The Commute

 

This morning, while flying from Boston to Newark, NJ en route to San Juan en route to Tortola, I looked out the window and saw a massive river, a beautiful valley, and some tell-tale bridges and power plants that let me know we were flying over my childhood home of tiny Milton, New York.  It took me by surprise, and I thought for a minute about how as a kid I'd sit in the town library thumbing through National Geographic magazines, dreaming of visiting warm, faraway places. And here I was, on a big jet, flying over that library, on my way to a warm, faraway place.

Not so fast, Mister.

From my home in Maine, it's 5,091 miles to Kona, Hawaii, 4,903 miles to the Turkish coast, and a mere 1995 miles to the British Virgin Islands, my places of work. The BVI commute tends to be the most troublesome, and today was no exception. It included a mile long sprint through terminal C at Newark airport, a cancelled flight from San Juan to Tortola (missing pilot), and a fried potato stuffed with spicy meat and cheese for dinner (Puerto Rico gets a bad rap for food, but I love it). Waylaid here for the night, Heather and I will show up a day later than planned for the start of our 20th British Virgin Islands SwimVacation, but still in plenty of time to greet our guests before anchors aweigh at noon tomorrow.

I'm really excited abut this trip, and a tad nostalgic. We'll have 4 long-time guides (me, Heather, Dave, and Fitzy), as well as Yacht friends Kerry and Bazza with first mate, Bob. They're also partners in this thing, and SwimVacation is built on their dedication to the Yacht Promenade. 8-time guest Mark, 3-time guest Yafa, 2 timers John and Frances, friends from Bath, Maine Pam and Craig, and new swimmers Art and Amy will be aboard.

We'll be blogging and posting great pics all week, I hope you follow along!

Hopper