I'm not going to rehash yesterday's events as much as fill-in some details. The 2.5 hours delay was due to mechanical problems on the Airbus A330 in Philadelphia. The passengers (us) waiting in Cancun had it considerably better than the poor saps in Philadelphia wishing to get to Cancun to start their vacations.
First, the air conditioning was not working on the plane where the temperatures reached nearly 90 degrees. The passengers were all de-boarded. I refuse to use the phrase "deplaned". If you board a plane, you de-board, un-board, dis-board or just plain get off the plane. There really isn't a term for getting off a plane. Deplane was something Hervé Villechaize said at the beginning of Fantasy Island. Okay. He actually says Da Plane. I'm taking literary license here. There's a term for boats, embark and disembark. The captain on a ship does not say, "You may deboat the ship now." Or, "Please deship the QEII at this time." But, I digress. The unlucky lucky bastards had to wait about an hour or so before the A/C was repaired. They re-boarded and got as far as the tarmac before turning back because the plane's computer wasn't working. It would have taken several hours to fix it. As luck had it for them and for us, there was another Airbus A330 available in the hangar. If there had not been a replacement available, the wannabe Cancun vacationers and us would have been stranded as the airline would have had to cancel the flight. The several hours it would have taken to repair the broken computer would have caused the pilots per FAA rules to be illegally flying the plane about half way through the trip. Now isn't that nice and interesting. This would have caused the would be vacationers to have to return home or to a local hotel if home was far away and return today to fly out. We Americans trying to get back to the states would have just been SOL (shit out of luck) in Cancun forced to fend for ourselves for the night and take up residence in a local Cancun hotel until today. And me, with no extra clean clothes other than what was on my back would have been one disheveled traveler come Sunday. TC, however, packed enough clothes in case we were stranded for 3 weeks. Women. I'm a minimalist and travel really light. I would travel with just a loin cloth if I could get away with it. Actually, the airline would have had to put us all up in rooms, cheap ones I'm sure. The only time we would have been on our own is if it was deemed an "Act of God". Even if you're an atheist, you would be forced to abide by this rule. However, mechanical failure is on the airline.
Which brings us to this. Not that any of you care, the 9 people who held up the check-in process at the beginning of what I'm calling "The Hellish Flight Home" missed their connecting flights and were forced to stay in a local Philadelphia hotel. Mwah-haa-haaa!!! Philadelphia will eat them up. I had overheard a conversation on the plane. Some of them had missed their connection to Pittsburgh. LOOO-ZERRSSS!!!!
We finally landed a few minutes before 9 p.m. We zipped through Immigration and Customs because there were no other international flights arriving at that time. TC stated that our Customs was a bit of a joke. She was referring to the lack of thoroughness of luggage inspection. There was a much more thorough process on the Mexican side of this trip. Our shuttle was outside Terminal A-East as desired. We were to the off-airport parking lot and within minutes in TC's Honda CRV for a 45 minutes drive to her home. Home sweet girlfriend's home. I jumped into my Jeep and steered toward my home with one stop at the Giant supermarket as I had not stocked up provisions at home prior to our South of the Border trip.
My vacation officially ended when I pulled into my garage to the caterwauling of Potter (my cat). He's the only cat I've ever known to suffer from both separation anxiety and a personality conflict. I think he thinks he's a dog. He begs like a dog at least. Once I settled him and packed away my groceries, I showered and finally jumped into the coziness of my most familiar bed at midnight. Tomorrow I plan on spending the day in my jammies, nursing my sinus infection (not a head cold as I originally thought), do two weeks worth of laundry and watch as much DVRed programs as I can fit in the next 16-18 hours. Thus ends this tale.
Now...Some Observations:
1. No matter how bad you may think you look in a swimsuit there's at least 5 people who look even worse.
2. There's also not enough booze that will ever erase or un-see or make the 5 people noted in #1 ever look better in your eyes.
3. Quality always wins out over quantity. All you can eat buffets will never beat out or taste as good as a gourmet meal.
4. No matter how many Golden Apples (Apple Vacation's grading scale) a resort receives, there's still going to be shortcomings and people or things that will still piss you off.
5. No matter how perfect a vacation looks on paper, fate, kismet or destiny will try and most times succeed to foul it up. (Rain, drunk and noisy vacation revelers, topless preteens and flight delays to name a few)
6. As much research and planning you do for your vacation, it's still never enough.
7. Weather always plays the biggest part in vacations and can't be controlled no matter how much black magic you try.
8. As much as home is where the heart is I'd rather still be on vacation (even in the rain). I don't want to go back to work and my neighbors still annoy the shit out of me. I wish I was on a 2 month holiday like my sister. Read her adventures here.
9. One resolution I've made: I am going to learn to speak several languages fluently. Most of the Mexicans I interacted with spoke if not fluent English, but more than passable. My Spanish is on the level of more than slightly brain damaged, mentally challenged Spaniard.
