05-15-2008
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#1 (permalink) |
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Fan of confusion
   Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Body in San Marcos Tx....Tankah in my mind
Posts: 26,313
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JUST A CHILLIN TRIP...... mostly
Well, back in February, I knew we were waaaaaaaaay overdue for a return to the Mayan Riviera but I figured it would be later this year for our customary anniversary trip in September….... That was until posts started popping up on travel boards about a new Mexican airline that would be starting daily flights from Austin to Cancun in May…… the first round of specials were for $9.99 tickets, so I thought about it for approximately 2.73 seconds and jumped on Viva Aerobus’ website to lockdown our flights…..... filled out all the flight/contact/billing info and sent the request thru for confirmation….. GREAT !!!! I should have my confirmation within seconds !!!
 ……. well, after 22 hours and 1217 failed attempts to submit via the website  , I found a “Inside the U.S” telephone number…. 1-800-FLY-CON-DePOLLOS er sumthin like that…… dialed it up and figured out very quickly that the “Inside the US” number actually meant “we’ll put you in touch with some dude down in Monterrey that almost speaks English”  ….. nice guy actually, and between his English and my Spanish, we managed to get the deal done in about 23 minutes……. Had to pay extra for the phone call booking, credit card charge, and the $10 first class upgrade so we could actually ride INSIDE the airplane……. Whatever!!!…. I had two RT tix to Cancun for $142 each !!!  …… but OH CRAP!!!!  ……. I forgot to ask Lil G if she was cool with the idea of booking a vacation to Mexico in May ……… can’t remember if I got her liquored up on tequila before I asked her“Hay cutie, I found round trip tickets to Cancun for ten bucks, so I went ahead and bought a couple” …….. I do remember she didn’t scream or throw anything at me before she said “that’s cool with me” ……….. women are sooooooooo easy !!!!!  What a relief !!!!……. it woulda been a real drag scouring the Austin/San Marcos area for a date to take with me …………. A few weeks later, I decided that this wouldn’t be another “Just A Drinkin’ Trip” for me and Lil G, so I booked a week down on Half Moon Bay in Akumal at our old digs, Lol Ka-Naab condos. Akumal is a very special place for us, we stopped there for a magical day of snorkeling in ’95 and between that and the wonderful Mayan people we met, I had Lil G hooked on the place….. which was a good thing since her initial reaction to me telling her we were going to Mexico for our honeymoon in ’95 was“eeeeeeeeeew……. I don’t wanna go to MEXICO!!!!!” ……. we returned to Akumal for our first real stay in ’01, and ended up being stuck there for an extended stay due to the 9/11 attacks. The emotional bonding and support from all of the locals during that week is something that will we will always appreciate and will never forget, and we’ll always be grateful for the help that our caretaker at Lol Ka-Naab, Elio, provided us…… here’s a pic form our balcony at around 7:23 CST on the morning of 9/11 ……… well, so much for the sentimental crap….. next on the agenda was contacting La Tortuga for a 2-3 nite stay in Playa to end our trip…… been wantin to stay there for a few years now and was extremely disappointed to hear back from Anna that some chick had the hotel all booked up for a wedding ……….  Well, that SUCKS !!!!……. so I ended up working out a deal on a villa up on the north side, no swim up room, but the price was reasonable…… about 2.7 seconds after I booked the villa, I received another e-mail form Anna at LaTortuga saying all the rooms had been released !!!……. DAMMITT!!!!!!!! ……. Who is this chick that can’t make up her mind on when to get married !!! …….. oh well, told Anna we’d try again next year……… well, my work was done, and it was now up to Lil G to figure out who would watch the kids for 10 days or so…….. but for all intents and purposes, our May vacation was now a reality and it would be “JUST A CHILLIN’ TRIP……… mostly”
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05-15-2008
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#7 (permalink) | |
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life=playa
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 544
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Quote:
We just booked today. Didn't get $9.99, more like $24.99 each, each way, plus taxes. Worked out to be $450. BUT, that's also about $200 less than the next cheapest tickets I could find, and none of them was one way. So I figure it's all good!!! Thanks for providing the phone number. Might come in handy.  |
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05-15-2008
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#9 (permalink) |
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Fan of confusion
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Body in San Marcos Tx....Tankah in my mind
Posts: 26,313
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alarm goes off at 4:40 a.m., Cinco de Mayo……. Jumped outta bed, grabbed a cup of a very nice Chiapan Altura/Maui/Moka Java blend coffee and headed out to the patio for a smoke
 ….. figured I’d give Lil G till 4:52 before I woke her up…… normally, awakening Lil G at such an hour would be considered suicidal for me, so I usually delegate this dangerous task to Ms Donna or Lulu…… but, since neither of the girlfriends were here that morning , and being somewhat protected by the fact that I was waking her to get on a plane to Mexico…. I quietly walked into the bedroom, shook her left foot, and asked her……“Wanna go to Mexico”……… Lil G tweaks her eyes open, smiles, and says softly…… “yeeeeeeeeees!!!!” …. then she jumps up, throws on her clothes, loads her suitcase and makeup tackle box in the truck and we’re out the driveway headin to Austin at 4:58….. 32 minutes ahead of schedule !!!!!!