After a nice breakfast — consistently the best food each day at the resort — Beck and I drug our luggage to the lobby and waited for our transportation to the airport. Getting through the airport was waaaaay easier than what I remembered from Jamaica. Only one of our bags was searched — in Jamaica, it was everything! — and everything went smoothly. We’d kinda taken a couple from Illinois under our wing as we wound through the airport maze. I think it was their first time out of the country, and they were befuddled about what to do next after each stop through the process. Felt nice to help someone out like that.

While we waited for the plane to arrive from St. Louis, we noticed someone had a Wendy’s burger in their hands. Now, St. Louis has been on a Wendy’s fast for a month or more. The local franchisee apparently owed the mothership boatloads of cash, and as a result, lost his franchise. That means almost every Wendy’s in town has been shutdown. I like Wendy’s, and having a choice to have one, Beck and I walked over to the airport Wendy’s and ordered our Number 1’s — $14 total for two of ’em — and settled in for a little lunch. They also had Coke products, which was the first of those we’d had since we started the trip. The Riu chain really seems to be in bed with Pepsi — same was true in Jamaica — and it’s hard to find a Coke on their property. This Wendy’s had ’em though…. poured straight from the plastic bottle into your cup. Apparently the soda machine wasn’t functioning. No matter, we took our food, scarfed it, and waiting for the flight home.

The flight, while bumpy, was no big deal. We kept hearing the crew talking about how it was snowing in St. Louis. Of course, it wasn’t, but it made for great buzz on the plane.

We got to Lambert, and were hustled into the customs area in the bowels of the concourse. This process didn’t take long, but because the customs area dumps you back into the “sterile environment” on the concourse, your luggage, carry-ons and person have to scanned again, just as though you were boarding a plane again. Ugh. However, we were the only flight coming at that time, so it only took 45 minutes or so to get through it, and by 4.30pm, we were on the road to home, enjoying the crisp fall air and the beautiful sunset over the heartland.