Mexico 2019 (November 8-15) Part One

On November 8, exactly 364 days before Blake and I get married, we went on a family vacation with my family. My parents, as well as my brother and his girlfriend Rebecca, went on vacation to Mexico. We stayed at the Platinum Yucatan Princess resort in the Riviera Maya region of Cancun, near Playa Del Carmen. Blake and my parents have stayed at this resort previously. It was actually the resort that we stayed at the first time Blake came along with us to Mexico. However, this would be my brother’s first vacation since he was 10 years old; so we were all excited to see what the week had in store!

The morning of November 8th went quite smoothly. Blake and I woke up early and I gathered our luggage while Blake made the early morning trip to McDonalds for everyone’s breakfast. Everyone was calm as we (surprisingly) left on time. Pearson airport is so easy to navigate now, so you no longer need to arrive 3 hours early for your flight. However, we still arrived 3 hours early for our flight.

We checked in at the kiosks and sent our luggage through the conveyor. I noticed too late that my mom had put her luggage tag on my bag, but I didn’t have any contraband so I wasn’t too worried. Afterwards, we headed through security. My parents ALWAYS get chosen for extra inspection since my mom travels with a C-PAP machine and, apparently, people have been known to hide drugs in their C-PAP machines. My carry-on was also inspected more closely because I had a toiletries bag in it that included items such as hand lotion and deodorant. They didn’t open the bag, but instead just asked if it was a toiletries bag or not. Once we regrouped after security, we headed down to find a seat at our gate. I tried to make the most of our time at the airport by walking around, checking out the different destinations, and treating myself to a Booster Juice. Slowly, the clock was ticking away, nearing our departure time. There was one small problem. We could see our platform and there was no plane there. As we neared 10:15a.m. (our departure time), Sunwing announced that the plane was just arriving and that they were awaiting the paperwork. Sunwing pushed our departure time 1 hour and apologized by providing water and juice refreshments. 1 hour wasn’t so bad - but as 11:15 rolled around and not a single person had boarded the plane, we knew our luck had run out. Apparently, since Sunwing had to ground most of their newer planes, they had been using European substitutes. However, the substitutes didn’t meet the Canadian standards and, therefore, could not be flown out of a Canadian airport. Sunwing should have thought of that AHEAD of time. So, instead, their backup plan was to wait for a Sunwing plane to arrive from Florida and then board us onto that plane … our new estimated time of departure was at 4p.m. Needless to say, there were some unhappy campers, but nothing was going to bring down my mood that day. Sunwing gave us donuts and other assorted Tim Hortons goodies; as well as a $20 meal voucher to use at the airport. I mean, that was very nice and more than most places would have given, so I couldn’t be too mad. As they announced the presumed new loading platform, everyone left. Blake and I decided to stick around and take a nap while we had the entire waiting area to ourselves. Our rest was very refreshing and allowed us to recenter ourselves to prepare for the extra long day ahead.

After an hour into our wait, Blake and I met up with the rest of my family. My dad and I ventured off to play games on the airport iPads. Eventually, we started running out of time and none of us had used our meal vouchers, so we went back to the platform to eat. We all had something different, but I went to Caplansky’s and had a turkey sandwich. The sandwich was good, but it had approximately two fistfuls of meat on it. Way too much meat - the meat to bread ratio was totally off. While I was ordering, my tally came to approximately $18. I was okay with not using the full $20, but Caplansky’s wasn’t and we got into quite the heated debate over me buying a banana. I didn’t want a banana; I wasn’t going to eat a banana.

“But, miss, take the banana! It’s a long flight, you never know when you will get hungry!”

We went back and forth for a while before I finally just bought the damn banana! I retold the story to my brother and his girlfriend and the couple in front of them. The couple thought it was hilarious. We were keeping them entertained while they waited because shortly after my story, my dad showed up from a shawarma place with an empty pita and a box full of meat. Everyone’s reactions were priceless! The couple was giggling while they watched my dad attempt to assemble and eat this not-so-tasty meal. The final meal adventure was when Blake showed up with an entire pizza … for himself … and then proceeded to eat the whole pizza because he didn’t know we could take food onto the plane with us. At least he said the pizza was delicious!

At around 2:45p.m., we started boarding the plane. The pilot apologized for the delay and announced that he was hopeful to get us to Mexico in record time. It wasn’t long before we were boogieing down the runway and in the sky! Logan and Rebecca were seated in the middle of the plane; while myself, my parents, and Blake we at the very back of the plane. Everyone except Blake and I had strict rules for how they wanted to be seated, so Blake sat in the opposite aisle and I sat in the window seat next to my mother. During the flight, I didn’t really do too much for entertainment. It had been such a long day, I think I just zoned out and stared out the window for the majority of the trip. I also think, at one point, I might have fallen asleep. During the flight, the pilot spoke on the overhead to tell us that there was a lightning storm happening in the clouds in the distance and encouraged us to watch it. It was amazing! Obviously we weren’t flying through it, but we were watching it at a very safe distance. It was so cool to see the lightning strikes and flashes. It is probably something I will never see again, so it was awesome to watch it.