…….. well …….. anyway, we got everything loaded up, said our goodbyes to the kids, and hit the road for Austin at 5:43…….. only 13 minutes behind schedule !!!! ……… dropped my truck at the office, cabbed it to the airport, and pulled up to the BAGB (Big Ass Green Building) on the south end of the Austin airport……. Home of VIVA Aerobus !!!! ……. in comparison to where all the other airlines fly out of in the main terminal, the BAGB is like the 1968 doublewide trailer down at the end of the runway…… there were about 30 people in front of us and two clerks processing the passes…… one, was a very cute Salma Hayek looking girl  who was rather quick at her job and the other was a chubby dude still in training and looking totally confused as to why he was even there in the first place……. And of course……… my wonderful Lil G chooses the Salma line for me and we just breeze thru check-in and are back outside having a pre-flight smoke in 11 minutes !!!!……… well ….. anyway, after 38 minutes we make it thru “chubby dude still in training and looking totally confused as to why he was even there in the first place”’s line and are outside in the “designated smoking area”…….. of course, in Austin, “designated smoking areas” are ALWAYS located in front of the main 2” gas meter ……. I guess the city councils thought process is…… “Smoking Kills….. but exploding gas meters KILL FASTER”  …….. made our way thru security and on to the gate…… cool !!! …… plane holds like 200 people ……. Pretty logical that 80% of the people buying airline tickets actually forget about showing up for their flight…….. yeah, 16 seats will be about all that is needed in the gate area ….. grabbed a spot on the floor and waited……. 8:25 departure so we shouldn’t wait long…… about 7:45, everyone started to bull rush the 3 gate lines “A”, ‘B”, and “C”….. we were in line “B” about 14 people from the front….. boarding started promptly at 7:55 and we left the gate at 8:25 ….. right on schedule !!!!……….. well ………..anyway……. we did bull rushed the gate at 7:45 and stood there…….. and we stood there….. and we stood there….. about 9:15 we followed the “A” line out onto the tarmac and we’re luck enough to be the first people allowed to board via the back door….. GREAT !!!!! …… this will be like flyin reverse first class, we’ll be first off the plane in Cancun, be able to jet thru immigration and customs and be in our car 30 minutes after we hit the ground !!! ……….. well ……. anyway….. made it to Cancun, pulled up to the gate, and then found out that they rent a real jetway in Cancun, so we’d be stuck behind EVERYONE getting off the plane  ……… no problems at immigration, both of our checked bags made it to Cancun, so all we had to do was press the button, collect our green light, and we’d be gone !!!!……. FIRST TIME in 13 years, I reach out, push the button, and get a red light …….. so, I dropped my bags, raised my hands in the air, and prepared myself for being searched….. luckily, the customs chicas were more interested in Lil G’s makeup tackle box than my backpack and suitcase, so after a brief 17 minute cosmetics discussion, we were hitchin a ride with some dude named Jose to go pick up our car …… drove out to 307 and headed north to Caribbean Rental Car’s new office….. nice place, but they don’t have the Dodge Stratus I booked ….. appears that I could downgrade to a Tsuru without a discount or upgrade to a Jeep for $140 more  …… crap, “gimme the damn Tsuru” ……. But, during inspection, it was noted that the spare tire was flat, so we headed down to Pemex to air it up…… well, on closer inspection, the spare had a rip in the sidewall, so we headed back to the office to get a new spare ……. Well, Jose couldn’t find a spare that matched, so he said he’d just get another car for us….. I was thinking “Great !!! we get the Jeep at a discount !!!” …….. well……. anyway……. What does Jose come back with ???…… Jose comes back in just what I wanted….. a beat up white Dodge Stratus !!! …… we spent about 34 minutes marking up the check out sheet, woulda put more marks down for dents but the pen ran outta ink…… just before he hands me the keys, Jose informs that it has no gas ..... but the Pemex is ½ km down the road ……. fine, whatever….. I grab the keys and we ease down 307 to get some gas…… as we bump over the tope just before the station, the car kinda sputters, but we grab some momentum on the backside of the tope and coast up to the pump….. jump out, check the tires and then hand the attendant 200 pesos for some gas, and I watch as he pumps 200 pesos worth of gas……. Next stop is Puerto Moreles for the money exchange and Lil G’s first Modelo of the day, she's happy now ……. Sat thru about 30 minutes of traffic in Playa before we made it to Covi, where I had to pick up some primo tequila sip for my belated birthday present…… was eyein the Herraudra Seleccion Suprema, but they wanted 2400 pesos .....and I think it was the same damn bottle that I saw there 2 ½ years ago for 1700 pesos……. I pass on that and the clerk suggested a bottle of Maestro Tequilero…. It had a nice dark caramel color, so I had a good feeling about this one… plus, it was only 900 pesos and I got a free lighter as well !!!!!! ………. pesos, beer, tequila……. next stop…….. AKUMAL !!!! |
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05-15-2008
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#10 (permalink) | ||
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añejo
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Mordidaland
Posts: 8,595
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And, since you so graciously offered me the bottle with a few generous shots left in it I'll drink the last shot now hoping that if you ever meet the real Salma she won't rush the job! Sorry, Terry, just think of my eyes and don't be too mad at me... |
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05-16-2008
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#13 (permalink) | |
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beachaholic
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Kansas City area
Posts: 258
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05-16-2008
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#14 (permalink) | |
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Pomegranite tequila lover
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Massachusetts
Posts: 2,526
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Quote:
 Or should I say, bedazzled! Haven't met Terri and Scott, but I adore Donna! |
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