Yatra Geetham – Mexican Tour – 1

Yatra Geetham

Mexican Tour – 1

Telugu Original : Dr K.Geeta 

English Translation: V.Vijaya Kumar

          We had previously taken a cruise to Baja California, a Mexican border city adjacent to California. Now we wanted to go to Cancun, which is on the east coast of Mexico. The flight from California, on the west coast of the United States, to the east coast of Mexico takes about eight hours, with a three-hour time difference ahead.

          We postponed this trip two or three times. About ten days before the Thanksgiving holiday in November, feeling very tired from work, we decided to finally take this holiday as a way to unwind. As expected, we booked a Costco vacation package again. Another reason was that the off-season is a bit cheaper for Cancun, which is a coastal area, since it is rainy from August to November.

          Before booking the Costco package, we compared prices of flights and hotels separately on other sites and found this was the best option. Although the package cost about the same as booking flights and hotels separately, it included some extra advantages.

          The flights were direct. Even though there are multiple flights, the transfer time between connections was short and didn’t waste much time. (But later, I will tell you about the inconveniences caused by such short transfer times!)

          We could choose a hotel package at a rate that suited us.

          Most importantly, this was an all-inclusive package. That was the biggest attraction. All-inclusive means three meals a day, resort accommodations, and other amenities are all included. There’s no need to pay for meals separately. When traveling with children, this is especially convenient—you don’t have to keep searching for food options every time.

          Although it was more expensive than other Costco packages, we chose the Palace Hotels Package. Palace Hotels has three resorts: Beach Palace, Sun Palace, and Moon Palace. We chose Beach Palace because it was right on the beach, which would be great for the kids. However, apart from the beach, it was far from other attractions, which seemed like a small drawback.

          Considering the distances, Sun Palace might have been the best. Moon Palace, on the other hand, is only for couples, so it wasn’t an option with children.

          Anyway, the tour was booked: a total of seven days including travel, with a full week in Cancun.

          But now we needed to decide what to do once we got there. We watched many videos about Cancun online. Knowing that Cancun has a reputation for being unsafe and that it’s not advisable to go outside the “hotel zone” where all the resorts are, we hesitated. But since we had bought non-refundable tickets, we decided to go and see for ourselves.

          We also checked visa regulations online. The summary was that anyone with a valid US visa could enter Mexico. Accordingly, we carried all the necessary documents in case we faced any problems while crossing the border. We also remembered our previous experience of having to wait two hours when returning from a cruise in Mexico, and the tension at the immigration counter.

          The children had a week off, but we didn’t. Still, thinking, “There aren’t enough holidays for birds that want to fly freely,” we both took an extra day off from work.

          As always, it was my responsibility to make all the arrangements, and everyone else’s responsibility to enjoy the trip!

          Now that my elder daughter Varu has grown up and can take care of her own arrangements, I don’t need to worry about hers. From now on, most of my time would be spent with Siri, my younger one. She insisted she would pack everything herself like her sister. If I let her, she would throw her clothes aside and fill her suitcase with her favorite toys. If I tried to stop her, she would cry. In the end, I had to wait until Siri fell asleep and then secretly repack.

          She also insisted she would carry her suitcase herself. If I allowed it, she would simply roll it on its four wheels, run ahead with her head down, and let the bag bump into people. If anyone was hit, she would cry, while we alternated between laughing and getting frustrated. When she saw us angry, she would say: “Mommy! Daddy! You should take a deep breath and let it out—or count to ten—and the anger will go away!” Well, how could we stay angry after that?

          Since Mexico is a neighboring country, the baggage rules were different. Unlike international flights, local flights there don’t allow large suitcases for free. So, each of us carried only a small cabin bag and a laptop bag. Siri carried a toy bag on her back the entire day at home, but in the end, she left it there before we departed. We worried she would cry for it, but luckily, she had her iPod and forgot about the bag.

          One of the reasons we chose Cancun in November was that it is winter in the U.S., and it felt nice to go somewhere warm. The second reason was that Chichen Itza, one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, is located nearby—and that was the main attraction for us. Another reason was that since the children had been to Hawaii, they had become very fond of playing in the warm sea. Cancun is famous for its white sand beaches. What more could we ask for? 

*****

(to be continued)