Shammy's Trip Report! (hope ya have some time to kill!) - Page 5

**Shammy** · 05-19-2005

Ok, since I'm outta here soon, time to wrap this thing up!

SATURDAY APRIL 30th

Chris is nudged awake early again (wonder who keeps doin that?

) to head down and grab us some chairs. This was to be the last morning that he would do this. *sniff sniff*

I get an early start and I'm out there within the hour and enjoy the quiet time while it lasts because the area will soon be filled with the screaming meemie brigade. The boys arrive and we head off to breakfast. We then spend the rest of the day by the pool as the beach had yet another red flag and they were not letting anyone in the ocean at that time. Sean and Evan ask if they can head over to the activity pool as they were getting a game of water basketball together and they wanted to join in. We told them it was OK (they had not been there alone before this day) but to be careful and do NOT leave that pool area. This pool is not deep, both kids are good swimmers and Evan was supposed to keep an eye on Sean so I guess that's how I justified letting them go. Dontcha know THIS is the day one of the kids finally meets someone they can hang out with! Sean comes back and asks if he can go iguana hunting with his new friend Sterling and his dad Steve. We're like...uhhh....I guess so? Sterling comes over with him and he's the cutest kid ever! Both Sean and Evan grab their flip flops and off they go to hunt down the ever elusive iguanas that inhabit the Bahia.

Enjoying the peace and quiet of having no kids fight around us, Chris and I were finally able to get some "US" time in. Here's what I did for much of that time

:

About an hour later, the wrath of the kids returns as all three throw their shoes at us and jump in the pool....and there goes quiet time!

Sean, Chris, Evan and Sterling:

Sean and Sterling:

Chris and I decide to take a swim and are lounging around when Sterling's mom and dad show up and introduce themselves. VERY nice people and we spend the rest of the afternoon talking while the kids played games in the pool. Before ya know it, it's 6 PM and the place has really emptied out. Must be time for dinner! We had decided early that day to cancel our ala carte dinner as we did not want to be tied down to a schedule on our last night and it's a good thing we did as we would have never made our reservation. We say goodbye to Sean's new friend and his parents and all wish these kids could have met earlier in the week, but this always seems to happen when we go away, that the kids make friends with other kids on the last dang day!

We head back to the room for showers and then off to the buffet for dinner. We planned to head back up to the Hacienda this evening since we never picked anything out for Chris's mom the night before, so we ate pretty quickly and grabbed a tram to the Hacienda. We decided to get his mom a wind chime, the one with the Mexican family...a dad, mom and a bunch of babies hanging, as to us it represented one large family and we thought this would be something she'd like right now...considering all she is going through.

We picked up a few more wind chimes for some friends and then went over to the Sports Bar because the kids had been asking to play some pool. Well, I'm not sure bouncing balls (sans que!) into the pockets constitutes "playing pool" but no one was waiting to use the tables so they were OK for a while. Chris and I sat right outside on the porch and could see the kids through the window (which had no window panes so we could also hear them fighting and were able to yell back!) and had a few beers.

Seems everywhere I go, someone eventually finds out I'm a travel agent (guess when they ask "So what do YOU do?"!!!) and tonight was no different. A single guy sitting on the porch at the table next to us asks the million dollar question about what we do, and when I tell him what I do (didn't ask a darn thing about BMW's, which is where Chris works!

), he has an endless list of travel related questions. "What time do I REALLY get home because I think the clocks here are wrong" (yes, the clocks here are one hour BEHIND your time!), "I paid XXX dollars for my trip, was that a good deal?" (no way to tell now as there are too many variables to compare trip costs), "Can I bring this new lighter I just bought back on the plane because they took mine from me on the way down" (umm...no!), "Where can I go for a week and spend less than $500-$600 per person" (NOWHERE!)...and so on and so forth and he asked for my card. Don't even ask me why I gave it to him, I wasn't really thinking about it at the time though, so I handed it over. But he kept going on and on and he sorta, kinda, started to get a little weird and we sorta, kinda started to get uncomfy so we grabbed the kids and told him we had to go now. He then says "Ok, but I know where you live" and holds up my business card! I want to jump out of my shoes to try and grab it back but we just high tailed it out of there! Definitely something weird about that guy but no one has showed up on my doorstep yet either!

