Barbados
Having traveled over 7,000 miles and six time zones over the past two days and change, I was up in plenty of time for sunrise today. Sadly it was not much of a sunrise, although my location on the south side of the island was admittedly not ideal. Still, managed to beat the heat (only 81 degrees F at sunrise) and most of the bugs while exploring the beach.
Unusual for a Courtyard by Marriott, breakfast was included. It wasn't bad, and included some local fare-- Bajan bakes (fried dough balls) and bul jol (shredded fish?). The patio was pleasant and shady this early in the morning, and the overall experience was not bad. That said, peeking out into the heat and humidity after breakfast was decidedly not appealing...
Mid-afternoon flight meant a slightly early cab back to the airport. Turns out the hotel had its own on-site third-party cab driver so I was even early enough to stop by the local fast food chain, Chefette, at the airport. While Chefette serves roti, burgers, pizza, and ice cream, their focus really is fried (broasted) chicken, which, along with fresh fish, is an island favorite. Chefette, being fast food, wasn't much, although it was technically better than KFC (which also has a presence in Barbados). The airport location at least had a nice enough upstairs dining room that placed it a cut above the average fast food joint.
Crossing airside was efficient enough, and inside the terminal, after shopping, was a food court with a fish grill, a Subway, and a few other places. As tempted as I was to try the local seafood, I decided discretion was the better idea and stuck to water while I waited for my next flight.
A quick bus ride across the tarmac to one of the oldest Boeing 737-800's in United's fleet (N26208 is more than 23 years old), welcomed aboard by Captain Phil again, and a decidedly more comfortable flight in first class back to the USA again thanks to the most stupidly cheap international cash buy-up I'd ever been offered ($269). Had a front-row seat next to a deadheading pilot for Captain Phil's humor-laced welcome speech, nibbled at the still-pathetic food served in first class, and soaked in the view out of the window of the US Virgin Islands and a few other places as we cruised by at 34,000 feet.
Slightly early arrival at Dulles International Airport (IAD) outside of Washington, DC, left just enough time to relax in the United Club for a bit, then unexpectedly ran into a friend onboard the same flight as I was for the final flight of the trip, back to LAX. Sadly with the earlier flight (7:30pm) canceled, the 10:30pm departure for LAX was busy, and after hanging out with Bruce for a few minutes during boarding, that was pretty much it as the 737-900ER that took us back to Los Angeles was so packed there was basically no room to move. I was very grateful I had taken up United's other-crazy-cheap-buy-up on this trip ($399 for IAD-LAX), even if I ordinarily would have not done so on a domestic first class recliner for a 5 hour flight. Clearly all the time in airplanes the past four days was adding up to be too much, even for me...
In the end, one new country ticked off the list. Will have to do a proper visit in the future to see more of Barbados.