10. At the resort and everywhere else in between the Mexican people were so friendly, helpful and tolerant of both the Euro trash and narcissistic Americans. I guess they truly need our money to sustain a better life. I sure as hell wouldn't put up with the shit that foreigners dish out. I know. I saw some arrogant and annoying foreigners in Mexico. They were known as Americans.
Until next time, safe travels and good fortune.
First, the air conditioning was not working on the plane where the temperatures reached nearly 90 degrees. The passengers were all de-boarded. I refuse to use the phrase "deplaned". If you board a plane, you de-board, un-board, dis-board or just plain get off the plane. There really isn't a term for getting off a plane. Deplane was something Hervé Villechaize said at the beginning of Fantasy Island. Okay. He actually says Da Plane. I'm taking literary license here. There's a term for boats, embark and disembark. The captain on a ship does not say, "You may deboat the ship now." Or, "Please deship the QEII at this time." But, I digress. The unlucky lucky bastards had to wait about an hour or so before the A/C was repaired. They re-boarded and got as far as the tarmac before turning back because the plane's computer wasn't working. It would have taken several hours to fix it. As luck had it for them and for us, there was another Airbus A330 available in the hangar. If there had not been a replacement available, the wannabe Cancun vacationers and us would have been stranded as the airline would have had to cancel the flight. The several hours it would have taken to repair the broken computer would have caused the pilots per FAA rules to be illegally flying the plane about half way through the trip. Now isn't that nice and interesting. This would have caused the would be vacationers to have to return home or to a local hotel if home was far away and return today to fly out. We Americans trying to get back to the states would have just been SOL (shit out of luck) in Cancun forced to fend for ourselves for the night and take up residence in a local Cancun hotel until today. And me, with no extra clean clothes other than what was on my back would have been one disheveled traveler come Sunday. TC, however, packed enough clothes in case we were stranded for 3 weeks. Women. I'm a minimalist and travel really light. I would travel with just a loin cloth if I could get away with it. Actually, the airline would have had to put us all up in rooms, cheap ones I'm sure. The only time we would have been on our own is if it was deemed an "Act of God". Even if you're an atheist, you would be forced to abide by this rule. However, mechanical failure is on the airline.
We finally landed a few minutes before 9 p.m. We zipped through Immigration and Customs because there were no other international flights arriving at that time. TC stated that our Customs was a bit of a joke. She was referring to the lack of thoroughness of luggage inspection. There was a much more thorough process on the Mexican side of this trip. Our shuttle was outside Terminal A-East as desired. We were to the off-airport parking lot and within minutes in TC's Honda CRV for a 45 minutes drive to her home. Home sweet girlfriend's home. I jumped into my Jeep and steered toward my home with one stop at the Giant supermarket as I had not stocked up provisions at home prior to our South of the Border trip.
My vacation officially ended when I pulled into my garage to the caterwauling of Potter (my cat). He's the only cat I've ever known to suffer from both separation anxiety and a personality conflict. I think he thinks he's a dog. He begs like a dog at least. Once I settled him and packed away my groceries, I showered and finally jumped into the coziness of my most familiar bed at midnight. Tomorrow I plan on spending the day in my jammies, nursing my sinus infection (not a head cold as I originally thought), do two weeks worth of laundry and watch as much DVRed programs as I can fit in the next 16-18 hours. Thus ends this tale.
Now...Some Observations:
1. No matter how bad you may think you look in a swimsuit there's at least 5 people who look even worse.
2. There's also not enough booze that will ever erase or un-see or make the 5 people noted in #1 ever look better in your eyes.
3. Quality always wins out over quantity. All you can eat buffets will never beat out or taste as good as a gourmet meal.
4. No matter how many Golden Apples (Apple Vacation's grading scale) a resort receives, there's still going to be shortcomings and people or things that will still piss you off.
5. No matter how perfect a vacation looks on paper, fate, kismet or destiny will try and most times succeed to foul it up. (Rain, drunk and noisy vacation revelers, topless preteens and flight delays to name a few)
6. As much research and planning you do for your vacation, it's still never enough.
7. Weather always plays the biggest part in vacations and can't be controlled no matter how much black magic you try.
8. As much as home is where the heart is I'd rather still be on vacation (even in the rain). I don't want to go back to work and my neighbors still annoy the shit out of me. I wish I was on a 2 month holiday like my sister. Read her adventures here.
9. One resolution I've made: I am going to learn to speak several languages fluently. Most of the Mexicans I interacted with spoke if not fluent English, but more than passable. My Spanish is on the level of more than slightly brain damaged, mentally challenged Spaniard.
10. At the resort and everywhere else in between the Mexican people were so friendly, helpful and tolerant of both the Euro trash and narcissistic Americans. I guess they truly need our money to sustain a better life. I sure as hell wouldn't put up with the shit that foreigners dish out. I know. I saw some arrogant and annoying foreigners in Mexico. They were known as Americans.
Until next time, safe travels and good fortune.
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