Monday, April 07, 2014

Isla Mujeres: the end

A time it was and what a time it was.  All good things must come to an end.  I truly loved my trip.  In part it was the wonderful people I got to share it with, and in part it was the island itself.  Sometimes when I am travelling, there are things I wish I had done differently, that really didn't happen here.  I would get pesos the first day, but that's about it.

I stayed at Los Archos, The Arches.  It was nice and clean, very simple, but it had AC and wifi, both are musts for me.  It is a five minute walk to the beach, and you can rent a chair and umbrella for the day.  There are nicer, more expensive places right on the beach, where chairs and umbrellas are included and you can charge food to the room.  Another hotel is all inclusive, but I would not want that, as there are so many wonderful places to eat for less right on the street.  It is worth comparing prices.  The beach hotels I saw the inside of were Ixchel and Privilege, both were lovely.  Privilege was the all inclusive one.  Again, I think it is worth comparing prices, how often are you going to be on the beach, etc. 

My last day I got to have breakfast with Christy, Christiane, Deliza, and some of Christiane's family.  It was a perfect ending to a perfect long weekend.

I am so thankful I got to share this moment with them.

My room, sorry it's messy, I was packing up.  But you can see it's nice and big for a couple.

There is a safe to store valuables, which I recommend.  And a closet and shelves.

I also had a TV, fridge and microwave.

Bathroom is clean, just don't drink the water.  This is true for all of Mexico, buy bottled.

My view from the balcony.  I would ask for a street view next time.  Although it was really hot out, so it didn't matter.  I never used it anyway.

A note about sunscreen.  Wear it.  I used this turbo-charged sunscreen, and I never burned.  I also only applied about once a day and I was good.  So I recommend this kind.  It did sting when I got some in my eyes.

This tee shirt made me laugh.

There were all kinds of tee shirts.  I liked them, but I knew I would never wear it, so I took this picture instead.

I was all alone!  I kind of liked it actually.

The ferry ride was delightful.  A nice way to wind down after several hectic days.

I am writing this back home in Boston, and the entire trip feels like a dream.  Yes, getting home was miserable to say the least, but I did learn a few things.  Always, always, always get direct flight coming home with international travel.  I don't care what it costs.  Basically after a lovely ferry ride from the island to Cancun, it was all downhill from there.  My flight was delayed an hour, and when I landed in Ft Lauderdale I had to get my bag, go through the longest customs line ever, then immigration, be rescreened, recheck my bag, run to another building to another terminal and the far side of that terminal.  Since more than half of the Cancun flight was flying to Boston, they held the plane for an hour.  And the best part?  It was the same plane we had just disembarked.  But the plane landed in the international terminal and we had to go to the domestic terminal. 

So like I said, lesson learned, direct flight.  But I made it home.  All is well.

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