After our last tram ride down the long Bahia driveway, we make it back to our room and hit the sheets. We are in no hurry tomorrow as we don't have to be in the lobby for our ride back to the airport until 12PM so it will be a much less harried departure than we are used to as we normally leave early in the AM.

SUNDAY MAY 1st

I wake up early and quietly start packing while everyone else is sleeping. I'm just about done when the first kid opens his eyes, sees that I may need his help so pretends that he is indeed still asleep and that I did not just see him open his eyes and stare at me!

Eventually all are awake and we take turns in the shower before heading off for our last breakfast. I have my first omelette of the trip and the boys have their last plate of waffles, French toast and pancakes (yes, all on top of each other..yuck!). Hubby and I sip our coffee and decide we are ready to go home as 9 days is just about as long as we can handle (when the kids are with us anyway!). I miss my dog something terrible and have spent mucho tiempo wondering how he's doing on his first visit to the farm where we will now board him when we travel. Plus, I can't even imagine how much work I'll have when I get home...blech! Playing ketchup is no fun at all!

I'm VERY sad that I only got into Playa that one time but the distance, the expensive cab rides ($30 one way!) and the fact that we spent a few tiring days off the property doing other stuff made me realize that I can not stay this far down the coast again, it's simply too far for MY liking. We head back to the room, call for someone to come get our bags, and head to check out. We say adios to the girls behind the desk at the Golden Circle Club, who made our whole week really wonderful as they are all willing to go to any lengths to help you out. They even let me make phone calls to James and Anna on more than one occasion and to the Barcelo when I was trying to reach our friends about the Fat Cat pick up time.

The van comes to pick us up and we have a private non stop transfer for this leg of the trip, which was nice...but we were all very quiet during this ride. We're dropped off at the American terminal and are put at the end of a line that seems to go on FOREVER! This can't be the line for American Airlines, this has to be the line for EVERYONE I say. But nooooooo, this was our line and it's questionable whether we'll make it to check in on time!

*Sigh* "Welcome to Stressed Out Airlines. Please keep your arms and legs inside the plane until it comes to a complete halt and we thank you for flying "Hurry Up And Wait Airlines" once again!" And that's the last time American will ever have the honor of having my arse in one of their seats! Since I didn't have a MAJOR complaint like I did with my last American flight, I guess they won't be handing over anymore vouchers so this shouldn't be a problem.

We get through check in and then grab a quick bite to eat. By the time we get to the gate, the plane is almost fully boarded. No problem on the CUN to Miami leg but once in Miami, it's the usual nightmare of long walks and long lines to get to your connection begins. We had to go 3 terminals over just to get through security as the lines for the terminal we needed to go through were hours long (shocking!). Once on the plane, we settled in and with no movie to watch

, we all napped a bit. Arrival in Philly was only a few minutes late and we were back at home in Joisey by 2:30AM. And yes Cuff...I turned my computer on and checked e mail AND Playa.Info before I went to bed!

So that's it, there ain't no more! We had a wonderful trip, probably the best ever as we did more things this time than we did last time so lots of new experiences.

I don't really have time to get into the comparison's between the Barcelo (one of my favorite resorts) and the Bahia like some of you asked, but if anyone has a question about these two places and how they stack up, please feel free to ask and I will answer them, K?

Thanks for staying tuned!

05-19-2005

Awesome report Shammy! Done just in time to pack and take off again, and then write another trip report!!

dave

SarahB · 05-19-2005

Makes me sad that your "trip" has ended! That all-to-familiar feeling that I'm sure we all get when we leave.

Great report! Have a great trip and don't work too hard

!

**SunKneeMarie** · 05-19-2005

Wonderful report... very funny... great pics... and you got a cool new Sox-free avatar out of the trip, to boot!!

Karlla · 05-19-2005

Thanks for finishing your wonderful report, your adventures are always enjoyable. Glad to read the Barcelo is still one of your favorites!!

Going back again in under 2 weeks, finally!!!

pmb · 05-19-2005

Great report Shammy! Now take time to get ready for your upcoming trip! Enjoy!!!!!!

cuffedlinks · 05-19-2005

Thanks so much Shammy...

Very much enjoyed it.
Appreciate you working it in to your schedule after getting back.

Insomnia has its benefits.

**Shammy** · 05-19-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by DenverDave

Awesome report Shammy! Done just in time to pack and take off again, and then write another trip report!!

dave

Uhhhhhhhhhh...maybe not!

