Trinidad And Tobago Day One: A Day Of Airport Hopping And A Night Drive Into The Rainforest

Trinidad And Tobago Day One: A Day Of Airport Hopping And A Night Drive Into The Rainforest

Trinidad Day Eight airport bird walk (25 of 29)
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It didn’t take me long to  set off on another adventure.I started this blog post at an airport.  I had just visited New Zealand for three weeks in February. It was an awesome trip. You can follow my daily adventures in my blog archives. I am not young anymore.  I realize there are far more places I want to visit than years I have left. And we are not  guaranteed one single day. I want to spend as many of those days as I can exploring this beautiful planet we all share.  I spent a few hours deciding what destination would be  reasonable close, interesting and give me an opportunity to relax on a beach. I chose the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago  for reasons I hope you will agree with as  you follow my adventure  here on my blog. . Turtle in sand on beach

One of the  reasons for my decision was I was able to fly out of my local airport at Avoca. it is located about a 35 minute drive from my house. It has been the start of  many wonderful trips over the years.  The terminal  has recently been remodeled and it is a pleasant  place to wait to board you airplane. This photo  near the entrance helps. The dog in the advertisement  photograph near the entrance to the gates looks like my niece’s dog Opie.

 And, in April there are  no de-icing delays.dog in suitcase I have experienced many of them in the Winter months.  I quickly proceeded through check-in and security. I learned that there would be no meals on any of my flights. My layovers were short too. So I decided to get a quick breakfast sandwich at the diner near the gates. restaurant at airport

We boarded our aircraft on time and were soon up in the skies of Northeastern Pennsylvania. I love seeing the mountains, valleys and rivers from above. I love to travel but my heart will always remain in these hills. 

It was a short two-hour flight to the hub airport of Charlotte in North Carolina. A much  shorter flight  when compared to the 12 hour flights I took to Australia and New Zealand.  We arrived on time at the airport.  However my gate for my next flight was on the other side of the terminal. No time to people watch today. I usually love to spend time at an airport watching the interactions of the passengers. So many, races, religion, nationalities and cultures interacting the way they  should be all of the time. 

This time I arrived at my gate just in time for boarding. I was soon  seated in my aircraft, with, of course, a window . I have flown many times but I still love to watch the changing landscapes passing below. I recalled,  how, as a child playing little league baseball, I would be distracted when an airplane flew overhead. I would look up and wonder who was on board? Where were they from? Where were they going? What were they thinking? Now I am one of those people on the airplane.  I wonder if  there are children below looking up thinking the same things I once thought as a child. And, to be honest still do when I hear an airplane fly overhead. 

My flight to Miami proceeded smoothly. I had an awesome view of Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center as we flew over Florida. This, too , took me back to my childhood. I spent many hours glued to the television watching the coverage of the Gemini and Apollo space missions.  

We soon were descending into the Miami airport. I love the skyline of this city and have explored the surrounding beaches and Everglades on many previous trips. 

This time I only had another short layover. I was off the plane and on to my next gate.  I had a little more time, so I thought. I walked to gate 16 and learned it was changed to gate 2. Once again I arrived just in time for boarding. 

I was soon off again. heading south as the sun was setting int the west. We flew over a number of Caribbean islands as the skies darkened. It was a four-hour flight to Piarco International  airport. It was soon dark. There is not much to see over a dark ocean so I actually dozed off for a couple of hours. 

I awoke as we approached Trinidad and Tobago. This island nation is  located just off  the coast of South America. In fact it is located, at its nearest point, only seven miles from the troubled land of Venezuela .  

Our flight landed around 10;15. I was soon in a short line of fellow passengers at customs and immigration.. However even short lines take time at customs  and immigration in many foreign countries. And it took about a half hour to proceed to customs. 

After I cleared customs I gathered my luggage and walked out  of the terminal, hoping my ride to the Asa Wright Nature Lodge would be waiting. He was.  He was a pleasant gentleman around my age. He introduced himself and said he was waiting for another couple to join me on the 45 minute ride to the Asa Wright Nature Center and Lodge. The lodge is located in a rainforest in the northern mountain range on Trinidad. 

I met my fellow passengers, a couple also near my age, a lovely couple from England. We walked out into the warm, humid tropical air  to our vehicle.  It was dark so we didn’t get to see much scenery  drove from the airport up into the mountains. But our driver provided with plenty of information about the local history and people. He grew up near the lodge and related many of his memories of the area. He truly loved his home town and shared that love with us. We learned so much in such a short time. We soon we in the winding roads of the mountains and at the lodge. It was a wonderful ride. I had already made three new friends. 

After leaving off the couple from England I was taken to my cottage, I stepped out into the warm tropical air and was already in love with this country. The sound of frogs and crickets filled the night air. I wanted to explore the lodge that evening but it was already near midnight and a long day of travel made me decide to retire for the day.  I fell asleep under the canopy of the rainforest  thinking  about exploring it’s secrets early the next morning. Here is a link to a gallery of more photographs from my travels to Trinidad. Trinidad Day One April 24 2019. 

“Everybody has a geography that can be used for change that is why we travel to far off places. Whether we know it or not we need to renew ourselves in territories that are fresh and wild. We need to come home through the body of alien lands.” 
― Joan Halifax