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!
i dont’ know whats crazier – a super empty resort or that nightmare flight experience!! well at least you had some peace and quiet before seriously getting thrown back into real life haha. Alex sounds like a great guy! Lucky you had him there for support 🙂
Haha yeah the empty resort was pretty crazy!!
What a beautiful trip! I’m sorry to hear your flight back was such a nightmare though. Flying is great when it all works, but just move one piece of the puzzle and it all turns into chaos. Whenever that does happen, I just try to make the most of it (flight delay? Oh, you mean more airport drinking time!)
Haha that’s a good way to look at it!
We went to an all inclusive in Punta Cana for our honeymoon and left phones in the room because we didn’t have an international plan. And you’re right – it was so nice!! funny enough, all three of our flights were delayed due to weather coming back as well! But that AC airport story is kind of crazy!! (though, I love the AC airport if you’re flying domestically – We use it and never have to get there more than an hour early and it’s very cheap!
I was all excited to go to Atlantic City until they told us we weren’t allowed off the plane, haha
What’s a vacation without something going crazy, right? lol not fun! I’m glad the actual trip part was fun. That place looks gorgeous!
The place looks incredible! So beautiful and relaxing! 🙂
We went there for our 10 year anniversary! It was awesome!
Oh that’s so cool!! I’m glad you guys enjoyed it, too!
The joys of traveling haha. At least your stay in Cancun was nice. Looks like a beautiful resort!
im so glad you guys are safe and home now..yayy Alex. Life partners are Life savers!
Sorry the “ending” of your trip was a little scary …. but so glad the trip was wonderful – such beautiful pics!
Ahh that’s my son. Glad you both are safe.