January 2 - Snow Storm Hurcules

I was called exactly at 3am today.  Aruba turn.  There’s a big snow storm about to hit the NE, so I decided to pack a suitcase to bring with me, just in case.  I was running late to the airport, so when I got a call from a supervisor to tell me “just so you know, our Aruba flights leave from a different terminal”, I was able to say “OH, I’m already in the crew lounge, I’ll have to travel over there.”

When I eventually got to the gate, turns out our plane is running really late by about an hour.  The plane had come in as a red eye from an international destination to Terminal C.  After everyone exits the plane, it has to be cleaned and searched by customs or something and then is taxied over to Terminal E.  It was late arriving from the redeye and hence, late leaving for Aruba.

I loved the two people I was flying with.  The F1 and I worked together just after Thanksgiving, he has a lot of seniority in our base and the F3 is also really senior.  The flight was fun and we kept hoping the return flight would be cancelled once we landed.  Unfortunately, when we got to the ground, the Captain informed us that we would be returning to Boston… just in time for the snow storm.  Great.  The entire plane of passengers felt horrible for us.

Well… when the gate agent opened the door, she informed us we were cancelled!!!  The F1 was so excited he ran out of the plane and picked up the gate agent in a giant bear hug!  The passengers all clapped for us and we smiled and jumped for joy as we said good-bye to everyone.  Yippee!  Free stay in Aruba!!

On the way out of the airport, we bought bottles of alcohol and headed to the hotel.

What an amazing hotel we stay at too!  My room was amazing and had it’s own balcony.  So glad I brought some clothes with me!  We all ran upstairs and then met back down by the pool to commence drinking!  It was so beautiful.  Our Captain came down too, but boy what a grump.  He was so pissed to be stuck in Aruba and wanted to get back to Boston pretty badly.

This was my 6^th day of flying, so according to FAA regulations, I cannot fly a 7^th day.  Looks like I’m gonna be stuck in Aruba for at least 2 nights! 

The rest of the day we just drank around the pool, then up in my room on the balcony and then went to the other side of the hotel and hung out some more.  Mmm… coconut rum and pineapple juice is amazing.

View from the pool deck

We brought our booze down in coffee cups lol.  Classy

Pool side

Sunset was beautiful