And as travel days go, this was a boring one – and therefore very good one!

We left the house at about 6am while a newly shorn Molly despaired that she was being abandoned. The six of us and all of our gear piled into a mini-van and had an uneventful (if somewhat bleary eyed) trip to the airport. It was rainy and cool but traffic was light and we arrived around 6:30.

Next, check-in. Happily we were fairly close to the beginning of the line which allowed Lynn to achieve her first goal – getting us all seated together at the emergency row, where more leg room was available. All our bags were well within restricted limits, so we had no issues.

Even the White Spot wasn’t open at this point so we had to wait a little while to get to our breakfast, but before long the gates were open and we were ordering. Quick service and decent breakfast fare – so far, so good.

Security next – my travel favourite as I’m usually the one with the gear (laptop, cables, etc.) that has to be inspected, and while I did manage to trigger an alarm with my belt buckle, staff were friendly and helped us through without delay.

So we had plenty of time at Gate 9 to talk about the things we were looking forward to doing (and not doing!), reorganize our day bags a bit, and relax before boarding. Which was also uneventful. It’s a good theme.

The trip from Victoria to Cancun was direct (yay!) via Air Transat and though it took about six hours, we had almost no turbulence, nearby kids were mostly well-behaved (though Sharon took a few kicks to the kidneys), and we were even able to doze a bit. Much reading was done, some card and video game play took place, and snacks were consumed.

CUN airport sponsored by beer – off to a good start!

We landed to a very sunny 29C day in Cancun! Hola Mexico! The airport here was about the busiest part of our day, but as Scott and Lynn had navigated this maze before, we were able just to follow along through customs, baggage claim (no losses!) and rendez-vous with our shuttle to the hotel. Again, no serious waits and we probably navigated the whole course at CUN in just over half an hour.

We didn’t wait long for our shuttle bus either – it was there when we found the bus bay and we were underway in about ten minutes, with only one other stop along the way. The trip down the highway isn’t particularly quick – it may have been near an hour and a half to get to the Akumal Bay Beach and Wellness Resort – but the highway is an interesting riot of billboards in English and Spanish as well as an ecclectic mix of local highway stops and familiar 7-11s, Home Depots and the like.

The sun was down shortly after 7pm and we got to our hotel just before 8pm. Our bags were picked up and we found the front desk. Because it’s so warm, the resort is able to pull off an interesting hybrid of indoor / outdoor structures which give you the impression of being outside most of the time. The ceilings are very high and look thatched, but most of the “lobby” space is open to the outdoors. Gift shops and restaurants have a feeling of an outdoor mall to them.

Welcome champagne – how rough is this?

The rooms themselves are located in three buildings which all sport outdoor patios, and outdoor connecting passages. Unfortunately our three rooms are not very close together (thought they are in the same building) – something we’ll try to address tomorrow morning. We also have a hot tub on our patio next to the Adirondack chair and though it’s dark now, it would appear that we have a wonderful view of the ocean – more on that tomorrow! The room is quite spacious, has a short couch, coffee table, quiet air conditioning, and all of the usual amenities.

Signs of their recent renovation (apparently quite major since Scott and Lynn were last here) are occasionally apparent – our toilet lacked a handle, for example – a problem that was rectified within moments of a call to housekeeping. Some elevators appear to be being refit as well – but these anomalies are pretty unobtrusive.

So much pretty

After being reunited with our luggage, we all met up again to get some dinner, and the Akumal Bay buffet did not disappoint. This is possibly the second largest spread I’ve seen, approaching the decadence of the Belagio feast Sharon and I enjoyed in Las Vegas on our 25th anniversary. The food was very good and the service was just right – always ready with a refill or ready to take your plate, never in your face. Scott was amused to recognized one of the waiters from his previous visit.

And of course we are all now quite exhausted from our uneventful day! Tomorrow we get an “orientation” from the hotel, and we’ll likely chill and explore our surroundings. Then we’ll start to look at our week, and our plan to conquer the Yucatan!