So, my last post was the night before we left Mexico - and boy was that day a story! We were up at 6:30 to get everything together, drop off our bags, check out, and hit that delicious breakfast buffet just one more time. I of course had my usually totally unhealthy breakfast consisting of that chocolate doughnut, churro, and to balance it out - pineapple! I spent a few minutes walking around the resort trying to get some last minute pictures of where we had spent this wonderful week! They were starting to decorate for Christmas - my favorite time of year - so the hotel was looking beautiful with decorated trees and other hanging decorations throughout the walkways. And sadly, we then boarded the bus back to the airport, frowning the whole way to our seats.
It took about an hour to get to the airport on the full bus of travelers - all miserable knowing they were leaving their Mexican vacation. We checked in - along side a college basketball team nonetheless (that put a smile back on our face)! After getting our bags checked - weight passed...whew! - we proceeded to security. The woman waiting at the front of the security asked for my ticket to check with passport - and it was no where to be found! Oh no! Thinking I had left it down at the check in desk, I ventured back there. Again, no where to be found. (And attached to the ticket, the $40 pass to get out of the country.) Luckily, I had texted Kelly to check her stuff and about this time, she called my cell, realizing she had taken my ticket with her. Whew, crisis avoided. We then made it through security, Kelly passing this time with no issues. We sipped Starbucks and played cards for while, waiting for our flight time to arrive. When it arrived, no plane to be seen. The delay ended up being close to an hour by the time we took off, which worried Kelly and I since we had a connecting flight from Charlotte to RDU only 75 minutes after our originally planned landing time, and we knew we needed to go through baggage claim, customs, and security again in CLT. We made it to Charlotte with what we thought was plenty of time to make it to our next flight. Kelly had decided that since her boyfriend was in Charlotte with her family, she would hitch a ride with him from the CLT airport. So, I was trying to rush through all the needed stopping points to make my flight to RDU. Baggage claim took forever!! Not only did they tell us the wrong baggage belt 3 times, but then the correct one shut off...with my bag in plain sight about to call onto the belt! Ahhh. I finally was able to retrieve it with 4 minutes until my flight left! I guess this was my sign that I needed to go for a jog after all that horrible eating! So, I did just that, jogged through customs, security, and Terminal C down to the flight. I was the last to arrive, and luckily, the plane had been held 20 minutes for a few of us coming from the Cancun flight. Barely making it, the 40 minute flight to RDU was just enough time to catch my breath. I arrived in Raleigh, cabbed it to my car (shout out to Schanzy for letting me park about 2 miles from the airport and saving the mulah), and drove home for Thanksgiving dinner.
I made it home by around 7:00 and proceeded to grub on turkey, sweet potato casserole, corn pudding, and plenty more. Although traveling on Thanksgiving was a nightmare, it was wonderful to see my family for the evening and get to spend the weekend at home before getting back into the real world. Now, it's time to start planning the next trip.
That's all for Mexico. I will be sure to come back and blog about some of my past trips but until then
- Adios Amigos!
