What a rude awakening to come home to Vermont to more snow than when we left ! thought 5 weeks in Bonaire would have been enough...major PBD no matter how long or short the visit, so gear has been rinsed and put away, shorts and bathing suits washed,photos downloaded into the computer and tans fading fast...time to write the trip report .......

GETTING THERE & BACK used frequent flyer miles to get from Vermont to Aruba on Continental, just made it out of Hartford before the major snowstorm SuperBowl Sunday...5 hour layover in Aruba we took the town bus ($1.25) instead of the $14 taxi and had a look around the waterfront and some German food...nightmare started when we hooked up with DCA where the plane ran into mechanical troubles as we were approching Bonaire at 9:30 pm and returned to Curacao.. 2 hours later the flight was canceled and we were put up with 20 others at Plaza Hotel in Curaco...whatta mouldy smelling place that was..I swear no one had been in our room in the past 10 years..anyway 3 hours of sleep and returned to the airport to finally reach our destination a day late but safe,, return flight on DCA entitled us to a one hour wait in line at the airport while the attendant tried to get our tickets into the computer..the computers were " down " that day and the 7:30 flight left at 9:00 but at least we got to Aruba..I would not reccommend this airline in the future...Avia and Divi DIvi were taking off all around us and for the same price....Air Jamacia seems like a better route...ahhh next time ! will write Dive report and dining report under those headings..thanks for listening

Hi Debbi,
We got home last night around 8pm (CST); long travel day; got up at 3:30am (1:30am CST) for final packing and get to Flamingo at 5:00. No flight problems, either getting to or home from Bonaire this year, and like you, we have more snow on ground here in Illinois now than when we left February. Still have all the gear to rinse, laundry to wash, video's to edit, pictures to process & download, etc. Trip report will probably need to wait untill at least next weekend.

Hi Chet & Jean,
Melissa & I returned safely ahead of our ETA on Air Jamaica 3/7. Had to shovel more snow out of the driveway!!!
It was great meeting the both of you and Melissa & I are grateful that you joined us on our wedding(s) day(s).
I have been busy with all the images we photographed and hope to post a few soon.
A very special thanks to the entire Richter family for making our stay such a delight. Jake & his dad, Ota:
You're the best!
We're using some of the pictures for our reception invitations I am presently laying out in photoshop. A few days (perhaps weeks?) I'll post pics & story.
Josie, Kate, Darlene & Tom, and everyone else we met, THANK-YOU!
Hill & Melissa

Hi Mr. & Mrs. Hillary & Melissa
We had a great time at your wedding (both times)& your wedding(s) will be a permanent memory for our 2003 Bonaire visit. I plan on posting some pictures, but it may take a while; I think we finally got everything rinsed and most of the suitcases emptied (there is a new deposit of BONAIRE sand now embedded into our living room carpet). Hope to meet the two of you again someday; we plan on being on Bonaire again next year during the same time-period (last week of February/1st wk of March), if you plan on returning. Fortunately, we have friends that cleaned the snow out of our driveway for us.
Chet&Jean

Hillary & Melissa,
Congratulations....love the new profile. Jake is such a "Jack of all trades"!