JetBlue

Wow, I thought I might do daily updates from my vacation in the Bahamas, but everyday is so filled with fun-packed activities, it is difficult to have time to blog. We'll get started this day with a blog on the airline we used for the whole trip. We took JetBlue airlines out of Long Beach, a red-eye flight to Fort Lauderdale, then a stop-over of 3 hours before a quick 34 minute flight to Nassau, Bahamas. I would have to say, I have always loved JetBlue.
We took a quick Taxi from Long Beach Airport (LGB), called Long Beach Taxi, (based out of Gardena, go figure). The pick up time was 7PM and they arrived slightly late by 4-5 minutes. The female taxi driver was a surprise, but the familiar stench of cigarette smoke in a taxi was not. 10 minutes and 13 dollars later, we arrived at LGB. We attempted to bypass the service line by checking in via the kiosks, but probably due to our itinerary being changed and us losing our seating on the plane, we were not able to check-in that way, and proceeded to check-in via service counter through an approximate 45 minute wait.

Check-in went off without a hitch and right on time, we boarded the plane and took off, arriving in Florida also perfectly on time. The flight itself included complimentary drinks, snack and sleepgear (eye covers and ear plugs). Also it included what JetBlue is known for, the complimentary DirectTv service (although headphones are now 2 dollars, no more cheaply made free headphones). Bring your own headphones and you can still listen for free. Something new is their XM radio service. This time through, the movies offered were for pay only 6 dollars per movie, but they were relatively recent movies. It being a red-eye flight, I took my complimentary snack and drink and went to sleep. I woke up slightly before we landed again right on time.

Fort Lauderdale Broward international airport was a good clean medium sized airport with many amenities. We were specifically inside Terminal 3, Gate F. We could not venture outside of the terminal without going through security checkpoints but that wasn't necessary anyway. Bathrooms were clean and plentiful. Places to eat, even at 6 in the morning could be found, but were expensive (typical airport prices, 8 dollars for a scrambled egg plate with bacon and potatoes). Best of all at this airport, free wifi, so we could go online and check our e-mail, or do whatever was needed for business or fun. Unfortunately, there were very few power outlets, so if your laptop is like mine, and has a very consumptive video card, those power outlets will be at a premium! Our connecting flight was again on time despite showers in the area, and we lifted off
on-time and arrived in the Bahamas on time.

Here is the picture of where we ate at Florida's airport

And a couple flying over the Bahamas as were landing.

We landed at the international airport of Bahamas, and the pilots had trouble contacting the tower asking which gate to taxi to, but within 2-3 minutes, everything was cleared up.

Bahamas airport first impression: Looks like the airport in Guadalajara, relatively small airport. Parts of it look run-down and decrpit although they have nice LCD's vs plasmas for the departure and arrival monitors. The weather was muggy, immediately you could feel the difficulty in breathing, but the air conditioning in the airport was working well. My wife and I had to wait at this airport what ended up 7 hours because of scheduling conflicts with the remainder of the family. We spent 1 hour at most, looking around, going through customs, eating. The rest of the time, we were either taking a nap or just sitting and waiting, counting the seconds slowly ticking by. The airport itself is tiny, with 1 small gift shop, 1 internet/tech shop, 2 medium-sized gift shops, 3 local food stalls and two American favorites, a Dunkin' Donuts and a Wendy's, both of which looked fairly new. Wifi here was 6 dollars for 30 minutes. Overall, the Bahamian people were not overly friendly, but they would speak politely if spoken to. We decided not to try it out. Finally some pictures of the airport.I call this one "How many Bahamians to put up a Dunkin' Donuts sign"
It literally took 5 hours for them to put the neon sign above the door up. Another possible title would be "putting the colored people down". The Caucasian looking person was their leader and gave them directions before leaving within 30 minutes. The large on in the hat took the role of leader or "being lazy" when the Caucasian guy was gone. He sat in the chairs and watched while the others completed the work.

Who did we run into?Miss Teen Universe Contestant from Bahamas

Well that pretty much covers airline and airports on day 1 of our trip. Fun and exciting for parts, but mostly just any other travel day. Kudos to JetBlue for providing excellent quality service that was on-time despite storms. Better than the rest of my family taking Continental airlines connecting through Houston.