Time Away at Cancun Day 1 - Marina El Cid

Start of the Mega Vacation

With all due credits to sathish who put in 99% of the efforts to look up for a place, consult people, draft out a plan, reserve tickets, and all till the execution, have to truly appreciate the commitment in there and the interest

Here we go , all 7 of us as one family were all set on to a long vacation out of the country for the first time, yes, its yoyo mexico ;)

Early…. Start for all the night owls and 8 hour sleep owls

With flight at 5 AM and parking at a private parking, had planned for a 2:45 AM start, which ended starting at 2:57 and in 33 minutes we were at the private parking stall near the Seatac.

With sleepy yet happy faces, right from kids to the night owls, all were set on looking forward to the great trip.

With the shuttle taking time, sathish start to get worried for not making it in time for check in, but soon the shuttle arrives, speedsters in the group, smallest and second oldest rush to the check in counter and have us seamlessly checked in and we are ready for security check at 4:15 AM.

Take of..

Take off… here we go!

Its beginning to lighten up in the pacific northwest as our we take off sharp at 5 AM, I am set up for a long 2 hour siesta, the only thing that I could hear in between was the notorious sounds of Rithwin and the grand mas.. Rithvi and Medha, they had so much to talk that they did not have a blink of eye to sleep in spite of a short sleep, in 2.5 hour time we land in Phoenix, we had to be super patient with we being at the tail end of the plane, finally we gust out to only feel as if we were tamed in that small coach for 2 hours…

Second leg…

By the time we get out to switch gates, the only feel that came to my mind first was the density of folks in the airport, just literally reminded me of rythu bazaar :), it was so crowded that suitcases had to be manoeuvred with so much of precision :). All were super hungry, again the hunt for something to eat for a vegetarian with no meat or egg, was still a bigger task… leave alone the options to eat, finally managed to get some bagel and cheese and latte, we were already strolling to get into another 4.5 hour long flight to Cancun..

There we come, yo yo, Magnanimity of options tour options

With a 2 hour time zone change, we land in the land of cancun, with a super long queue for immigration, with that long a queue in Seattle I would have expected at least 2 hours of time spent in Immigration, there were thoughts at the back of my mind as to what to expect in terms of visa, since we all went in with the word of mouth that mexican visa is not required.. Finally we got through the immigration seamlessly and got out after getting one of the checked in baggage

Oh my goodness, the airport was flooded with tons of tour operators and placards and for a major bunch it was tour operators waiting to lure in folks to their package, with more than half hour of discussion with one of the tour operators, realized that there was offers for more than 50% down of what he had heard over the phone, but leave it to your folks imagination as to how much is true.

We got to the island marked for our tour operator, we got our own shared vehicle, shared by one and only two families :), we were ridden to our looked forward spa center and hotel.

Resort…Spa..Hotel…

After a hour ride through roads which seemed to feel as in India, streets being super small, shrubs grown along the road giving a feel of a typical country side ride, with the mexican driver trying to communicate and our famous mex orator sathish trying to not let the driver ride and bombard with questions with neither probably got half of it.

We were quickly checked in and appraised of facilities available at the Spa, with the co-coordinator refusing to accept for the fact that I was married :) had to convince hard to prove it ;) had quick sugar doses of desserts and we walk to our sea view rooms, along the way we saw a super big water activity area, which we decided to get back in few minutes

Quick Munch and dip and big munch :)

With every single of us not having eaten much solid for a period of over 12 hours, we were desperate to much at least a bit before we set out to get to walk, leave alone to get into water and get to some activity. Got the very super limited veggies options ordered to the room, quickly had a the tasteless bland food, quickly, dressed up into our swim attire, here we go, speeding to the water activities.

With over 2 hours spent at the pool side, with every single folk having a great time at the pool, with me going cross across the 120 yard pool with my garmin or rithvi, rithwin and medha sliding into the waters from a slide climbed upside down to tamil of bala getting to the pool with so much hesitation and finally enjoying every bit of it, we were in the waters even after an hour past dusk and all were tired enough to get out to munch again

With a quick shower, we all set to the only restaurant available without reservation to get to a mexican buffet dinner, again super limited options for vegggies , grazed on too many things to remember, loaded with desserts, we set off to a so full dinner and awesome sleep, looking forward to the surprises and feasts for the next day the real activity to being…