill out a form and then sanitized our hands before proceeding to the next area. We have our temperatures checked, then someone verifies our vaccinations and Covid tests. Then we sanitized our hands again. Immigrations and thankfully our bags were waiting for us. 

On the flip, when we entered the US, no one asked us for anything. We were supposed to upload our documents on to the airlines website but other than that no one cared. Disappointingly expected.

Our hotel, the St. James Club was for vaccinated travelers only. They had booked rooms far below capacity meaning we never had to hurry to put a towel on a chair, there was always plenty of room every where. There were buffets, we were not allowed to serve ourselves. Everything was behind glass partitions. Very clean and safe. 

Now the pictures.








The weather, the water.. everything was perfect.  

       
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Comments

  1. It sounds so relaxing when you were finally there. The process to get there was taxing however. I hope the relaxation for your family outweighed the process to get there.

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  2. That's crazy! I went to urgent care for a pcr test for when I went to Canada and it was free. But it looks like you had an amazing time minus the rocky start.

    Jennifer
    Curated by Jennifer

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  3. good grief! it is my understanding that you have to pay for travel covid tests. if you are symptomatic then health insurance pays. I agree it's confusing, frustrating and all over a big hot mess. (this is why I don't want to go to Canada yet - they want a negative covid test 72 hours prior to crossing the border AND you might be randomly selected at the border for another covid test)

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  4. wow What a nice holiday!

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  5. Sweet! Looks like everyone had a great time!

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  6. All those setbacks would have driven me into panic mode. I'm glad it all worked out well and you had such a good time. I'm laughing about the imaginary dung bombs. I can think of some places I'd like to hit with those, too!

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  7. Oh my gosh, the start of your trip is my worst nightmare for traveling!! I'm so glad it all worked out and that you had a lovely relaxing time!

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  8. I'm glad to hear you've had a relaxing holiday after the ordeal you went through. I'd throw imaginary dung bombs too :-) xxx

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  9. What a beautiful 5 golden days holiday. Photos you shared here look great. Thanks for the review. Greetings.

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  10. WOW! Sounds like it was crazy getting there but it looks totally worth it in the end.

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  11. Aaaaaaw...looks like you guys had blast, despite the rocky beginning:) That's good the hotel is only for vaccinated people. We won't be travelling for awhile so Imma gonna live vicariously through your posts:D

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  12. I'm so glad the entire trip was much better than the pretrip. Gosh,
    XOXO
    Jodie
    www.jtouchofstyle.com

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  13. I'm sorry for all the ridiculousness with your covid tests! I'm glad it looks like you had a wonderful vacation!

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  14. Awesome! except for all the covid prep.

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  15. So glad you had a great trip. Scary how hard it is to go to other countries and how easy it is to come back into the US. No wonder things have been going as they've been going here.

    Hopefully it was a nice rest. It's always nice to get back, though.

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  16. I am so glad you guys got to travel, your trip looked great super relaxing and fun. But indeed traveling can be quite the challenge today.

    Allie of
    www.allienyc.com

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  17. So brave of you to travel internationally! I am still on tenterhooks and now with the uncertainty of the Omicron virus, I think I will put my travel plans on hold.

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  18. It looks like you managed to have a relaxing and refreshing trip despite the initial hiccups.
    xoxo
    Lovely
    www.mynameislovely.com

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  19. Despite the dreadful few days before you left it looks and sounds WONDERFUL. I am very happy for you.

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  20. Well, once you got there, it was pretty fabulous! But what a tough start. I bet you felt knackered on that trip down. Whew. Glad you made it. But it is disturbing that the US covid precautions at the airport were so lax.

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  21. Wow how rude to be hit up with a $75 co-pay but it looks like you guys had a really fun time in Antigua. I really miss travel but I just deal with all the hassle and the danger of Covid right now.

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  22. i am starting to think you had the hassle before so the trip could be perfect!! i have never heard of paying for a cover test!! i have never heard of paying a co-pay for a covid test!!

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  23. Traveling during the pandemic is tough. I am glad you made it, but sucks that you had to go through a lot just to get there.

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  24. You handled all those testing mishaps like a pro! I would've been a stressed-out mess. I'm so glad everything worked out and you guys had a beautiful trip!

    -Ashley
    Le Stylo Rouge

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  25. So glad it worked out for you! How stressful, though. It looks like you had a wonderful time, and all the headaches were forgotten once you landed. Disheartened to hear that US didn't check.

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  26. I'm sorry you had all the troubles getting tested, but it looks like it was worth it! Beautiful place.

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  27. I'm sorry you had some trouble getting there, but once you got to your location it looks like you had a lovely time :) Happy Thursday!

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  28. Well the beginning of your trip started out rough, but the rest looks amazing!

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  29. What a wonderrful plan!
    Have a great week,
    S

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  30. I'm so glad that after a rocky start you had an amazing trip!

    Jill - Doused in Pink

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  31. We used to travel all the time, we worked overseas in Kenya, Singapore, and Greece...I kind of miss the opportunities, but I don't miss the long flights/delays/stress of travel. Glad you all had a great time once you got there!

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