We're Home

I managed to make it through the whole trip without getting more than a couple of bug bites the first day or two that we were there. For 4 weeks, nothing. Wouldn't you know it...the last night there, I got chewed alive. I woke up Thursday morning to 5 or 6 bites on each leg. I normally wear my jeans on the final trip to lighten the load in my suitcase but I couldn't because the bites itch like the dickens if anything touches them. So I had to wear my shorts. This isn't a problem in México but it sure does garner you some odd looks when you hit the airport in Canada, in December, in shorts.

Thursday morning, Gustavo arrived to pick us up 10 minutes ahead of schedule. In the land of "mañana", this is an astounding event. Liz told us he's always there and always early. I expect this is why he's earned himself a good reputation at the complex. He's a chatty guy who speaks pretty good English. We helped him out with a few words and he helped me out with some Spanish.

We took the bus at the CAME station. Oh my. You come into Mérida on a fairly wide road but the closer you get to CAME, the narrower the streets become. They almost felt like goatpaths. Each turn in the road gave the feeling of being drawn deeper and deeper into an elaborate maze of concrete, traffic and one-way streets. Sure glad it was Gustavo driving and not Señor B.

We took an ADO GL this time. It's not quite as posh as the Platino but it was still nice. I slept almost half of the way to Cancún. I tend to do that. Put me in a moving vehicle and I'm asleep in no time. Señor B finds it amusing.

From the ADO station in Cancún we took an $18USD cab ride to our hotel. We spent the night at the Royal Solaris, an all-inclusive resort. It was cheaper to stay there than to get a regular hotel room and then buy meals on top of that. The resort is pretty typical of most of the resorts we've stayed at. It seemed to be on the smaller size, which we prefer. We're not fans of the mega-sized resorts. The buffet was your standard buffet food and it was all tasty enough. The "concierge" aka Time Share Guy, tried to hide his disappointment when we told him we already had a condo and he didn't pressure us to attend the half hour morning meeting when we declined.

The cab to the airport the next day was a much shorter ride than the one to the resort but it was $30USD. What a rip-off. Whatever. It's still a whole heap cheaper than renting a car.

The flight home was uneventful. We had a layover in Canada which meant going through customs, claiming our luggage, re-checking it, and going through security again. What a rigamarole. If you had purchased any alcohol at the duty-free shop, it had to go into your checked luggage.

We arrived to our home airport shortly before 9pm. The weather wasn't too bad but we had made the decision, before leaving México, to stay overnight. The temperature was much milder than we usually have when we get back. It was -2C instead of the usual -30C. The drive home wasn't too bad. A bit of blowing snow near the city but that only lasted for about the first half hour.

The last 2 trips we've used a new parking company. It's more economical, which is always a plus, but they also offer a couple of services which are nice add-ons. They have a luggage check right there. It's only available for a few airlines and, fortunately, we've been flying with one of the ones they accept.  It's extremely handy to not have to haul your suitcases to, and through, the airport. Upon your return, the van driver asks your name and relays it to the parking lot. By the time we got to the parking lot, the good folks there had our truck running and the young gal was busy scraping the frost off the windshield. I think we'll be using this outfit on a regular basis.

And that's that. We're already checking out flights for our next trip.