05-20-2005

Shammy I really enjoyed reading your report...like how you incorporated pics into it...I agree that staying down the coast is too far from Playa...as you know we did the Barcelo this year too and absolutely loved it...BUT after spending the day in Playa we are sooo hooked on it's charm...next year for Peep Fest we are staying in town at the Playa Maya.

We haven't done the Fat Cat or Tulum tour yet either...both of those are on our list for next year...your pics made me want to do it even more...hopefully a bunch of peeps will do the tours together.

Hopefully we will get to meet next year during Peep Fest...it is going to be a blast no doubt.

..........................

Jacko · 05-20-2005

Shammy, Great report, great pics, great family, great fun! Thanks!

miso · 05-20-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shammy

Ohhh, don't mix me up with "Sammy"! Been there, done that and it wasn't pretty! (remember Steve?

) SHammy..with an "H"!

Anyway, I went to the Bahia Principe (which I think I must have said somewhere in these last 3 pages!), the beds were hard but didn't bother me or anyone else in the family, the A/C in our first room was a tad "off" but in the second room it was fine and no, there were no heated jacuzzi's outside that I saw. They did have "jacuzzi's" built into the pool but they were pool temp. In the summer, they'd be plenty hot though!

Oops. Shammy, sorry about that. A typo on my part

Sounds like I still haven't found a resort for me. I probably should do a cruise then.

05-20-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by miso

Oops. Shammy, sorry about that. A typo on my part

Sounds like I still haven't found a resort for me. I probably should do a cruise then.

You're not allowed to- it's in the terms of use for the site. Look it up- no cruises.

O and Shammy- great trip report! I'm loving trip reports right now from everyone . . . since my main project right now is editing the student handbook for next year.

Robino · 05-21-2005

Excellent report Shammy, like I did with your report last year I cut and paste it into Word, print it out (so I can read it all at the same time), grab me a frozen margarita

and lounge in my backyard laughing my butt off

. Can't wait for you to go away on your next trip.......

05-23-2005

I really enjoyed your trip report. Funny and informative. We've stayed at Barcelo Maya and have spent time on Karen's sight. It was nice you got to meet them.

05-24-2005

Shams. Loved the report.

I first got to know you lurking on the unofficial Barcelo site. Ended up booking BM last November, based in large part to you and Karen's contributions. It was great and we are going back next year with some friends.

When we were at the Barcelo, our 12 yr old son found a friend....on the last day. Just like your boys.

BTW, I hear you are a travel agent and was wondering where I can go that is exotic on $3.67 per day???

