Canun

This was it, the last stop of our 6 month journey. The flight was long of course, taking 3 planes and around 25 hours in total, the longest stretch being from Incheon to Atlanta, 13 hours. It was not bad all in all, especially since I had been paralyzed from pain the day earlier. I took muscle relaxants for the first time in my life (probably not the last), and it helped a bit. I watched 5 movies of mediocre quality on the over sea stretch, making it easier to pass the time. Delta airlines lost our luggage, but we got it the next day, so it wasn't too bad.

The Cancun resort was a world apart from the sleepy Thai resort we went to, mostly because of its size, but also because it was all-inclusive and we started boozing it up during the check-in process. It was awesome meeting up with the entire immediate family and their partners for the first time since I can remember. For the first few days we were jet lagged and exhausted, but a perfect place to fight off jet-lag is lying by a pool drinking copious amounts of liquor. Usually by 9:30 in the evening our energy was demolished and had to call it a night. The good news was that we got to see the sunrise, since we woke up at around 5:00 am, but it doesn't compare to Saskatchewan's. The resort's food was decent, but not great. The entire trip was spent lying in the sun, drinking, eating, and socializing with family. It was a grand time, and I would do it again in a heart-beat, but in a different location.

One of the many details of this trip involved a truly obnoxious American family. At the resort there are three restaurants, the huge buffet, and two others that must be reserved at 7:00 am the day you wish to go (or earlier if you want a large table). We made such a booking one day, for the Japanese restaurant. At around 6:45 there were two large lines on either side of a podium where the bookings were to be made. One line was obviously legitimate, and the other a pretender line. Well, the person at the front of the pretender line turned the podium in their direction, causing the people at the front of the legitimate line to get into a podium turning war with them. Eventually it was all sorted out, and the pretender line all had to get to the back of the legitimate line. I present this aspect of the reservation process only to show how difficult and competitive it is to make the reservation.

That evening we went to the restaurant for our 6:30 pm reservation, but we couldn't get in. The reason? A huge (in both numbers and fat content) American family insisted they should be allowed in, despite not having a reservation. They simply refused to stop blocking the door. They blatantly lied, claiming their travel agent made the reservation for them. Wow, their travel agent flew to Cancun all the way from hick-town USA, got up early in the morning, fought for the podium, and made them a reservation before flying back to America. Thats some travel agent. 6:35 came. 6:40. 6:45. 6:50. All the while, all the people with reservations were being blocked from getting in. Finally, the staff decide to let them in despite not having a reservation. I wish they hadn't. They were the loudest people in the whole place, and because of their volume, we didn't have enough table space so we were crammed into an area too small. The service also suffered, and one of the obnoxious women at the American table laughed like a hyena giving birth to a cactus. We made fun of them the entire dinner, quite loudly. Good times.

But, all in all, the vacation was awesome. After that, the first Canadian winter in 4 years...