Day 1 in Grenada (Written on Day 2 Because on Day 1 I Needed a Nap)

 I'm in Grenada! Fun fact: roosters start crowing at approximately 3am.

My first flight, from Montreal to Toronto, was at 6am. You know those new planes that have those hard seats that are so upright that your head jutts forward and entirely prevents you from sleeping? It was one of those planes. But hey, it had cute purple lighting. The second flight (Toronto to Grenada) was much better; it was an older plane and therefore the seats were much comfier. This did not prevent me from not being able to sleep during the five hours, but at least this not-sleep was somewhat enjoyable. 

Then we landed. And the plane started getting hot. Really hot. And I was wearing three layers because planes are normally cold. Needless to say, I was not prepared to walk across the tarmac from the plane to the airport in the Grenadian heat, but I did it anyway because a) I had to exit the plane, and more importantly, b) because I believed that the airport would have AC. The airport did not have AC. It was also painted in that hideous yellow-beige colour that I am convinced only exists because it's easier to maintain than white. It's in hallways, it's on buildings, it's occasionally on cars, it needs to stop. I am begging you.

After filling out two more forms which were added to the three that I already had, going through three checkpoints where they asked me the exact same questions, and walking around a very questionable baggage claim where they took all the bags off and laid them in three rows on the ground, I was in a taxi on my way to my hotel. They drive on the left side of the road here, but there were a lot of stopped cars on that side so there was some fast zigzagging into oncoming traffic which was interesting for my heart rate.

My hotel room has AC. I love it (the AC) with all my heart. Turns out I was upgraded from a studio to a multi-room suite, complete with a kitchen, a living room, two bathrooms, two bedrooms, and two balconies. As I am on the highest storey of the hotel, the ceilings are sloped, are about twice my height, and have exposed beams. Also the colour palette is white and turquoise, with pink columns on the balcony. There isn't a trace of yellow-beige in sight. It pains me to know that this place will be approximately twice as nice as my first apartment.

There was a complication with food, because I had been told over email that there was a meal plan, but upon arriving was told that there was none. I texted this to Jem (the guy whose boat I'm going on after I finish my week-long quarantine in this hotel), and five minutes later, I was talking to his very nice friend Flora who is on the island and would buy me groceries (for free!). Flora turned my five-item list into two bags of food, including enough pasta to feed my family for a week, a big bag of baby carrots, and cookies. I am officially a Flora Fan. I later got an email saying that the hotel's food plan was called Margaret and I had to text a WhatsApp number to order food, which seemed very sketchy. The front desk later clarified that Margaret was a person who cooked for them, so while made much more sense, I already had my groceries so I did not hit her up.

As the hotel is on a busy street, there is a lot of noise. I would like to officially endorse Mack's original soft foam earplugs. Not only do they work extremely well, but also they are pleasantly soft and are teal-coloured and therefore fit in with the colour scheme. Nonetheless, I still chose to sleep in the guest room instead of the master bedroom because the guest room is slightly more insulated from the noise. I found out today that what I thought was squeaky machinery is in fact just a very loud bird. I'll write about today once I finish some Netflix episodes. Cheers.