Background info – this will be our eighth trip to Playa. We are going to celebrate our 29th anniversary. This will be our second trip to the Iberostar Grand.
45 days to go – It snowed here today. Although not as much as they predicted. Ready for some Mexican sun, sand and relaxation.
41 days to go – I love my job, but my staff is making me crazy. It was in the 60’s today. Better than snow, but still not Playa.
21 days to go, BIG snow storm predicted. But they are hedging, 3-10 inches expected. Geez, 10 is more than 3 times 3. WTH?
20 days to go. Snow was kind of a bust. Enough to make it miserable and messy, but I never saw anywhere close to 10”.
18 days to go – I feel soooo tired from all the grey, gloomy weather. Think I’ll go check the boards for a trip report. That’ll cheer me up.
WHEN IS IT GOING TO STOP SNOWING! IT’S APRIL FOR GOD’S SAKE! ENOUGH!
April 30, Day 1 – It’s here! Today’s the day. We are so excited. And ready. We get up and say good-bye to our 15 year old, who will be looked after by his two older sibs while we are gone. We hop in the car and the day is one of Colorado’s best. Sunny, warm. But I am not fooled. I know more “weather” (as it is euphemistically called) is coming in tomorrow. But I don’t care, because I won’t be here – lalalalala.
Zung is a Frontier Summit member, so we get to go in the special, shorter line. The lady (and I use that term loosely in this case) who takes our bags lifts mine and comments on how heavy it is and weighs it again. I get in right under the wire are 50#. She wants to know what is in there. When I say 6 pairs of shoes she says to Zung, “She’ll just pick the most comfortable pair and wear them the whole time, won’t she?” What planet is this woman from? Not Venus, that’s for sure. And she sure doesn’t know me.
We go through security. We get “puffed” and the airport guy warns me to hold down my skirt or have a “Marilyn Monroe moment.”
We have loads of time so we get some breakfast. Zung takes my leftovers for a snack on the plane. Before we know it, we are boarding, and after a short delay, taking off. It’s a smooth flight and then we are landing. Immigration (I don’t think the agent looked directly at us once) was quick and we had a brief wait for our bags, then through Customs. Damn! Got the red light. I guess we were about due. The inspection was pretty cursory. Then we went to get our ride, which was a private transfer through Apple. We usually use Cancun Valet, but our TA threw private transfers into our package. It was not as quick as Cancun Valet is and I got a little antsy, but we were finally on the road and pulling into the Iberostar Paraiso entrance. Then into the Grand entrance.
We got out and were taken into the lobby where Paolo checked us in and informed us we were being upgraded from a standard room to an ocean view.
We were given welcome drinks (I had champagne naturally and for some strange reason Zung took the non-alcoholic fruity drink – he says it was good)
. I exchanged some US for pesos so we’d have plenty to tip with and then the bellman took us to our room.
The view had a nice amount of ocean to it.
There was a welcome letter. Shortly after we arrived our butler showed up. It was Eduardo, whom I remembered from last year. He asked if we wanted him to unpack for us and we declined. Frankly, I didn’t want him handling my sexy lingerie – I’d never be able to look him in the face again.
We asked for the pillows of our choice, I told him we’d already made dinner reservations by email and he said he’d check on that. He showed us the mini-bar and I asked for a full bottle of Havana Club. He frowned and said usually they only have full bottles of the liquors that are in the mini bottles. I gave him my best pleading look and he said he could ask room service to bring us some and then ask them to leave the bottle. Shortly after room service showed up with a full, unopened bottle of Havana Club. I was a happy camper. They also brought an almost full bottle of Barcari, which we never touched. I mean. Why drink Bacardi when you have Havana? I can get Bacardi at home.
Zung took a shower and I tried to call the kids. Couldn’t get through. The next morning I finally figured out I was short a 0. I was dialing 01 and then the number, and I needed to be dialing 001.
I sat on the balcony and gazed at the ocean, so happy to be here at last.
By the time Zung got showered and dressed it was time for dinner. But first (!) - there was the ceremonial removal of the watch. I start every vacation this way.
The restaurants were mere steps from our door. We went to the Japanese that first night. We both had lobster and a bottle of red wine. The lobster was a little dry, but everything else was very yummy. Last year lobster was unavailable because it was during the lobster baby season. So I was happy to see we hadn’t missed it again this year.
I decided then and there to make a record of all the things we drank.
After dinner we were tired from our travel day. We went back to our room. We were disappointed to not have gotten turn down service but had some Havana rum, straight and smooth. Yuuuummmmm. That made it all good.
We wanted to get a good night’s sleep so we’d have plenty of energy to lay on the beach tomorrow.