05-19-2005	#61 (permalink)
Shammy Travel Insurance Tester Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: The Joisey Shore Posts: 10,993	Ok, since I'm outta here soon, time to wrap this thing up! SATURDAY APRIL 30th Chris is nudged awake early again (wonder who keeps doin that? ) to head down and grab us some chairs. This was to be the last morning that he would do this. sniff sniff I get an early start and I'm out there within the hour and enjoy the quiet time while it lasts because the area will soon be filled with the screaming meemie brigade. The boys arrive and we head off to breakfast. We then spend the rest of the day by the pool as the beach had yet another red flag and they were not letting anyone in the ocean at that time. Sean and Evan ask if they can head over to the activity pool as they were getting a game of water basketball together and they wanted to join in. We told them it was OK (they had not been there alone before this day) but to be careful and do NOT leave that pool area. This pool is not deep, both kids are good swimmers and Evan was supposed to keep an eye on Sean so I guess that's how I justified letting them go. Dontcha know THIS is the day one of the kids finally meets someone they can hang out with! Sean comes back and asks if he can go iguana hunting with his new friend Sterling and his dad Steve. We're like...uhhh....I guess so? Sterling comes over with him and he's the cutest kid ever! Both Sean and Evan grab their flip flops and off they go to hunt down the ever elusive iguanas that inhabit the Bahia. Enjoying the peace and quiet of having no kids fight around us, Chris and I were finally able to get some "US" time in. Here's what I did for much of that time : About an hour later, the wrath of the kids returns as all three throw their shoes at us and jump in the pool....and there goes quiet time! Sean, Chris, Evan and Sterling: Sean and Sterling: Chris and I decide to take a swim and are lounging around when Sterling's mom and dad show up and introduce themselves. VERY nice people and we spend the rest of the afternoon talking while the kids played games in the pool. Before ya know it, it's 6 PM and the place has really emptied out. Must be time for dinner! We had decided early that day to cancel our ala carte dinner as we did not want to be tied down to a schedule on our last night and it's a good thing we did as we would have never made our reservation. We say goodbye to Sean's new friend and his parents and all wish these kids could have met earlier in the week, but this always seems to happen when we go away, that the kids make friends with other kids on the last dang day! We head back to the room for showers and then off to the buffet for dinner. We planned to head back up to the Hacienda this evening since we never picked anything out for Chris's mom the night before, so we ate pretty quickly and grabbed a tram to the Hacienda. We decided to get his mom a wind chime, the one with the Mexican family...a dad, mom and a bunch of babies hanging, as to us it represented one large family and we thought this would be something she'd like right now...considering all she is going through. We picked up a few more wind chimes for some friends and then went over to the Sports Bar because the kids had been asking to play some pool. Well, I'm not sure bouncing balls (sans que!) into the pockets constitutes "playing pool" but no one was waiting to use the tables so they were OK for a while. Chris and I sat right outside on the porch and could see the kids through the window (which had no window panes so we could also hear them fighting and were able to yell back!) and had a few beers. Seems everywhere I go, someone eventually finds out I'm a travel agent (guess when they ask "So what do YOU do?"!!!) and tonight was no different. A single guy sitting on the porch at the table next to us asks the million dollar question about what we do, and when I tell him what I do (didn't ask a darn thing about BMW's, which is where Chris works! ), he has an endless list of travel related questions. "What time do I REALLY get home because I think the clocks here are wrong" (yes, the clocks here are one hour BEHIND your time!), "I paid XXX dollars for my trip, was that a good deal?" (no way to tell now as there are too many variables to compare trip costs), "Can I bring this new lighter I just bought back on the plane because they took mine from me on the way down" (umm...no!), "Where can I go for a week and spend less than $500-$600 per person" (NOWHERE!)...and so on and so forth and he asked for my card. Don't even ask me why I gave it to him, I wasn't really thinking about it at the time though, so I handed it over. But he kept going on and on and he sorta, kinda, started to get a little weird and we sorta, kinda started to get uncomfy so we grabbed the kids and told him we had to go now. He then says "Ok, but I know where you live" and holds up my business card! I want to jump out of my shoes to try and grab it back but we just high tailed it out of there! Definitely something weird about that guy but no one has showed up on my doorstep yet either! After our last tram ride down the long Bahia driveway, we make it back to our room and hit the sheets. We are in no hurry tomorrow as we don't have to be in the lobby for our ride back to the airport until 12PM so it will be a much less harried departure than we are used to as we normally leave early in the AM. SUNDAY MAY 1st I wake up early and quietly start packing while everyone else is sleeping. I'm just about done when the first kid opens his eyes, sees that I may need his help so pretends that he is indeed still asleep and that I did not just see him open his eyes and stare at me! Eventually all are awake and we take turns in the shower before heading off for our last breakfast. I have my first omelette of the trip and the boys have their last plate of waffles, French toast and pancakes (yes, all on top of each other..yuck!). Hubby and I sip our coffee and decide we are ready to go home as 9 days is just about as long as we can handle (when the kids are with us anyway!). I miss my dog something terrible and have spent mucho tiempo wondering how he's doing on his first visit to the farm where we will now board him when we travel. Plus, I can't even imagine how much work I'll have when I get home...blech! Playing ketchup is no fun at all! I'm VERY sad that I only got into Playa that one time but the distance, the expensive cab rides ($30 one way!) and the fact that we spent a few tiring days off the property doing other stuff made me realize that I can not stay this far down the coast again, it's simply too far for MY liking. We head back to the room, call for someone to come get our bags, and head to check out. We say adios to the girls behind the desk at the Golden Circle Club, who made our whole week really wonderful as they are all willing to go to any lengths to help you out. They even let me make phone calls to James and Anna on more than one occasion and to the Barcelo when I was trying to reach our friends about the Fat Cat pick up time. The van comes to pick us up and we have a private non stop transfer for this leg of the trip, which was nice...but we were all very quiet during this ride. We're dropped off at the American terminal and are put at the end of a line that seems to go on FOREVER! This can't be the line for American Airlines, this has to be the line for EVERYONE I say. But nooooooo, this was our line and it's questionable whether we'll make it to check in on time! Sigh "Welcome to Stressed Out Airlines. Please keep your arms and legs inside the plane until it comes to a complete halt and we thank you for flying "Hurry Up And Wait Airlines" once again!" And that's the last time American will ever have the honor of having my arse in one of their seats! Since I didn't have a MAJOR complaint like I did with my last American flight, I guess they won't be handing over anymore vouchers so this shouldn't be a problem. We get through check in and then grab a quick bite to eat. By the time we get to the gate, the plane is almost fully boarded. No problem on the CUN to Miami leg but once in Miami, it's the usual nightmare of long walks and long lines to get to your connection begins. We had to go 3 terminals over just to get through security as the lines for the terminal we needed to go through were hours long (shocking!). Once on the plane, we settled in and with no movie to watch , we all napped a bit. Arrival in Philly was only a few minutes late and we were back at home in Joisey by 2:30AM. And yes Cuff...I turned my computer on and checked e mail AND Playa.Info before I went to bed! So that's it, there ain't no more! We had a wonderful trip, probably the best ever as we did more things this time than we did last time so lots of new experiences. I don't really have time to get into the comparison's between the Barcelo (one of my favorite resorts) and the Bahia like some of you asked, but if anyone has a question about these two places and how they stack up, please feel free to ask and I will answer them, K? Thanks for staying tuned! __________________

