The first thing I did was swing by duty-free. I spent about $400 on booze while I was waiting, and w

I ve always wanted to go backpacking through Europe. This has been a pipe dream of mine since high school. Since the day I discovered multi-tabbed browsing, one of my tabs would always open to Travelocity's dream maps, telling me which European point of entry was the cheapest. I had all the logistics ready in my mind, but 3 factors kept getting in the way. 1- Time, 2- money, 3- travel partners who had no issues carnival cruise lines discount with time or money. That s fine, I accepted this. And I d travel on more regular carnival cruise lines discount itineraries to closer destinations.
A short while ago, I managed to backpack through Europe, completely by accident. It started on Friday the 2nd of September. I couldn t sleep well, and I randomly logged online and thought carnival cruise lines discount about going to another island for a few days. I always start checking out the regional carriers, as their fares tend to be cheaper. Well, on Dutch Caribbean Carrier, Insel Air, such a deal was found! $106 round trip to St. Maarten/Saint-Martin, including taxes! WOAH! Awesome! Ok, I ll do this! And did it I did. I sent the mass e-mail/txt to friends who I thought might be interested in participating, but one-by-one they turned me down. No money and No time were the most common answers, but one cunning individual carnival cruise lines discount replied with mecagoén my passport expired! So this was a solo trip, which I decided to do on the cheap.
My entire budget for the solo weekend was 100€ I had leftover from previous travels and $200 in cash. To help keep within this meager budget I turned to the king of cheap lodging. NO! Not a hostel those were too rich for my blood. And renting a car and sleeping in it was not an option. Rather than those two options, I opted for Couchsurfing. For those that don t know, Couchsurfing is a website/social network dedicated for people who are willing to host travelers, and who need a place to stay themselves. I sent a few e-mails to Couchsurfers in both the Dutch and French sides, and in a few hours I had found my host! Alex, a French hipster surfer from just outside of Marigot, Saint-Martin, who was raised on the island, was to put me up for the two nights I had planned for.
By staying with a local, I ended up seeing the island from a local perspective, and I was able to keep my budget relatively low (though this wasn t free lodging- common courtesy dictates you buy your host a meal or two).
My flight was uneventful. carnival cruise lines discount The plane was a former Alitalia MD80, and the interior was still bright green and completely bilingual in English and Italian (the return flight was on a former Austrian Airlines MD80 with the interior completely bilingual in English and German, and mixed with Alitalia seats). 30 minutes later, we landed, and the weekend was to begin.
After arriving in Sint Maarten, I headed straight for Maho Beach which is at the end of the runway of Princess carnival cruise lines discount Juliana Airport, so I could watch some planes land and enjoy a few drinks. Alex had agreed to pick me up after 6pm from the airport, so this was a fun way to spend a few hours. Once he picked me up we went across the island to his apartment carnival cruise lines discount in Orient Bay on the French side, to drop off my bags, and get changed. It was time to eat a local dinner!
Dinner that first night was at a very small roadside stand in Marigot, where I ate one of the largest meals of my life! A full rack of BBQ baby back ribs, a small plateful of Creole rice, and a small side salad. With an additional beer and a bottle of water, this Franco-Caribbean carnival cruise lines discount feast set me back a reasonable 12€. So far the first few hours of the trip were going pretty well. We headed back to his place, and off to sleep I went!
The following day I was up at a shocking early 8am, and decided to go for a walk… with my thumb out. I was able to get a ride the few miles down the road to the Orient Bay Resort, where there is a small village. My first stop was to get coffee. I found a local pub, which I later discovered is a local French rugby fanatic carnival cruise lines discount hangout, and got myself a cup of coffee. I reminded myself to return there later, when it was a bit fuller. carnival cruise lines discount After that, I saw myself in a mirror, and realized "Rob, you're looking scruffy," and decided now was a good of a time as any to get haircut. Intending on being super-awesome, I decided to forgo some initial frugality, and went to the snottiest French salon my own two feet could bring me to. And I succeeded, all of two doors down the road in Orient Bay. 18€ later, and a shockingly intellectual conversation on the cultural differences and social/political carnival cruise lines discount similarities between Puerto Rico and Guadeloupe (and by extension, Saint-Martin) I was looking more like a sexy man-beast and less like a sexy beast-man.
After this moment carnival cruise lines discount of fanciness, I stuck out my right thumb and got a hitch back to my sofa, where my host had since woken up and wanted to go surfing. And who am I to decline? We grabbed some boards, and headed to the non-traditional choice of the Dutch side, since Tropical Storm María was alleged to have brought some waves. Waves, there were. Not many big ones, but consistent and ride-able. They broke a bit far from shore, but it's ok- I'm a shitty surfer, so no matter where they broke or what their size was, I was still going to make an ass of myself.
