Vegas to Cancun - Transit Stop Overs Suck
Trip Start
Dec 14, 2010
1
8
65
Trip End
Ongoing
Where I stayed
Cancun, Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
A: Its 10:25pm (Vegas Time) and our plane (Airtran) is taxiing down the run way. Think Jetstar, budget airline only older. In all ways, instead of young hostesses, clean chairs and functional airconditioning. We have a plane that feels like a sardine can, old ladies running up and down the aisle demanding that all small bags be placed under seats, old stained fabric chairs and an air system that work as well as a light fart into a strong breeze. Worst of all (moslty for steph, as she sat next to him), the BFG from Roald Dahl's finction book was sitting in our little 3 person seating arrangement. Needless to say this bloke had to be 6'10", old and built lilke an indian war chief. He was sitting up against the window, which resulted in him encroaching into Steph's area. But what do you do, the whole plane was full. A small dilemma did arise when steph went to lower her tray, there was a clash between the desired final resting place of the tray and the large mohican's knee. However with a bit of shuffling from the big fella, the tray was correctly positioned.
Side Note: Vegas Airport was an experience, firstly due to Airtran being a budget airline we were required to pay an additional $20 per bag a check in, not happy. This was not advised during the online booking. Make matters worse, while waiting to board, the hostess announces that due to the number of passenagers, they were offering free checking of large items, as there was not going to be enough bag space in the general cabin. While going through security we were required to pass through the new American high tech x ray machine that allows the security team to see you in the nudey. Steph was most fascinate, looking wildly around the security zone hoping to get a glimps of the monitor. However the Americans have thought of everything, to protect the privacy of their partons, the montiors are placed elsewhere (away from prying eyes, and i would assume so the security team can laught and ogle at their leasure). The last delight of the Las Vegas experience was the transportation from the security zone to the departure gates. This was by a monorail system that would have been more suited to a fun park. A most enjoyable experience.
It is now 5:05am (Atlanta Time, 2:05am Vegas Time) and we have a 4hr stop over at the Atlanta airport. Yeah for us. We try to get some sleep on an uncomfortable piece of carpet. But with the extreme lights, noisy TVs and cleaning machines, it was never going to happen.
So we´ve boarded our plane for Cancun and this time Steph made it very clear that i would be sitting in the middle chair. With a little grin, she told me that she hoped a big fat bloke sat next to me. Unfortunately.... for Steph, a youngy skin girl sat down, thus giving me plenty of shoulder room. Both being absolutely exhausted we tried to get some sleep on the plane, however mine was distrupted by the constant kicking and nudging of my chair from behind. Turning around i expected to find a little kid having a great time. To my surprise I found a full grown adult (Father, sitting with his wife and son) rocked back in his seat with his feet up on the back of my chair. I let the nudging continue for about another 5 mins, the losing my cool. I had to have a quiet little chat with the bloke. Problem, no more.
A: So its 11:05am (Cancun Time, 9:05am Las Vegas Time) and we’ve been awake for around 26hrs and Steph is very tired. As we are proceeding through the customs area, Steph goes towards one line but I happen to choose the one line (smallest at the time) that is only being serviced by one customs officer. Who happened to be a senile old lady, who didn’t seem to actually know what she was doing and had zero care factor. She continually had to leave the counter and seek advice from other officers. Other lines were moving 3x as fast as ours and Steph was not impressed and made it very clear that I no longer get to chose which lines we join, as my choices continually suck. Adam’s line choice = Fail.
We collect our bags and again, we slide start through the bag check area. Drug Mules successfully once again (Drug Mules = 2, Custom Bag Check = 0).
Note: Steph and I are carrying that much medication, we feel like Drug Mules.
So we needed transport out of the Cancun International Airport and even though I’ve read the lonely planet book and an airport information assistant advises that we need to walk all the way to the end of the terminal to get to the bus area. I still listen to the random shuttle operator that stops us and he advised that the bus we need would not be leaving for an hr cause it was being cleaned and it went the long way to where we needed to get too. A combination of fatigue, English speaking amigo and the desire need for a bed we agreed to take the shuttle that he offered. Original price $60, I did not agree and ended up getting it for $40. Dawning realisation kicked in, as we drove out of the airport in the taxi shuttle and see the Bus area, that had about 3-4 buses sitting there waiting. I instantly pulled out the lonely planet book and re-read. It noted: "walk straight pass all the shuttle operators, they are scammers. Bus will cost $3.50 pp". Adam’s second Fail for the day. Oh well, I guess we are still learning!
After checking into the Cancun Hostel, Soberanis. We couldn’t sleep and decided to check out the streets of Cancun. It isn’t anything special. So after about 30mins of walking and a failed attempt to withdraw money from a deposit only ATM. We headed to the local mini-mart for some food. While in the check out, a loud voice from behind yelled, “F@#king Tourists”, Hey presto! Jono had arrived and we quickly headed off to find the other boys, Coxy & Brian. (Our three friends we had planned to meet up with in Cancun, Cuba and Brazil: Coxy (Brad), Jono (Jonathon) and Brian)
So we’re all sitting in the street eating, catching up. The boys meal of choice, 10 pieces of cold fried salmonella chicken for 9.90 pesos (99 cents). After a Few hrs of chilling out in the rooms and Coxy, Steph and I headed out for some dinner, Quesadillas. It wasn’t long after watching Coxy communicate with the local store operators, that we realised we knew zero Spanish and might be in a little trouble.