05-19-2005	#62 (permalink)
DenverDave Guest Posts: n/a	Awesome report Shammy! Done just in time to pack and take off again, and then write another trip report!! dave Last edited by DenverDave; 05-19-2005 at 04:28 PM..

05-19-2005	#63 (permalink)
SarahB añejo Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Playa...now Iowa Posts: 2,898	Makes me sad that your "trip" has ended! That all-to-familiar feeling that I'm sure we all get when we leave. Great report! Have a great trip and don't work too hard !

05-19-2005	#64 (permalink)
SunKneeMarie character encapsulator Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Texas Posts: 27,783	Wonderful report... very funny... great pics... and you got a cool new Sox-free avatar out of the trip, to boot!!

05-19-2005	#65 (permalink)
Karlla toe in water Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Carrollton, TX Posts: 50	Thanks for finishing your wonderful report, your adventures are always enjoyable. Glad to read the Barcelo is still one of your favorites!! Going back again in under 2 weeks, finally!!!

05-19-2005	#66 (permalink)
pmb beachaholic Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 321	Great report Shammy! Now take time to get ready for your upcoming trip! Enjoy!!!!!!

05-19-2005	#67 (permalink)
cuffedlinks añejo Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: The City of Presidents Posts: 16,003	Thanks so much Shammy... Very much enjoyed it. Appreciate you working it in to your schedule after getting back. Insomnia has its benefits.

05-20-2005	#69 (permalink)
Rubio~ Guest Posts: n/a	Shammy I really enjoyed reading your report...like how you incorporated pics into it...I agree that staying down the coast is too far from Playa...as you know we did the Barcelo this year too and absolutely loved it...BUT after spending the day in Playa we are sooo hooked on it's charm...next year for Peep Fest we are staying in town at the Playa Maya. We haven't done the Fat Cat or Tulum tour yet either...both of those are on our list for next year...your pics made me want to do it even more...hopefully a bunch of peeps will do the tours together. Hopefully we will get to meet next year during Peep Fest...it is going to be a blast no doubt. ..........................

05-20-2005	#70 (permalink)
Jacko añejo Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 18,980	Shammy, Great report, great pics, great family, great fun! Thanks!

05-21-2005	#73 (permalink)
Robino beachaholic Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 282	Excellent report Shammy, like I did with your report last year I cut and paste it into Word, print it out (so I can read it all at the same time), grab me a frozen margarita and lounge in my backyard laughing my butt off . Can't wait for you to go away on your next trip.......

05-23-2005	#74 (permalink)
dduke Guest Posts: n/a	I really enjoyed your trip report. Funny and informative. We've stayed at Barcelo Maya and have spent time on Karen's sight. It was nice you got to meet them.

05-24-2005	#75 (permalink)
catjammies Guest Posts: n/a	Shams. Loved the report. I first got to know you lurking on the unofficial Barcelo site. Ended up booking BM last November, based in large part to you and Karen's contributions. It was great and we are going back next year with some friends. When we were at the Barcelo, our 12 yr old son found a friend....on the last day. Just like your boys. BTW, I hear you are a travel agent and was wondering where I can go that is exotic on $3.67 per day???

register to remove these adverts