Arrived, Asleep and Azores. Brought to you by the letter ‘A.’
Last night I pulled out our foreign currency jar to scrounge for Euros. We have money from Argentina, Australia, Bahamas, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Croatia, Denmark, Fiji, Great Britain, Malta, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Poland, and Saudi Arabia. And a hundred other coins we could not identify. We scored $120 Euro.
Our first morning started bright and early standing outside for a 3:45 shuttle ride to the airport. Though nice and chatty, our driver erratically punched the accelerator and I arrived green faced (super nauseous) for our first flight, Denver to New York. Larry purchased a bottle of Sprite. After a few sips and burps, I felt better.
Delta Airlines is dedicated to “the world’s best employees and customers.” If you don’t believe me, look at their aircraft paint job. They did offer a good music selection.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (JFK) International Airport is undergoing a 19 billion dollar renovation.
With an 8 1/2 hour layover, we decided to eat off airport property. Let me summarize; one bus, three Ubers, one closed restaurant, and stranded in a sketchy neighborhood. We did locate a corner establishment serving gyros for a late lunch.
Uber number three’s return trip to JFK international terminal drove us round and round, in tight circles through overlapping cloverleafs. Again, I arrived green faced. Not liking the shuttle/uber rides this day.
Daughter Sarah, who lives in Brooklyn, came to the terminal for a short visit. We told stories and laughed.
Last year, Larry had a few bee stings. As his face and neck swelled, I took him to Urgent Care. According to Larry, the recommended steroid shot was worse than the stings. Interestingly enough, he received a prescript for EpiPens.
Well, he was stung again on Friday while mowing the yard next to his hive. First his thumb swelled, then his hand, and when Sarah visited, the red moved up his arm.
He’s red, I’m green. Tradition Christmas.
“I’ll be ok,” he keeps telling me.
I think this is our last year with bees.
Our second flight on SATA Azores started at a crawl. As Larry slept (he blames the Benadryl) it took an hour to taxi in position for takeoff. Larry made a great buffer from the passenger on the other side coughing continuously as I watched the wing lights flash. In addition to coughing woman, there was a baby behind us wailing out of tempo with the Micheal Bublé my headphones.
After six hours of intermittent napping with our fellow comrades, we arrived to Ponta Delgado, capital of the Azores, as the sun rose from the east.
Drive to our Airbnb.
