Yey!! Very excited as holiday is here!! After an absolutely crazy week at work (was still working until 12.45am last night!), had a bright and early start as was up at 4.45am, ready to leave the apt at 5.30am to make it to the airport for my 7.20am jetblue flight from jfk to boston. Cos of the ungodly hour, it was a pretty short cab ride with no traffic, so i arrived with plenty of time and no stress. The flight was good, smooth and only 40mins - just enough time to chug down the complementarily bad Dunkin Donuts coffee, before landing at Boston.
Then had a 2hr layover in boston, so again, already in chilled out holiday mode, I just enjoyed the time, read my book, people watched and had some butternut squash soup for breakfast(!).
Also had to re-check in for my Cape Air connection - was this tiny desk staffed by what looked like 3 14-year olds, who asked for my weight (no, I didnt fib!) but who then also weighed my hand luggage so as to "balance the plane". Oh holy crap, I thought. What about my boots?? They're really heavy! What if I inadvertently cause the first ever plane crash due to hiking boot overload?? And just what the hell am i flying in?
A quick look out of the terminal window onto the tarmac soon gave me my answer as, ranged on the apron, were several of the tiniest planes I'd ever seen! (Cessna 402's to be precise, for all you data junkies out there). A grand total of 7 seats including the pilots! There were only 2 passengers, including myself, so i indulged myself in fantasies of this being my private jet! The boarding process was somewhat different to what i'm more usually used to as we were taken by a guy with orange plastic wavy things across tarmac to plane. My backpack was loaded into wing (how cool is that!) and I sat right behind the pilots so had a front row view.
Wow. The whole experience was utterly fantastic and just gives you a totally different, more raw perspective on flying. The airconditioning before take off was the pilot opening his window and it felt like we had been loaded into a mini-van with wings. After the obligatory safety "announcement" (honestly, if this puppy is going down, there's really no point to knowing about the emergency exits, other than for retrieval of our splatted bodies!), we started trundling down the runway, bouncing along enthusiastically! We were in a line of 3 other little planes, behind this enormous AA jumbo, which took off before us and again challenging my limited understanding of the theory of flight! Then it was our turn - WHOOO-HOO!!! SPEEED!!!! It was just awesome - we just went so fast and then up, up and away!! We had a brilliant view of the airport and city all laid out below, so i spent my whole trip with my nose glued to the window.
After a while we hit our cruising altitude of 6500ft. The whole thing reminded me of eddie izzard skit re small planes and the pilot who hid the biscuits! The flight took about 1hr, and we flew over the Vermont spine of the Green Mountains. It was just beautiful. I saw many individual houses tucked away in the hills and lining the many lakes & mildly resolved to own one one day. Landing was as fun as taking off - as we approached runway, it felt as if could brush the tops of the trees with my fingertips. I also had several more prosiac thoughts involving hoping the pilot was a good aim as runway was pretty narrow!
Rutland airport was in direct proportion to the plane - ie tiny. The best bit was the baggage "carousel" - basically a hatch in the external way with a metal tray, they just stuffed your luggage through! Bloody brilliant. Must remember to take a picture on the way back out! I hadnt thought to prebook a taxi but, by happenstance, met the taxi man there as he was collecting lost luggage. The drive to hotel took about 30mins & Terry, the cabbie, gave me suggestions for palces to stay on last night. He even offered to put me up for the night if i lucked out - hmm...
Arrived hotel just before noon. Room wasnt quite ready so got orientation tour first. The New Life Hiking Spa is not a fancy or particularly modern place, but there's something about it thats extremely charming and very welcoming in feel. Its pretty well equipped for facilities - indoor pool and sauna, hot tub, gym, tv room, hospitality room, exercise "tent" where all the classes happen, spin studio plus full service spa salon. In addition to hiking, of course.
Lunch was at 12.30pm, sharp. Today was delicious gazpacho soup followed by an extremely garlicky chicken caeser salad. LOVE the food - so clean, no salt or sugar, simple and v tasty. And i love the fact too that there is no apology at all for how it is - its a real philosophy and approach to nutrition that is fundamental to this place. Given my own recent success with cleaning out my diet, its great reinforcement and validation that the choices I'm making are the right ones.
After lunch, back to room for snooze and read and to figure out what treatments I want to book. Cos of my early start, i awarded myself a very lazy afternoon and just relaxed til dinner time. The menu was salad to start, then i had a "combo" platter which was half portion of the steak and half portion of the stuffed summer squash. Followed by fresh fruit salad and delicious
After dinner, signed up for first batch treatments, then back to room to finish book and have early night. Spoke to Charles who's at my place looking after the boys for me til Tues - apparently they're disappointed he wasnt me but I assured him they'd soon get over it and by the time I get home next Sat, I'll be the one being treated with lofty disdain!! Now time for bed, ready for my first hike tomorrow!
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