Day Two – Finally, we are in Bermuda
Trip Start
Nov 23, 2004
1
3
7
Trip End
Nov 28, 2004
Where I stayed
Warwick, Bermuda
Thursday, November 25, 2004
We had an uneventful flight to Bermuda. It was a little overcast outside and a little cool. We had hoped that it would be a little warmer. After all, it was in the AAA book of the Caribbean!
Because of our last minute trip to JFK, our bags did not make it to the airport with us. We had no idea where they were.
I immediately called Hartley's Undersea Walk Bermuda to make sure we were still going on the undersea walk. He informed me that the weather conditions did not look good for the next few days. He said to contact him in a few days to see how it looked then.
We got a cab to our hotel, the Sandpiper Guest Apartments. We were relieved to find our bags had come in on the flight from Charlotte and were waiting for us at the hotel.
We rented a scooter, so we could get around. In Bermuda, only the residents can drive a car. Everyone else must drive scooters. Another issue is they follow the same driving rules as England. We now have to drive on the wrong side of the road!! Both of us had to get a lesson on the basics and had to drive down the road to show we could handle the beast. I had never really driven a scooter before, so it was going to be an experience. We were told that it is a law in Bermuda that people that ride scooters must have a helmet. They must not have a right to die law here.
We took off for the biggest city in and the capital of Bermuda, Hamilton. We wanted to go walking around to see what was in the tourist district. We could see some cruise ships that had dropped off some tourists. The down town area was busy. We walked around to do some shopping and look for potential restaurants. We had to use an ATM so we had some spending money. Outside the bank, I found a one dollar bill below a big flower pot. Too bad it didn’t have a few zeros on that bill!
When it was time to go back to the hotel to get ready for dinner, I started to look at the traffic. We had to make a U-turn when we were leaving the parking area for the scooters. We go ready and were about to pull out when I saw a break in the traffic and tried to make a quick turn. I gave it a lot of gas and started out across the road. I could not get the scooter to turn, so I got off of the gas. There was a woman getting out of her car and had her car door open. I wasn’t concerned about hitting it yet. I was now sitting in the middle of the street and needed to move. I gave it more gas, but was still unable to get it to turn. Now I was worried that was going to hit that woman’s open car door. I gave it one more try and was able to get turned around. That woman must have been panicking that I was going to hit her or her car! I could not figure out why I could not get it to turn. It scared me that I was not going to be able to drive the scooter!
We went to the North Rock Brewing Company for dinner. It is the only brewpub on Bermuda. We had a good dinner. As always, I got the beer sampler. There were some good beers on the sampler. I wanted to have more, but was worried that I would have too much alcohol to drive.
As we got on the scooter and started to pull out, someone yelled at us that we were not wearing our helmets. That would have brought out the cops at a time when we didn’t want to draw extra attention to ourselves. On the way home, I felt something was wrong as we would go around corners, especially sharp low speed corners. I guess I will have to work on those.
