This year the trip will being October 8th and end on October 17th. Ten days nine nights, booked on Hotwire for $2280 including roundtrip airfare, and the all inclusive resort. The only thing we will have to pay for is any off resort activities, souveniers, tips, and our roundtrip transfer with USA transfers. We also purchased upgraded seats on our American Airlines flights to get that extra legroom, priority boarding and early access to the overhead bins. With getting the AA credit card I earned a 200 dollar credit, which meant the upgrade on the seats only cost me a little over thirty dollars. The USA Transfer will cost 130 roundtrip, but, as always, and for the last thirteen years, it is worth every penny. The drivers are very good, the vans are clean and comfortable, they are prompt, and friendly, just the best transfer service I have found.
We're also bringing a donation of clothing to the little He Kab Be library in town. So, we will just stroll up the beach and into town to the library.
Now it's just time to make my lists, and think of what I might want to upgrade, replace, or refurbish for the trip. I already know we will need to bring short fins, as the long fins are not really allowed and I can't snorkel with no fins. I would literally die.
Update 10-1-18
About half packed, and it's time to start watching the weather reports for hurricanes that may affect our trip. We're not too worried, but, you just always need to have your situational awareness when traveling.
Today we are picking up Mexican Pesos. The exchange rate should be around 17 to 1 Pesos to US dollars. Hoping to get that rate. We will be getting mostly small bills for tips. We can always get more Pesos at the resort should we need them.
Everything is booked and paid for except our luggage, which we can pay for when we check in on Sunday. It's gettin real now, just 6 days left til we leave.
We're both tanning ahead of the trip to try to limit the amount of sun burn we might get. The Mexican sun is much stronger than here in Utah. Its so easy to get a burn and ruin part of your trip if you don't prepare your skin. Plus, sunburn is a greater cause of skin cancer than gradual tanning. Neither is really preferred, but, burning is the greater of the two evils so to speak.
Update 10-9-18
We arrived at just after 3pm flying American airlines. The reviews made us nervous, but, so far, this trip has been fine, I was a little miffed in Phoenix when there were three people running the gate desk, but, only one was processing last minute stuff, The plane was ready to board, but, we were standing waiting while the one person was doing all the work and the other two could have been boarding us.
Anyway, that aside, the flights were great, pilots very skilled, crew hard working and friendly, and the in flight entertainment was a plus.
We flew in while the area was surrounded by Tropical storm MIchael and I was extremely impressed with the navigating around and then under the storm that the pilot and his crew did. Smooth and no real turbulence. Two thumbs up for them,
USA transfers was waiting after we cleared customs, which, by the way, still had the red light green light set up, so while terminal 4 is without it, terminal 3 still has it, and you still fill out the forms we always have,
The whole area, especially around the airport was crawling with the Mexican military. Our driver said it was due to the new President arriving. The drive down was pleasant, One hour and twenty minutes later we were pulling up to the Jurrasic Park-like gates to the Akumal Bay Beach and Wellness Resort, A short jaunt down the driveway and we were back home, finally, after a long and stressful year, we made it back to our favorite place on earth,
First things first, big hugs with Lele, and chatting with the sweet girls at the front desk. Then, checked into our room in building 3. The tropical storm Michael brushed by the peninsula but we only saw clouds and some distant lightning, The waves are up a bit, and that makes for a great night sleep listening to them.
Dinner at the buffet was another reunion, this time with Lemuel and Wilberth, I love that they pronounce my name correctly. Teresa (teh ray sah). In the states I am always Theresa (teh ree sah) which is not my name, but, I get tired of correcting people.
The buffet offerings are top notch. Great grilled fish, just tons of different entree. We never go away hungry, far from it.
After a long travel day, we made an early night of it.
Update 10-10-18
The weather has been amazing. Hotter than we expected for October, and when we get home on Wed night we will be stepping into freezing temps, so, we are definitely not complaining about the heat here. Days are in the upper 80's and nights are mid 70's Farenheit. Very little for rain, even though the weather sites are all saying rain every day.
Tropical storm Michael was an off shore event, just causing some waves and churnned up sand
dateUpdate 10/14/18
Just three left in our trip, time , as usual has flown by. The water the past
two days has been calm and clear, great snorkeling. Winds are starting to pick up this afternoon. This morning the sargassum was piled up a bit, but, nothing bad at all.
