I'm sick of San Juan

So its 1:50 am and i'm in San Juan awaiting my flight to JFK which leaves at 3:30 am. I have been here in San Juan since 2 pm. The following is a synopsis of my day:

4:30 am I awoke and Alison and I headed to the airport. There were so many students there at 5 am. I managed to get through the line fairly quickly. My flight was supposed to take off at 7:10 am, but was delayed about 30 minutes.

My connecting flight was in St. Vincent and we landed shortly after 8 am. I never want to set foot in this airport again. I thought grenada was bad, this place takes the top prize for the rudest, unfriendly, rip offs I have ever seen. Customs was that only decent part (they were very helpful and super friendly) but after that it was all down hill. We had to get our bags and haul them to the check in counter (note: there is NO bag transfer with Liat airlines: they claim it helps keep costs down). We (myself and about 20 other students) are asked to fill out all this dumb paperwork. One looked like a xeroxed copy of a 5th grade art project. The bottom portion had three lines that said: connecting airline, flight number, location. So we all put down Liat, 384, San Juan. Of course, we get yelled at by the ticket counter peeps because stupid us, we should have known they meant our flight from San Juan (and not from st. vincent). They then proceed to hand check all of our baggage; all checked and all carry on. It took forever. Finally we are able to proceed to the gate but we first have to pass by the "do not pass go until you pay the leave the island fee". We were specifically told by customs and the airline workers that because we were connecting we did not have to pay the 40 EC. But convincing the sinister looking woman behind the counter of that was practically impossible. We eventually managed not to pay which was a good thing because I had no money on me and they don't take credit cards. So, once again, Liat was late by about an hour but we finally took off and landed in San Juan around 1:00 pm.

Flying Liat into San Juan is funny because the planes are so small that they park in a loading area near the concourse. We then have to walk around all of the baggage trucks, fuel vehicles, and other airport hazzards to a set of stairs. Two flights later, plus a long walk down a dark hallway, and we are in the airport and at customs. But then the real drama began, why you ask? Because the airline was supposed to give us declaration sheets to enter the country, but Liat was all out. So they told us to go to customs and they would give us some. But customs was not playing that game. They said we needed to get the paperwork from the airline. So we sat for almost 30 minutes while they tried to sort it all out. Finally someone comes with some sheets, but there were only 12 and over 30 of us. The scramble for the sheets was hysterical. Men and women, young and old were grappling and jostling for them. I just stood back because I could not believe the absolute chaos. When it was all said and done, there was still almost 15 of us that did not have any sheets. So the guy went back to get more, and when he returns 10 minutes later, he only has spanish versions. Now, I did take 5 years of spanish and I did well with the what is your name, where do you live questions. But I started to stumble with question 9-13 when instead of one word or sentence, it was an entire paragraph. So we had to find someone to translate. And the women who helped us from customs was very, very nice. She went over it line by line.

So, through customs I went....got my baggage, and now its about 2:30, so I head to Jet Blue to see when I can check-in and they say midnight. Which totally sucks, because now i have to stay in the outer concourse area with limited restaurant choices and no comfy chairs. I basically sprawled out on the floor, watched movies and Will and Grace....i had subway for dinner (with a chocoalte chip cookie) and I also had a coffee which was horrendous, made worse by the fact that I could see the starbucks inside the checkpoint (i desperately wanted starbucks!!!)

Now I'm sitting and patiently waiting for my flight at 3:30 am. Of course nothing is open inside the concourse anymore (not even starbucks). But the vending machines still work!!!! So in about 4 hours, I will be at JFK to await my next flight to rochester NY, and all of the wonderful snow we have gotten. Did I mention that i'm already freezing here in San Juan (i'm wearing shorts, sleep pajamas, track pants, a t-shirt, a long sleeve shirt, and a sweat shirt). I'm also strongly considering getting a McDonald's breakfast sandwich. I know it will rip through my stomach, but i haven't had it in so long and i want one....and that is all that matters!!!