Dominica May

Thursday 15th November, part 2

We stuck around the Windsor Barra until it was time to catch our bus to the airport. At the airport itself, I’ve never been such a strict security regime. We had to have two security checks even before checking onto the plane, then your usual security checkpoint, before most people (though not us for some reason because we had a baby, but I thought they were going to) also have their bags entirely searched after you go through the gate, but before you get on the plane.

The flight was atrocious. I’d say it was the worst flight we’ve had so far, mainly because they stuck us in regular economy (because United also have Economy Plus) behind a huge guy who kept his seat back the entire time. It was not particularly pleasant when I had a tired baby trying to sleep on me for the entire flight. It also made it incredibly difficult to get out of the seat when I needed to get up and change him. So, despite being an overnight flight, I didn’t get anywhere near as much sleep as Jeremy. Instead I watched “I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry” and parts of “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” (I slept through some of it when I could because I’d already see it anyway).

Friday 16th November

Things got a bit better once we’d arrived at the Washington Dulles airport. Even though Jeremy and Doyle are solely Australian citizens, they got to come through the US citizen customs checkpoint with me. Unlike the non-US citizens queue, there was practically no line!

When we got to our gate to go on our next flight, we met a friendly American who lives in D.C. but was also travelling to Boston. He liked to hear my perspective on the American lifestyle, even though I was rather negative about it. The flight to Boston was only a little over an hour and, although the seats were as crap as the last flight, it was mid morning so there was no need to put your chair back.

We took a taxi from Boston airport to where we’re staying at Marriott’s Custom House. We didn’t know much about our accommodation before arriving, so it was a really nice surprise to see how flash the place is. We’re in an old heritage building that looks absolutely stunning both inside and out.

Because we hadn’t showered for a couple days due to lack of time, we had a bath with Doyle soon after we arrived. Then Jeremy went out to find us some lunch while Doyle and I had a little sleep in his tent. After lunch, Doyle fell asleep on me, so I used that opportunity to write more of this blog, and to use some of the free Internet we have here, but weren’t aware of before arriving. Hopefully we’ll actually get out and see the sights while we’re here, though.

When Doyle woke up, we headed out to find a supermarket, before going to a nice welcome free cheese and wine evening. I didn’t have my ID on me for the wine, so I had to come back upstairs to get it. We met some very friendly people here. I must admit I’m a little surprised at how nice all the Americans we’ve spoken to have been. I don’t remember it being like that before!

Then we headed up to the 26th floor to check out the views of Boston at the observation building. Then we went down to the games room and played a little bit of air hockey, and Doyle got to play with some trains and blocks. On our way back down to our room, we ran into a family we’d met earlier, and the mother offered to babysit Doyle for us while we’re here. I don’t know if we’ll take her up on it yet.

Then it was time for Doyle to go to bed, and we had a small dinner to compliment the cheese and wine.

Saturday 17th November

We stayed in until nearly 10am this morning. Doyle has had a pretty bad cough since Thursday night, so we put him in the bathroom and ran the hot water so hopefully the steam would help clear his airways. While he had another nap in my arms, we called Jeremy’s parents, and the proceeded to tell Jeremy Doyle was going to die just because he was a little sick. I think they may worry a little too much, given that they were also worried because I hadn’t posted a blog entry in Bath when I said I would, and they thoughts we’d have all our valuables stolen from us in Portugal and Brazil. In any case, I promised them we’d take Doyle to see a Doctor.

When Doyle got up, we headed out, back upstairs to check out the views of Boston. Then we went to a session put on by our concierge here at our hotel, who told us a lot about the things we can do while we’re here. Unfortunately we didn’t get the chance to do any of it today, because Jeremy said we should head straight out to the hospital. I didn’t think it was as serious as that, and wanted to do something that today was the only time we could do it, but Jeremy made me feel guilty about maybe not looking after Doyle properly if we didn’t go to the hospital right away.

We spent about six hours at the hospital all up only to discover Doyle had croup and there wasn’t anything they could give him to make him better; we just had to wait it out. So I was disappointed we’d wasted another entire day when we could’ve been doing something far more exciting. The good news, however, was that while we were registering him, Jeremy noticed that Doyle is getting his first tooth!

Oh well, I guess now I can also say first hand how bad the health system is over here. The people who saw us were really nice, it just took so long to see anyone once we’d registered. And I was glad we had our travel insurance details with us, because it meant we didn’t have to pay anything at the hospital.

Since we spent half the day at the hospital, that’s literally all we did today, and I have nothing else to write about.