Beach volleyball is in full swing and its in front of the Sushi bar. The nightly entertainment has been really good this trip. Last night was the rock band the Bean Heads. They played a pretty good variety of rock favorites, and did a respectable rendition of Chuck Barry's guitar solo in Johnny B Good.
Tonight the other rock band plays, they are fantastic.
Choco Alex is the manager of the animacion team, just started two months ago, which means Vanilla Alex has more Marianne and the wee one.
Had dinner at the Gourmet on Jesus' last night. He now works day shift at the snack bar.
So far the trip couldnt be better
This mornings sunrise was spectacular.
Update 10/27/18
This trip report has really gotten away from me. We've been home for ten days now, and I haven"t updated. Well, it was back to work almost right away, and I came down with a virus at the same time, yay, welcome home.
So, anyway, what can I say about the trip that I haven't? That it was perfect, and soooo relaxing. The layers just peel away from the moment we step into that gorgeous lobby. Then, walking the path to building 3 and up the elevator to the 2nd (which is actually the 3rd) floor. Stepping into our room, that was scented with lavender before we arrived. The welcoming bowl of fruit, and cool air conditioning. But, the beach was beckoning, so we changed out of our travel clothes and into beach wear and then headed immediately down to the soft, cool, powdery white sand and then stepped up to our knees in the soft water. We were home, and it was as if we never left.
That night we slept with our balcony door closed, thinking we were sacrificing the sound of the waves in exchange for a/c but we could still hear it. That was an amazing way to sleep, every single night, the sound of waves all night long.
Our trip was pretty chill, not really any excursions, unless you count walking into town to buy stuff. We chatted with the local artist, the one that Tim bought some paintings from a couple of years ago. He remembered and they had a good chat about the meaning in the images.
We also found a replacement for my topaz necklace that was stolen. We had gotten a necklace with a light blue/green topaz set in a silver sun pendant back in 2011 when we renewed our vows. Well, it was stolen when we spent a weekend at Daniels Summit Lodge in the Uintas, and we have never found another one that was the size of the original pendant, with the same depth of color until this trip. At first the guy in the silver shop wanted 200 US for it, but I didn't want to spend that much on it. By the time we walked out of the shop, he had talked himself down to 70 dollars US. I really don't like to talk the vendors in Akumal down. In Playa Del Carmen or Tulum I might bargain, but, in Akumal, I just feel like they don't get the tourist traffic that the other areas do, and I know how little they really earn. Sure, a lot of the stuff is from China, but, we go in knowing that. There are some artisans in the town that make a lot of stuff by hand, but, these pendants are definitely shipped in and manufactured stones at that. You have to put your value on them and pay what you think is fair, and that's the key. Be fair. This is their livelihood.
We always get vanilla at the Super Chomak store in town. Its a good price, and I like the vanilla they sell.. Still, Renato at the resort went in search of pure organic vanilla, and scored some of that for us, so, we came home with a boat load of vanilla.
We had to navigate around behind the new barrier keeping people from crossing to the beach by way of Lol Ha. I feel bad for the shop owners back there. they can't be getting much foot traffic these days. perhaps there is a better way to do this.
We did cut through Hotel Akumal lobby to drop in at the Mexicarte. I just love that shop. Then wandered back to the pass thru by the dive shop. It brought back a lot of memories from our vow renewal. We had stayed in those bungalows back behind Lol Ha to get ready for the ceremony. It was nice to walk down memory lane.
A lot of our trip was just relaxing and soaking up the sun. Tim spent a lot of time snorkeling, once the waves calmed down. I, on the other hand, chose not to fight with my snorkel mouthpiece around my braces. Last year I tried, and it was a major pain. So, I relaxed in the Bali bed, or under the palapa, napping, and just letting go of all the stresses of the year. It was much needed.
One of my favorite things to do in the evening was to sit in the lobby and chat with the guys that work the reception area. They don't have a lot to do at night unless a large group is coming in late, so, it's fun to learn all about them. That and the fact that there is a table set up with gourmet chocolates. So delicious.
