On March 22, 2018 my dad, my brothers, and I traveled to St. John’s U.S. Virgin Islands. My mom didn’t go on the trip with us because she couldn’t take off work. The U.S. Virgin Islands are located east of Puerto Rico (which is south of Florida). We woke up at 5 AM, took and uber to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. We got on a plane that was going to San Juan, Puerto Rico. The flight was 4 hours long and surprisingly I slept considering I can never sleep on planes. When we landed in San Juan, we went to our gate. The board at our gate said that our flight was delayed an hour. We got pizza for lunch there. It was time to board the plane that was going to St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. The flight was only 20-30 minutes. We landed safely in St. Thomas, and then got on a shuttle bus. The airport was on the west side of St. Thomas and we needed to get to the east side of the islands to get to the ferry port. The drive was 30 minutes long and it was very rocky. When we got to the ferry dock, we stood in line for the ferry ticket. There was a 4:00 ferry, and it took off while my dad was in line getting the tickets, so we had to wait an hour for the 5:00 ferry to come. We got on the ferry to go to St John’s. When we got to St. John’s, we got our luggage off the boat and walked to where the rental car was. There was a lady there that was going to give us the rental car, which was a Jeep. My family has a Jeep, so my dad knew how to drive it. We got in the Jeep and drove to the rental place so that my dad could do the paperwork and stuff. In the US Virgin Islands they drive on the left side of the road. We stayed in my dad’s colleagues condo which was on a very steep hill. I was really nervous and scared driving up and down the very very steep hill because I thought the car was gonna slip. We met the young lady (who was the person who took care of the house while my dad’s colleague wasn’t there) who was gonna show us around the condo and give us the key’s. The condo was a private residence, so it wasn’t a resort.
When she left, we got our suitcases from the trunk of the car and started to unpack. My brother and I claimed the master bedroom which had a balcony with a beautiful view. We changed into shorts because it was hot. The weather was in the 70s which was perfect. For dinner that day, we went to a mexican restaurant called Greengo’s. I shared a cantina bowl with my brother, the chicken in it was really good. After dinner, we walked to a small ice cream place called Scoops. After getting out ice cream, we went back to the condo, watched TV and relaxed.
On our first full day in St. John’s, I woke up at 7-8 AM and got ready. We decided to go to a restaurant called High Tide for breakfast, but there wasn’t any parking there. So we had to walk down the very steep hill and to the restaurant. I had sausage and french toast and a virgin strawberry daiquiri for breakfast. After breakfast, we walked up the hill. Which wasn’t fun because it was exhausting and a “good” workout. When we finally got back to the condo, we watched tv and relaxed for a little bit. After about 30 minutes of relaxing on the couch, we put on our swim trunks and bikinis to go to the beach. We got in the Jeep and drove to North Shore Road which was the road that goes around the whole island. The road was smooth but had a lot of steep turns. We were planning on going to Trunk Bay, but we saw a bay before Trunk Bay called Hawksnest. We got the towels, bags, and beach chairs out of the trunk and walked to the beach. We found a mango tree which had a lot of shade which was a perfect spot for us. We set up the chairs and immediately went into the ocean. The water was still and very clear. We got out of the water after playing in the water for about 30 minutes. At first, my brothers and I wanted to go back to the condo. BUt my dad wanted to rest and dry off at the beach. When I was relaxed and comfortable in the chair, my dad said that we were going, but I didn’t want to. So we stayed at the beach for a little longer. We left the beach and went back to the condo. When we got back to the condo, we all showered and watched TV again (which we a lot did when we weren’t at the beach, pool, or at a restaurant). We went to lunch at the place called Ocean Grill (which we went to a lot). I ordered a pulled pork barbecue sandwich which was okay. The fries there were really good. Then we drove back to North Shore Road to go to the overlooks so that we could take pictures.
We had a nice routine while in St. John’s. We would wake up, eat breakfast, relax, go to the beach, sometimes go to the pool after we got back from the beach, shower, relax, go out to dinner, relax at the condo, shower, relax (which was basically watching TV sitting on the couch or bed), and then go to sleep. On the second day, we went to Trunk Bay. The water had some waves, so the water was kicking up sand into the water so the water wasn’t as clear as the day before. We stayed under a tree which had a lot of birds on it, and one bird pooped on my dad’s foot.
The day after the first full day of being in St. John’s, the water was really wavy. The third day we went to Hawksnest Beach/Bay and the waves were very big. My current was pulling us to the right of the beach so my dad tried pulling my brothers and I to where our stuff was. He said it felt like he was pulling us just to stay still. On our last day in St. John’s we went to Trunk Bay. The waves were really big an it would curl and break near the shore. The waves toppled me over four times. I hit my head on the ground and completely flipped, and when I got to the surface of the water, all my hair was covering my face (except my mouth) which was good so that I could breathe. Some sand got in my eye which wasn’t pleasant. I got toppled over three more times, and so did my brothers. My youngest brother got toppled over also which scared my dad and he was expecting my little brother to cry, but he was laughing. I was in the water a lot on the last day at the beach. When we left the beach, we went downstairs to the pool. After going to the pool, we showered and relaxed, went to get lunch, relaxed, went to dinner, etc. We packed our suitcases the night before leaving. My dad asked me if I wanted to put my suitcase on the shelf in my room, and then we realized that I forgot my two sweatshirts in the closet and the passports in the safe. We were so relieved that he asked me that because if he didn’t check the closet, then we would’ve been late for our flight and probably have to stay at the airport waiting for a flight the next day.
On the day we were leaving St. John’s, we drove to a deli called North Shore Deli. I got a toasted bagel with cream cheese which was really good. We went back to the condo, and relaxed. It was time to leave the condo. We drove to the rental place, returned the Jeep, and then the lady at the rental car place drove us to the ferry port. It was raining hard while we waited at the ferry port. But when it rains there, it only rains for about an hour maximum. We got on the ferry to go to St. Thomas. Then we got on a shuttle bus to the airport, and waited at the airport for about an hour. My dad got himself, my brothers, and I food. Our flight from St. Thomas to San Juan, Puerto Rico was only 20 minutes. And then we had to wait in San Juan for two hours. We got chicken from Popeyes for dinner. Two hours finally passed and it was time to board the plane to get back to Washington D.C. It was a four hour flight, and the plane had a TV on the back of the seats (like all the planes I had been on the whole trip). My brother and I watched the Disney movie Coco which was kind of a good movie. We finally landed. We walked downstairs to the baggage claim, but we saw my mom’s car outside (we called her on vacation asking if she could pick us up, so it wasn’t a surprise). So my dad took my brothers and I to the car before he went back in to the airport to get my suitcase. We were all super excited to see our mom/wife.
I would definitely go to St. John’s again with my whole family, and it was definitely a trip to remember.
wow very descripted i was glue to the blog because there was so much going on when you said your brother flipped over and laughed i was laughing