Ha.... I betchya read that title a coupla times, didn't ya??
Here goes nothing. Been putting this off for a while, and since I promised some peeps I'd do one, here it is. Well, at least a couple of days anyway. I'll try to keep at it til it's done.....
After spending 10 days straight in Playa last year, David and I both agreed that it was a bit “too much Playa” for one trip and that we’d try something different this year. And being the great guy that he is, David is very happy to agree to anything I suggest (which also ends up meaning that I get to research everything and plan everything, all the while requesting and accepting “That sounds GREAT, honey!!”’s from David during the process. He is a helluva laid back dude, and that makes this whole “let’s try something new in Mexico” thing a lot easier for me – and him!! After due consideration, we decided on Mon-Sat (4/6-4/11) at Vista del Mar in Akumal and then Sat-Fri (4/11-4/17) at Hotel Fusion in Playa. Chill out in the “country” of Akumal, and then party in up in the “city” of Playa. Best of both worlds.
Because I started our planning with our flights (got awesome airfare on direct {holy SH*T – we got DIRECT? We haven’t had direct flights for at least 3 years!}), I was first faced with a Monday morning 8:45 AM flight out of Logan Airport in Boston. Hmmmmm……. traffic on a Monday morning from my house (about 25 miles south) to Logan, to get us there by 6:45 at the latest. Riiiiiiiight. No stress on THAT, huh.
I quickly rationalized us into doing a Stay/Park/Fly at a hotel on the outskirts (Dorchester) of Boston. For about $180, we could stay Sunday night, leave my car there for 11 days, and have a shuttle take us to Logan and pick us up when we returned. Easy to rationalize, as a taxis from my house to/from Logan could easily add up to $150.
So with another “that sounds great, honey” from David, that’s what we did.
Day 1 – Monday, April 6th
Of course the alarm clock in our room Sunday night was broken and we had to request another one. That, combined with my travel alarm clock and a requested wake-up call at 5 AM, made it certain that once I awoke at 2:30 AM, there was no effin way I was getting back to sleep. Watch the clock watch the clock watch the clock……. until 4:30 AM when both alarms and the wake-up call came through just fine. (sigh)
Caught the 6 AM shuttle to Logan, check in was a breeze at Jet Blue. Had 3 bags to check and had to pay $20 for the 3rd bag (was pretty much full of cat stuff for Laura’s Coco’s Rescue) which was a surprise, as I thought the 3rd bag fee didn’t start until June 1st. “Yes”, the nice check-in lady said. “June 1st of 2008!” Oh, well…. still it was smarter than trying to cram extra in the other bags. Overweight bags cost $50 apiece, so you’re better off just checking a third.
Got on plane at 8:15. This was a big plane (6 seats across). There were a grand total of 18 passengers and 9 crew in the plane!!! Flight was fine (awwww…… love the direct!!) And we watched “Yes Men” with Jim Carrey on those cool TV’s in the seats.
Couldn’t resist taking a photo of the snow removal equipment at Logan. Not gonna be needing that stuff for a while!
I look like crap, and David looks cute but tired. In other words, what we usually look like when we leave Boston.
How’s THIS for an empty plane??
Vacation toes…
Arrived at 12:30 at Cancun and there were NO lines at immigration, and we got our luggage in about 1.5 minutes. David patiently waited while I went to the restroom. That is… straight into the MEN’s room. I was sure glad there was no one using the urinals when I came upon them.
Cleared customs with green lights, walked out of the terminal and hoofed it down to the ADO bus which was leaving in 5 minutes (90 p. each). Great timing!! Arrived at Playa bus station at 2:10 and while our plan was to get a taxi to Akumal, I figured I’d check to see if there were any busses to Akumal and what time(s) they left. There was one leaving in 15 minutes!! For 18 p. each!! It was actually a Merida bus, but we were ticketed for Akumal, and he dropped us on 307. Maybe 15 minutes later we were in a taxi who took us to Vista del Mar for $6 US (I’d run out of pesos by that time and hadn’t had an opportunity to change money yet). So a Playa to Akumal trip that would’ve cost us $30 US plus tip ended up costing us about $10 US total!
Tossed our luggage into Room 102 (?) and then let priorities take over …. time for a cold drink and cerveza!!! We walked over to La Buena Vida (pretty much next door to VDM) and immediately met up with “Stonecold” – Mike, his great wife Barb, their daughter Amber and her boyfriend Chris. Dammit I wish I’d taken a photo of them – they were all a bit beat from their day at Coba, but wow…. so gooooood to see friends again and meet Amber and Chris too! David and I had guac/chips and shared a chicken quesidilla. Good food!!
The view from LBV…
The Vista del Mar is on the left. That’s how close we stayed to La Buena Vida. Made the wedding planning so much easier.
Since we were suffering from TDE (travel day exhaustion), we were pretty much room-bound after returning to our room. Watched some funky movie with Nicole Kidman in it but have NO idea what the name of it was. TV only had Movie Channel type channels, so saw no news or regular shows all week.
Both of us slept like rocks.