Vacation Fun & Rough Travels
Alex and I spent last week in Mexico, at El Dorado Royale, a gorgeous all inclusive resort in Cancun. Honestly, it was wonderful and I would definitely recommend the place if you’re looking for a nice place to relax!
That was the view from our balcony! I think we must have hit the “off season” because the resort was basically empty which was nice!
It rained in Richmond for a week straight prior to our trip so the sunshine was welcomed.
The water was so clear and beautiful! They had kayaks there so we took them out almost every day! They even had a 2 person kayak so I could sit in the back and talk Alex’s ear off while he paddled me around. (Just kidding. Kind of.)
There were tons of pools and since the place was mostly empty, it was easy to get a pair of chairs or a couple stools at the swim up bar.
This place is billed as a “gourmet” resort which meant the emphasis was on the food. (Honestly, that’s what drew me to this place. Of course.) Although my phone mostly stayed in the room, I did snap this photo from a cooking class we took on our last day at the resort. As I wrote about on Friday, it was SO nice to just disconnect from the world for a while. Leaving our phones in the hotel room was a nice change of pace and it was so relaxing to just enjoy each day!
Of course, the real adventure of the trip was getting home. We left Cancun around 11am and got to the airport in plenty of time for our flight from Cancun to Philadelphia, where we had a connection from Philadelphia to Richmond. The flight from Cancun to Philly was supposed to take about 4 hours but it ended up taking much longer. (Here’s the thing: flying is like paying a mortgage. I’ve accepted it as something that comes with being an adult and although it’s not fun, I have to do it. I’ll get on a plane but I’m not going to be sporting those little wings anytime soon.) But I’m not exaggerating when I say this flight was awful. The turbulence was crazy, people were literally screaming, and the lady behind me was having a full on panic attack. I tightened my seatbelt and dug my fingernails into Alex’s leg while I attempted to distract myself with an episode of New Girl but even Zooey Deschanel couldn’t make me feel ok about this flight.
So finally, the weather was so bad that the pilot had to land us in Atlantic City because it was dangerous to land in Philly. At this point, I just wanted to get off the plane. I’m reasoning with myself that we can just rent a car. Atlantic City isn’t that far away… But once we landed, we’re told that no one can get off the plane because the Atlantic City airport isn’t an international airport, so there is no customs department. We were stuck. on a plane. on the runway. at the wrong airport. After about an hour, the weather broke and we took off again and landed in Philly. At this point, we were almost 2 hours late, we had missed our connecting flight and the later flight to Richmond was cancelled. After a bad experience with the American Airlines customer service team, we rented a car and drive home to Richmond, arriving back in RVA at 3:30am. So, that was our trip back. Phew.
Truthfully, I had some really cranky moments at the airport but once I got over the initial shock of barely missing our flight (which we wouldn’t have, if they had told us the correct way to get to the other terminal rather than sending us to the parking garage) I realized how lucky I was to be with Alex. He kept me from freaking our on the plane, stood in line with me for an hour while we waited for the customer service team, and drove me home from Philadelphia in the middle of the night. Life can really throw you curve balls but having a great partner makes a huge difference!
Ah I should’ve jumped in your suitcase. This rain has been horrible but today is gorgeous!
I HATE flying. I mean literally HATE it, so what you went through is totally my worst nightmare! I used to fly a lot for soccer tournaments and I was freaked out each and every time we hit any sort of bump or anything. Im such a wimp when it comes to planes lol
First, that resort looks amazing! I’ve definitely had that one on our short list before and now I feel like I need to go. The food thing drew me in, too!
Second, what a nightmare getting home! I’m generally the luckiest traveler ever. Everybody hates it unless they’re traveling with me, in which case my good luck rubs off on them. The people at the San Diego airport last week didn’t believe me when I told them, but then we boarded the plane and the pilot said, “Good news, I’m gonna get you there 30 minutes early!” haha. Luckiest. Ever.
My flight from London to San Francisco was once delayed for 10 hours. Why? Because when the plane was landing at Heathrow the landing gear wouldn’t come down so they had to circle around and dump fuel in the ocean and the runway was covered in emergency vehicles in anticipation of its “landing”. The landing gear came down and 10 hours later we boarded the now repaired plane. About an hour into the flight they “tested” the landing gear and it was down for a good 45 minutes. Let me tell you, when a jet is at cruising altitude and drops their landing gear, it feels like the worst turbulence you’ve ever fexperienced. The whole plane shakes. Hard. Very hard. Anyway, I got home at 5:00 am and had to be at work three hours later.
Another time our flight from Tokyo was delayed eight hours so of course we missed our connection and we were all betond exhausted after sleeping not more than a few hours total the previous few days, preferring to not waste a minute partying it up in Bangkok and Tokyo. That time we got home nearly 20 hours late and some of us had to get up and go to work just a few hours later. Flying is rough. I feel for you!
OMG I am so glad you got home safely. that does not sound like a pleasant traveling experience and I would have been freaking out too!
So scary! Glad everything is okay. And you are right, have the right person there to keep you calm is worth its weight in gold!
The last part of your post (your travel home) sounds like a nightmare! I’m so sorry. Glad you made it back ok and had lots of fun while in Mexico. 🙂
The resort looks amazing! I’ve stayed at nice hotels in Mexico, but i’ll definitely try an all inclusive next time. I will say I’ve had plenty of bad flying experiences, when they don’t respond well in person or over the phone I go to social media. Posting on airline fb and twitter accounts have gotten me credits in the past, when I had no luck otherwise.
Wow, I am glad you are okay! I fly a lot and it isn’t a big deal other than the tiny little amount of space you have, but I hear stories like this and shudder to think :/
Haha yeah, NOT fun! Luckily we’ve had good flying luck other than this time!
Such an incredible place!!! You guys sure had lots of fun there 😀
It was beautiful!