Tote's Thoughts

How we spent our Summer Vacation

It was a vacation that we were so looking forward to. We left on Saturday, Oct. 23rd for a wonderful Cruise visiting five islands. We planned to rent Mopeds in Bermuda and Zip line in Antigua, beach in St Thomas and so many more things were planned. There were six of us, 3 couples, my brother and sister in law, Andy and Nancy, friends of theirs Lou and Anne and Jim and myself.  I was a little nervous this time and I didn't know why. Jim woke me up early that day and kept saying, "Susan, just keep thinking of those little drinks with the little umbrellas in them."

Our first day was at sea. We watched the Eagles on the big screen out on the deck by the pool. I decided to have a massage, and it was wonderful! Jim even remarked how relaxed I finally looked. I felt great. We had a great dinner that night and talked about our docking in Bermuda the next day
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Bermuda was beautiful, and we couldn't wait to get to our Mopeds and ride into Hamilton. Nancy and I both wanted to go to Trimminghams, which was one of the nicest stores in Bermuda. We went to Bermuda on our Honeymoon and that was one store I was dying to see again. I was so excited to be in Bermuda finally for a second time.

Now this was our first clue: I couldn't find my sneakers that morning. I know I packed them and remember putting them in the closet. No where to be found. I would just have to buy a pair on the island because I would also need them for zip lining.
We rode our Mopeds into Hamilton and found the  parking places for mopeds. On the way Lou and Ann had a mishap on their moped and ran into a gas station. Clue # 2, the mopeds were dangerous! Oh, I forgot to mention we all almost ran into each other on the way, looking for the Elbo Beach Club, where Andy & Nancy stayed on their Honeymoon.

We had lunch in a nice little restaurant and Ann said she was riding the ferry back to the boat and she was not getting back on the moped. The waitress told us we could even bring our bikes on the ferry with us. This was clue #3. We should have gone with her. But no, we decided to ride the bikes back to the boat.
We found a sneaker store and bought a pair of sneakers.

We were on Toast House Rd and I got a little close to the curb and down I went! As this was happening, I was thinking to myself, this can't be happening, as I was sliding across the sidewalk on my face & body. It was just a dream from there. Jim stopped and help me sit up, as I was sitting up my ankle just flopped over. I told Jim that I broke my ankle, and he kept saying, " now maybe not", but I knew it was broken. I couldn't even cry. I think I was in shock. A car that was following us pulled up and a lady got out to help. I truly believe she was an angel sent to help us. She called 911 and also the bike company to pick up their bike. The ambulance came and off to the hospital we went. Andy and Nancy told Jim they would take care of the luggage. We were supposed to be back to the boat by 4:30pm and it was now 3:45. The boat captain called Jim to find out how we were doing and if we would make it back to the ship. Jim told the captain that he didn't think we were going to make it, but we needed to get out luggage due to the fact that we needed our passports . As it happens, the lady following us came to the hospital to see how I was doing. She volunteered to take Jim to the boat to pick up our luggage. After they picked up the luggage she suggested he buy a phone card to make long distance calls to the family, since we didn't have international calling on our phones. She also suggested and made calls to find Jim a Guest House where he could stay. She was our angel.

I needed an operation, they called a surgeon. After a two hour operation I had a plate and 7 screws in my ankle plus road rash down the side of my face and body. Jim was by my bed for two days as I drifted in and out of a drug induced sleep. I finally started to feel better, and we decided we needed to get home. I wanted an orthopedic surgeon at home to look at the ankle and confirm that everything was ok. Thank God we took the insurance for our cruise. The company, On Call International helped us through everything, they kept in contact with our family at home and made arrangements for our flight home, first class! I can't begin to tell you how nice everyone was to us. Our angel, Molessia went out of her way to help us. Everyone we came in contact with helped us.

I was never so happy to be back home in Philadelphia. The surgeon here said Dr. Peckett did a wonderful job with the operation. I am to be off my feet for three months and I must say my husband has been so helpful, and a good sport.  It has been three weeks now, and I still can't believe this happened.  The road rash on my face is almost gone.  As for my leg and ankle, it still has a little more healing up to do.  Oh, by the way, Trimminghams is no longer in Bermuda, they went out of business.

We are hoping to get back to Bermuda some day, but I don't think we will be riding mopeds!