Off to Cancun - Jan 13th

We woke to the sound of an old fashioned telephone followed by some tweets as mine and Larry's iPhone alarms started their songs at 3:30 AM.  We were all packed and ready to go.  Larry had to have breakfast first, no matter what time he gets out of bed, breakfast has to happen.  Then we did all the last minute things like shutting off electonics and the water and moved our bags out to the garage to wait for our taxi driver at 4:30.  Larry had called him the day before to set up a pickup time for the return flight and to confirm our morning pickup.  We were standing in the stillness of the early morning eagerly awaiting a drive and drop off right in front of the terminal when I looked at the time and said "He's late, it's 4:30 and he's not here yet."  At 4:35 I called, but only got voicemail.  At 4:40 I called again and the same thing.  At 4:45 I said, "Let's just go, we'll take my car and drive to the airport."  So we threw our bags in the back, locked the door to the house and took off.  Thankfully there's not much traffic at that hour of the morning and we arrived at the Park and Fly not too much after 5:05.  We were dropped off in front of the United Terminal and made our way to a very short line where we were informed by one of the attendants that our flight to Dulles was cancelled because of mechanical problems.

When it was our turn, the woman at the counter asked us if we had received a phone call since our flight was rescheduled for the next day.  WHAT????  But she said she would see what she could do.  The first attempt at rebooking got us on a flight on American to Chicago and then a United flight that wouldn't get in until after 9:00 PM.  We were supposed to be there by noon.  Then she was able to get us the last two seats on an American flight from Chicago to Cancun that would arrive 10 minutes later than our original flight and we had to swiftly make it to the gate since that flight was leaving at 6:00 (same as our original).  It was a small plane 2 seats on one side, 1 on the other.  We were in the third row from the back and the back to rows had 2 girls each travelling with cats.  They didn't know each other, who cares??  I just thought it interesting to have 2 passengers with cats on the same small flight.  Almost forgot, going through security I took my watch off and threw it in the bin with shoes and jackets and somehow it vanished - my practically brand new really good deal watch that I got for $7!!

Amazing, amazing, our flight out of Chicago was on time.  The first plus of the day - our seats weren't together (that wasn't the plus) but in the same row and that row was the roomy Emergency Exit row (that was the plus) that would normally have cost extra.  Look at all that leg room!!

Flight went well as I said a little prayer before takeoff that we wouldn't have an emergency because taking that door out would certainly kill my bad shoulder.  We were met by our driver (YAY MEXICO) who took us directly to our hotel.  Fortunately we had the foresight to pack bathing suits and reading materials in our carry on so we could hang out by the pool and then the beach since our room wouldn't be ready that early.

That's Larry going for a swim

Now at the beach

At 3:00 we went to Happy Hour at the poolside restaurant and had 2 each, 2-1 margaritas and a delicious "healthy" wrap.

Went back to reception and checked in with Lucio, our Concierge, who gave us our welcome beach bag and information we would need.  Finally our room was ready and after standing in line one more time, we were finally there.

Our first venture out was to the mall across the street hoping we could find some milk and cereal - Larry needs his breakfast - but no such luck.  We stopped in the store of the Westin but weren't willing to pay the price for what they had when we knew we would go to the grocery store in the morning.  Back in the room, we didn't even unpack and were asleep by 9:00