Getting There 2018

Dave

Good morning! June 1st and as James Spann says, the first day of hurricane season, and the first day of meteorological summer! Seems it has been summer for sometime now, but now that we have arrived in Mexico, it is certainly warm. It's the tail end of the "hot season" going into the rainy season. So, what does that mean? Hot, humid afternoons with thunderstorms all around, sometimes it rains on you, sometimes you just get the cooling breeze for a little while. Either way, it's warm and sticky!

But let me go back a couple days. We had a rather eventful adventure getting here! Monday evening after I got to Gene's house, Gene was about to start preparing dinner. The power blinked a few times and was gone! So we sat about and waited... and waited... and waited some more! Finally we decided to just run out and get a sandwich. Fortunately we were just about all packed except for the few things you drop in as you close the suitcase. The power finally came back on much later and the air conditioning had enough time to cool things down before bed.

Up at 4am to catch a 930am flight. I have been up long enough to get the sleep wiped out of my eyes and start heading toward a cup of coffee when the power goes blink... blink... blink... gone! I reached for the flashlight and turned it on and turned to look behind me and Gene was standing there. He said, "Now what do we do?" We both hoped it would be back on shortly. At 440am, still no power, we had already rechecked our checklist and knew we were ready to close the suitcases. Finally Gene says he is going to make coffee on the gas grill outside. So off he goes with a pan of water out the door. 10 minutes later, we have coffee and still no power. And as most all of you know, coffee is a MANDATORY staple in our houses! Okay, coffee down and the power comes back on just we start the shower process. We get everything else finished up and the suitcases closed. Gene's brother arrives to take us to the airport. An uneventful trip even given the fact that tropical storm Alberto is right on top of us. The airport and Delta advise no delays, all flights on time! That's a good thing!

We hop out at the Delta entrance and get processed in quickly and easily, bags checked. Now through TSA. But this trip should not be a bad one through TSA as both of us got our Known Traveller number a couple months back. The process costs $85 for a five year certificate. But let me tell you, it is by far worth it. Through PreCk, no shoe removal, no unpacking, just put your carryon on the xray conveyer, walk through the detector and done. And maybe it was early and in our location, but the TSA folks seemed in much better frame of mind than others I have had to endure.

We get to our gate just as the last of the early flight to ATL is loading. We sat down and in just a few minutes the gate person announces that there were four empty seats if anyone who was going on a later flight to ATL could get. Gene and I walked up and the gate person looked at out ticket and said we could not get on as we had checked baggage and by TSA decree, you must ride with your baggage! So we didn't go. Looking back, it was a sign all was about to fall apart!

We sat for about 20 minutes when the gate person announced that our flight out of ATL to Birmingham was delayed due to a late arriving crew member, but it was in route to BHM and would be there about 10 minutes late, but would depart on time. That's good as we only have about an hour to make the connection. The actual flight over to Birmingham from Atlanta is actually about 20  minutes. So after what I thought was the right amount of time I started watching for our flight. During this time one of the spiral bands that has so much wind and rain was passing over. I could just see landing lights intermittently in the distance due to the rain and clouds. I figured it was our flight. As it got close to the end of the runway, it suddenly started back up... a missed approach, a go'round. You could hear the roar as the aircraft climbed back into the clouds. Several minutes later, our aircraft rolled up to the gate. All the passengers got off and the outgoing passengers started to load. Good, we will make a timely departure. We were waiting for our zone to be called for boarding when those who had already boarded came marching back off, followed by the pilot who walked up to the gate agents desk and started talking with the gate personnel. By the look on his face I could see it was not good. The pilot then picked up the microphone and told us that during the approach they had hit some major turbulence that caused an alarm of a latch failure in one of the forward passenger doors. They had tried to reset it and it would not reset so in accordance with FAA regulations, the air craft was grounded until it was properly inspected and repaired. OH GREAT! So everyone sits back down and start scanning their cellphone to see if there is another flight out or make an alternate connection. I knew there was no need in looking for an alternate connection as our flight to Merida was the only one each day. So after the gate personnel and the pilot make several phone calls they announce that Delta was dispatching another air craft to take our broken one's place. Estimated arrival in BHM... 2 1/2 hours! Great! No direct Merida flight today. Should not be too much of a problem to get a reroute, just get in a little later.