After making an ass of myself, I went back to short and took a few pictures, carnival cruise lines discount before we decided to head back for a bit. Before heading home, we had a spot of lunch in Simpson Bay, where I ate quite possibly the most disgusting sandwich of my life: Turkey, a HUGE hunk of feta, and several spoonfuls of mustard on a whole wheat baguette- UGH. I ate half, and fed the other half to a stray dog. Our dessert made up for the sandwich though… it was the best slice of apple pie I had in my life. Then off to the apartment.
Alex heard rumors of waves on another beach on the Dutch side, but I was done for the day. I opted to head back to the French bar I had hung out earlier. This was a good idea, since now it was full. I stuck to myself carnival cruise lines discount at first, speaking as little as possible, and just trying to enjoy the scenery. Several Kronenbourgs and Gitanes later, and I was out of my shell, conversing with the locals in a mix of English, Spanish, carnival cruise lines discount Catalan, and French I now call "Rob's Eurotrash Drunkspeak". Whatever the case though, the locals loved it, and after a while people were buying me drinks, arguing about football (soccer for the yanks), and asking me questions about Puerto Rico. They were shocked that as US citizens we don't get to vote for president, get any representation, and that though I pay a higher percentage in income taxes than any of them, I don't get free education carnival cruise lines discount or healthcare. Politics aside though, there is now a small village carnival cruise lines discount in French Saint-Martin that will swear that in Puerto Rico we have killer apes that roam the south of the island, the Coquí shoots out poison darts, and that we are governed by the bastard half-brother of Milhouse Van Houten. Score one for Puerto Rico-Franco relations.
After conversing for several hours with my new friends, I came to a realization. I was in a good mood. My French was being complimented, carnival cruise lines discount I enjoyed their sense of humor (sorry Brits- the French have a darker sense of humor than you), and fuck me, I enjoyed draft Kronenbourg. I was left with one doubt- carnival cruise lines discount which felt better?: carnival cruise lines discount Being told by expats from mainland France that my French carnival cruise lines discount is a lot better than I think it is, or that I understood this perfectly when they told me this in French.
All good things must come to an end though. I hung out longer than I had planned to, since the (not very) lovely Parisian barmaid put on a Barça match. I spent the entirety of the match arguing with a Franco-Catalan expat from Perpignan about whether or not Cesc was worth it (Franco-Catalan, carnival cruise lines discount as in FRENCH-Catalonian, not a Catalan supporter of Franco). The game ended… in a draw. My night was done.
After an hour-long nap and a shower, my stomach made a noise that would wake the dead from their slumber (sorry for the Zombie attacks, carnival cruise lines discount Marigot). Dinner was needed. By now Alex was back from surfing. "It was shit", he said, which made me feel better about my decision to remain at home. He was hungry as well, so I suggested "let's get food!"And so we did.
We went back to the Orient Bay resort, to a little pizzeria they have which was attached to a grocery store. They had wi-fi, and I turned on my phone to answer carnival cruise lines discount all of my emails. 4 slices of mozzarella-mushroom-tomato goodness later and I was a new man. With a new drive. And a new phone card, since I had calls to make. This was my final dinner in Saint-Martin.
Or so I thought. Though the weather was quite nice, Tropical Storm María wanted to be a buzzkill. After a seriously delicious breakfast at Sarafina's in Marigot, I was dropped carnival cruise lines discount off at the airport carnival cruise lines discount for my flight. Sadly, my flight never departed. At 1pm, we are announced that it was cancelled due to the wind, and that all passengers were rebooked for Tuesday.
The first thing I did was swing by duty-free. I spent about $400 on booze while I was waiting, and wasn't about to lose it. The very friendly ladies at Last Stop agreed to hold my purchases for me for 2 days, so I could return and pick it up when my flight left. The next thing I did was buy a local cellphone with some credit. $40 later, I have a throwaway prepaid Alcatel phone and $20 in credit, so I could call home and tell my family what's up. After this issue, I needed to resolve lodging for another few days. I called a few hotels, and quickly learned that the local islanders don't give a fuck about price gouging. A room which went for $120 the previous night was suddenly $250. I held one, just in case, but I decided to try something else out. I texted Alex, my host for the previous two nights, explainted my situation, and hung out at the airport while Alkie , the Alcatel, charged. I took a nap at the airport at this point. The floor behind the Car Rental Counters at Princess Juliana Airport is shockingly cold. About an hour later Alex calls me and tells me it's no problem. YAY! I proceed dow