Once we touched down in Mexico, the airport was completely deserted. It was around 8p.m. which is pretty late for inbound flights I guess. We filled the paperwork out - twice, since we had missed a section the first time - and were on our way through security. My dad has to sit on a cushion due to back/pelvis issues and the cushion is gel in a honey-comb pattern. So, you can imagine the confusion on the Mexican border security when this went through the x-ray machine. Meaning … off to secondary assessment my parents go … with my luggage (remember the luggage tag mix-up). My dad was unaware of this, so he had to shield his surprise when they opened up the bag and it was filled with my stuff. The rest of us waited for them outside and we were the last people on the bus which has never happened! At least we were finally on our way to the resort!

It was an eventful first day of travel and we were not happy with Sunwing that they stole a vacation day from us, but our spirits were still high and we couldn’t wait for the rest of the week! Once we got to the resort, the only restaurant open was the buffet, so we quickly filled our bellies and headed off to bed!

The following series of events may not be in order since I’ve waited so long to recap this vacation.

The next morning was nice. Blake and I woke up and headed downstairs to the buffet for breakfast. The buffet throughout the entire trip was actually quite decent. Usually I get tired of eating the buffet food at these resorts, but this buffet changed it up enough that I didn’t really get sick of eating it. The hashbrowns that they made were some of the best that I’ve ever eaten. Technically, we could have gone to the adjoining resorts and tried out their buffet since we had access to them, but we never did.

My family spent most of today hanging out by the pool and relaxing. The weather throughout the week was never super hot, but it was definitely warm enough for swimming! We had brought different pool games and we spent our days playing in the pool as a family. During the entire week, we had a couple staying next to us and they spent their week in the cabana next to ours, so we got to know them quite well. I couldn’t tell you their names, but I know that the gentleman was a pilot and the woman was topless the whole trip - which was something that took some time to get used to.

Every afternoon, at siesta time, it would rain. It was perfect! We would spend the mornings in the not-too-hot sun and spend mid-afternoon sleeping while it was raining. Then, once it stopped raining, we would get dressed and go for dinner.

The first night we went to the resort’s international restaurant. Everything that everyone ate was delicious. It was the best a la carte restaurant on the resort. However, the appetizer was a sort of melted cheese on a crostini that, as I would soon discover, did not sit well in my belly. After tonight, I would spend the next few days with one hand on a knotted belly and one eye on the nearest bathroom. Sorry if that is TMI for everyone to read, but it wasn’t great for me either.

The following days would consist of a constant repetition of breakfast, pool, lunch, pool, sleep, dinner, and then maybe a show. Hey! I’m not complaining! It was nice spending time with family and relaxing poolside. Sometimes we would eat at the beach grill and they served the most delicious chicken wings I have ever had! They were seriously so incredible. This was also my first all-inclusive vacation without drinking alcohol. It took me a while to find something I could drink while the others were enjoying their cocktails/beer, but I soon stumbled upon virgin mojitos. There were only a few bartenders that made it well, but when it was made correctly - those mocktails were deliteful. Also, they were mostly soda water, so I was able to stay hydrated!

One evening, early in the vacation, Blake and I decided to go to the Sushi/Teppanyaki restaurant for a date night. Since we had already been to this resort and experienced the teppanyaki show, we wanted to try out the sushi/a la carte side of the restaurant. When we entered, we were seated at the sushi bar. I was a little disappointed because I wanted to be seated at a table with a menu, but Blake assured me it was probably just a misunderstanding. We were seated there for approximately 15 minutes - without plates or water. All we were given were chopsticks and required to just pick the sushi off of the conveyor and pop them into our mouths. I was getting quite frustrated that nobody seemed to be serving us. We didn’t even have any soy sauce. Blake attempted to get someone...ANYONE’S...attention, but no one even glanced in our direction. Honestly, I have been to Mexico 5 times now and I have always received exceptional service, so this was a huge disappointment. Finally, Blake grabbed a waitress and she might as well have said “What do you want”, she was so disinterested in serving us. We were just like, “Can we get plates, menus, and two glasses of water?” I also took this opportunity to ask for soy sauce which we received when she realized that the setting next to us hadn’t been cleared and proceeded to give us the container of open, leftover soy sauce. I think my jaw hit the ground when she did this. I just turned to Blake and said, “We’re leaving”. I was fuming when we left and I marched into the bar - which was located between two restaurants, my family was going to the other restaurant - and explained to my brother what had just happened. I guess the manager saw us, furious, in the bar and kindly came out to ask us why we had left. Blake told them that we had received zero service while we were in there and how unacceptable that was. The manager attempted to get us to return to the restaurant and told us that he would serve us himself; as well as gave us the option to try out the adjoining Italian restaurant which he was also the manager of. I had no desire to eat anything at that moment, so we told him that we appreciated him coming to speak with us, but that we would be leaving. Even recapping this moment a month later, it is making me angry. I was so shocked with what had happened since I have always had exceptional service in Mexico and it is something that we rave about with regards to vacationing in Mexico.

End of Part One.