I am one of the first ones to get to the gate agent who is helping reroute people. He looked at out tickets, scratched his head as said "... this is going to be a tough one!" After standing at the counter for about 20 minutes, he told me to go have a seat, he was going to make a phone call for some help. Over an hour later, he called me back up. He advised me that there was no seats available from any airport that connected on to Merida. He called off all the airports that they had tried to get connections on any carrier through and none of them had seats. He told me I had only two choices, to go to an alternate destination and hope for a later standby seat, or a different end destination, or we could go home and come back tomorrow and try again! No, we are here, so let's see where we can go. We know we can get to Merida from Cancun via bus so let's try Cancun (CUN). After another 15 minutes of computer work and a couple of phone calls, he offers two seats on a late flight from ATL to CUN, arriving around 9pm. Okay, we will take it.

Oh, but Fate is not done with us yet, that would be far to easy! As they close the door on the CUN flight, one of the flight attendants came up the to the lead steward. They had a conversation and went into the cockpit and spoke with the pilot. They reopened the cabin door. Now what I wondered. After some discussion with the gate attendant, the lead steward announced that Sky services had not properly stocked the aircraft for the trip and we would wait for them to bring what they forgot to load. Twenty minutes later, the Sky services people show up with ice, beverages and snacks! They get off, the cabin door is closed and we start our push back from the gate. We taxi out pretty quickly, and I am hoping for a speedy departure, but NO! We are number 6 in line for take off!

Finally, our turn and off we go, wheels up at last! Now 40 minutes behind schedule! We climb out from ATL but instead of turning south, we head out on a westerly course, not totally out of the ordinary, but still, something was different. As we continue to climb to our cruise altitude, the pilot comes on and tells the flight attendants to remain seated as there are thunderstorms that are going to cause turbulence. He goes on to say we will be heading west for a while to go around some stronger thunderstorms further south. Okay, so now I understand the westward track.

Showing the flight track from the aircraft data system.

Well as you might guess, some additional time was lost in that trip west and we arrive in CUN almost an hour late. We are the only plane there and we zoom right through immigrations. Ahhh, on the ground in  Mexico, is Fate done with me? NOPE!

In my travels to Mexico for the past 13 years, I have never been searched at Customs. But this time I got the dreaded RED light.  They opened and inspected all my baggage. They were efficient and very professional. It really did not bother me as I have seen this happen to others. But what really hurt me was they took my Cuban sandwich which was going to be dinner! Pork without an import permit is not allowed, so my Cuban, primarily pork, was put into a quarantine bag and sealed. They packed it all back up pretty well and sent me on my way.

Gene was waiting outside Customs and we walked outside the terminal to the ADO Bus Shuttle which would take us downtown Cancun to the main bus terminal. When we got there we bought our tickets for the trip to Merida tomorrow (Wednesday) mornings and went the half block to the hotel. It's now 1125pm and I am sooo ready for bed. Both of us have been up and going since 4am!

Wednesday morning

The cackle and calls from the peacocks next to the hotel awake us at about 645am. I suppose having been so tired I did not sleep well, but enough to keep the "B" side of me quiet! Gene dressed and went out and across the street and brought back coffee! That will further help keep the "B" side of me calm! We sat and talked until coffee was gone then showered, dressed and repacked. We check out and it is almost 9am. Our bus leaves at 1030am. So we have time for some badly needed breakfast. Fortunately the bus terminal has several good little local eateries in the main waiting area so we had a proper Mexican breakfast and I even found one vendor who sells FRESH made expresso and cappuccinos, (made from real coffee grounds, not out of a package!). So I treated myself to the wonderful delight of a fresh cappuccino.

When you purchase a ticket on the express bus (ADO GL) to Merida, your baggage is checked and you have an air conditioned waiting area with water, coffee and small snacks. All you have to do is get up, and board the bus. They even give you a bottle of water and ear phones for your 4 hour trip. The bus even has free Wi-Fi! There were two movies during the trip, I didn't watch any as I slept a good part of the way. We arrived in Merida on schedule and our friend picked us up just moments after we got off the bus. He took us to our apartment and helped get all our stuff up into the apartment. We sat down and rested, drank some water, then had a beer. Feeling somewhat refreshed, we went in and unpacked.

After unpacking, Gene went down to one of our favorite little cafe's and got us dinner. It was a wonderful dinner, especially since we had not eaten much since breakfast in Cancun. We rested some more then called it an early night.

Gene's addendum:

I think Dave gave a very good description of the trip.  I was grateful that Delta treated us well as we waited in Birmingham.  They brought out drinks and snacks for those of us who were delayed.  Our wonderful host in Merida and I were in contact during this time and he suggested the hotel we stayed in while in Cancun that was so conveniently located. The hotel was low-priced and while it wasn't a four or five star place, it was clean and the bed was comfortable.