The trip ALMOST known as "The Great Cancun Vacation"

 

So there we were, all ready for the new frontier (for us) of an ancient civilization and the ocean blue of Cancun, Mexico.   The phone rings at 6 a.m., American Airlines on the line,  the flight from Atlanta to Dallas has been cancelled, but not to worry, we are getting on the flight from Atlanta to Miami and we will catch a connection flight from there.  Great, not too bad, it only puts us 30 minutes behind the original arrival time in Cancun.  We can actually leave the house a little later than originally planned.  After careful consideration, Lewis decided that we drive ourselves to the airport and will just park at one of those "protected" off-site parking places, since we have to be back earlier anyway.  We learned a couple of nights ago at a cocktail party that Lewis really needs to be back on Thursday as he has Exams Friday and Saturday and there is no way that he can miss those [He is doing a 3 year MBA in only 17 months... you can imagine the work load].  But it's all good, we got this, so we just shuffle around our plans for a week and make the most of it in 4 days ;-)    Let's go... we are soooo ready.


We are parking the car at exactly 11:37 a.m., hop into the shuttle bus and off we go.  Lewis had the pleasure of stepping into that round tube and be violated without a notice and as he stepped out, a young man felt that that wasn't enough and kindly informed him that he will pat him down.  After Lewis'  pleasure trip through the security check up was finally over, we had to hurry it up a little bit as I wanted to make sure to buy enough snacks as I just hate the airline "crap" they offer.  1:10ish p.m. and we board our plane, whoo hoo.   Settling down, out comes the ole Ipad as Lewis figured he can read his text books during the flight and I just take out my little head set and we are ready to take off.  Cancun, here we come... well, Miami first....


We get to Miami and the lovely pilot informed us that  we were put into a holding pattern due to some storm clean-up.  An extra circling had to be done as a machine was still occupying our gate.  Finally, we are on the ground, out the door and a quick stop at the restrooms before continuing on to our connection flight to beautiful Cancun.  Lewis checks the monitors one more time for the accuracy of our flight information, as he always does and "what's that?"  Our flight number is not to be found... not to worry, out comes the Ipad....   What?  The flight is cancelled?  And so the running begins...  Gate D10... "sorry, the flight has been cancelled, we can put you on stand-by for the next flight out to Cancun, but it doesn't look good, it's a full flight".  "What other options are there?"  There are flights to Cancun tomorrow through Dallas, but they are all fully booked as well, doesn't look good for a stand-by."  We were placed on standby for the next flight out to Cancun...  we didn't make it... the flight was super-full.  So, we rush to the counter of a Dallas-bound flight, thinking that we could catch a flight to Mexico from there [Miami and Dallas are the only hubs for Cancun].  We made it there in the middle of boarding.... "sorry Sir, the flight is full".  We pass the line for "re-booking flights" holding at least 200 people if not more.  By now, it is close to 8 p.m., we are not going to stand in this line and miss even more flights.  We found a quiet corner and Lewis is dialing American Airlines...


There is nothing that gets us to Cancun tonight, nor tomorrow.  There is nothing that gets us to Dallas, not tonight, nor tomorrow.  Okay, how about back to Atlanta? ... we made it to a different terminal, lungs are burning, but we made it and Lewis tells that nice gentleman behind the counter that he has just communicated with a lady from AA and she booked us on that flight.  "She is not supposed to do that, you have to go through "re-booking flights" this is a full flight....  step aside, I will call your name shortly".... Yessssss, we got on the flight, but our luggage will have to stay behind.  "What happens to our luggage?" it better not be seeing the airport of Cancun...  one should never ever be jealous of ones luggage, is all I'm sayin'.    "You have to file a claim in Atlanta".    This is the only flight to get the heck out of Miami and the most disorganized airport we have ever encountered.. [well, there is the story of Charles de Gaulle, but I shall not get into that one].   We get our tickets.. different seats, but by now, we just don't care.  Departure is at 8:43 p.m.   We run to grab a quick bite to eat; we only had about 10 minutes or so.  "Boarding Zone 2 now".. that's us.

Lewis managed to talk the guy next to him to trade places with me and our perk for the night: Exit seats... leg-room, yesssssss ;-)  We touched down in Atlanta at around 10:50 p.m., first stop at the office to report our baggage claim.  We arrive at our car and hit the ticket drive through at 11:35... two minutes shy of a 12 hour stay...   she charges us for the full 24 hours and she had no pity on us at all....   she smiled away Lewis'  remarks and opens the gate.   Off we go to "Home, sweet home"... ahhh.. Home... who wants to see Cancun anyway????  And who wants to go to Mexico, I mean, really?  We had our fill of Spanish as a first language in Miami...    so we are good on that foreign thing... what more do we need?   And thus, this day shall be remembered as the day we almost started a great Cancun Vacation.                [sigh]






(To add insult to injury, Lewis just got off the phone... jealousy knocked on the door, our luggage is in Cancun!!!!)