4-3-2011 Akumal Beach Resort Mexico

The trip to Mexico takes about a day. For an early flight we reluctantly drag out of bed a little before 3 am to catch our flight at 6:15. Traffic is light, but then there is the tension of riding the bus from the outlining parking. We enjoy being picked up promptly, however the bus dutifully picks up all of the other early birds too.

You think there just couldn’t be a crowd of people at the airport at the Frontier counter to check in. There was. All the other fellow 150 travelers on this charter flight to Cancun were already waiting in line to greet the 3 or 4 folks up front to check us in. For this kind of flight, we can check a bag with no additional charge. So guess what? Everyone does. We really don’t like to slep our bags on board to stow in the over head bid. We just do it due to the $25/bag cost.


So off we go. Five years ago we came to this same resort area for my sixtieth birthday along with John, our son and his girlfriend Rachel and our daughter Jamie. The good news is that the place is vaguely familiar. The bad news déjàvous sets in as you try to remember what you really encountered before.

Visiting a place twice is always interesting. It was so fun the first time, all the missing amenities really didn’t matter. We have been in and out of a lot of beautiful hotels at charming places all over the world since them so you notice little things and then quickly get over it. After all we are in the Riviera Maya peninsula south of Cancun in one of the most charming places on the planet. The beds are hard for me, but Stan loves them. The pillows don’t squish like the cloud of puff we slept in Prague Czech Republic at an old hotel that just been refurbished with high ceilings and wonderful European fixtures in the bathrooms. Here in Mexico the place is clean enough for me where the floor glimmers against rays of sun shining in through the balcony window. There is separate room for the toilet and one for the shower. Oops – no light in the shower, but oh well. Missing that hot water boiler, so I can have a quick cup of tea before starting the day. We did have a bottle of chilled Champaign waiting on the counter in the bedroom when we arrived. A nice touch at no cost for repeat visitors to the resort.

To me internet use is like providing toilet paper. I need it and want. Most of all it should be convenient and included with the cost of the room. Last time I paid $5 - $10 for a card 30 minutes of internet time in the lobby at their computers. Seemed high, but this was five years ago and internet not quite as necessary in people’s lives. Today I can use their internet for free for about 10 – 15 minutes then must relinquish it for the next person. BTW (by the way) there are usually no “next” persons. They have blocked Facebook, which wasn’t even invented five years ago, but has become an important part of how I personally communicate with family and friends. I could also buy internet access for a week for $35. I would need to slep my computer down three floors (no elevators) and camp out in the lobby to use it. I really don’t’ want to admit my internet hobby costs me money. So that doesn’t fit. As I said, it’s like toilet paper. You don’t expect to pay by the square.