The Gang's All Here

Thursday, August 6, 2020

St. George’s, Grenada

Port Louis Marina

12.02.608 N

61.44.986 W

Happy Birthday Pammy!

Why can’t people in Antarctica get the corona virus?  Because, they’re ice-olated.  (I know, groan.) 

Not a lot has happened since I last posted.  The only real excitement (read that as stress) has been trying to return Savannah to the US in time for school. 

We have heard via the grapevine that the airport was allowing various private planes to come and go at exorbitant prices; mostly to other islands where people would could then catch flights to Europe.  All of this was with many, many parameters.  CoVid test flying out, another coming in, quarantine on arrival, various forms, etc. and . . . all in the wrong direction.  Then finally, we heard that starting mid-August AirCanada would be allowed one flight in per week.  Ok!  Finally, transportation in the right direction but did they have flights to the US?  Thus began my quest to find a flight to Houston; Savannah’s home town.

I sat down with my computer late one night and began my research to find something for the end of this month.  I found a way to get from here to Toronto, Canada, and then a connecting flight to Houston, returning the same way.  However, it was fraught with problems.  The first:  as US citizens, we’re considered high risk, regardless of where we’re flying from.  Second, I’m flying round trip; Savannah is only one way.  The flight we would need to take originates in Canada, flies to Grenada and then back to Canada, so in catching the flight back to Canada, we would arrive late in the evening.  The 3^rd issue:  the next flight to Houston was in the morning.  I checked and there appeared to be a hotel connected to the airport where we could spend the night and catch the morning plane to Houston. Due to the fact that AirCanada has only one flight to Grenada per week, necessitated a stay in Houston for most of that week, returning the way I came, again staying in the hotel over night and catching the early morning flight to Grenada the following week.  The only way I could figure out how do this without flying all over Canada was making 1 way legs for each of us.   I checked with Mary on Last Call, (you might remember her as one of the boaters we went with on the around the island tour) who is in the same predicament and we began comparing notes.   She asked if I had purchased the tickets already before she completely shot my plans down.  Mary’s advantage was that she was a travel agent prior to cruising and knew a couple of tricks to the trade. 

First:  as US citizens, in order to make the connecting flights, we could not exit the airport’s secured area without being subjected to Canada’s 2 week quarantine; staying in a hotel wasn’t going to cut it.  Second, in order to return to Grenada, I had to be able to show a round trip ticket; my one way tickets weren’t going to cut it.   Due to the logistics of my situation, she suggested that I get an AirCanada agent to book the trip, so that if anything went wrong (missed connections, cancelled flights) AirCanada would assist in fixing the issue.   Back to the Palace I went to contact AirCanada directly.  Except they weren’t answering their international telephone number.  However, there were 2 numbers listed; one was for calls from the US. 

My next call was to Savannah’s mom.  I gave her all of my notes, the telephone number and asked that she contact AirCanada from the US.  Bless her heart, she called explained the situation and was able to set up going and returning for both of us under one reservation number.  The agent she talked with was friendly and helpful but even though she could see the flights I had chosen from Houston to Toronto to Grenada and back again, she couldn’t get the system to accept them and had to change my return flight to go through Calgary, Canada, before it would land in Toronto.  She confirmed that I would have to stay in the secured portion of the airport both ways prior to purchasing the tickets.  Confirmations were sent, forwarded to me, which left just setting up the arrival hoops in Grenada I needed to jump through.  Or, so we thought. 

The next day, she received an e-mail from AirCanada stating that due to government restrictions, my return flight had been rescheduled.  Upon closer examination, they had me flying into Toronto after my connecting flight to Grenada had left.   Another call was necessary.  This time a French speaking agent (not nearly as nice) tried to explain that it was out of their control as it was the government that didn’t allow two touchdowns in their country by high risk persons.  What?  AirCanada can’t schedule a direct flight but the Canadian government won’t allow connecting flights!  That doesn’t even begin to make sense!  The result?  I’m now flying from Houston to Chicago to Toronto to Grenada.  I haven’t figured out why I can’t fly on the flight direct from Houston to Toronto.  I still have to spend the night in the Toronto secured area.  I need to obtain government approval to stay in the secured areas but at least I have a flight back.  This week I’ll attack the Grenadian end to figure out how many tests I have to get, the paperwork required, where I’ll have to spend quarantine, for how long and whether a tracking device is necessary.  This is what it takes to live in paradise!

Before, after and during all of this, life went on.  Laundry was done, a car was rented so that groceries and boat supplies could be purchased, my quest for mammee apples went into gear and we did find a new restaurant that was opened (although we were the only ones there).  No hurricanes are on the horizon and work slowly continues on sprucing up the gelcoat on the Palace.  Other than that, we’re just sitting here . . . and ordering through Amazon . . . to ship to Houston . . .  forcing me to a rent a cart to get my bags to the counter.Finally:  Finland just closed its borders. You know what that means. No one will be crossing the Finish line.  (Yep, another groan.)