Airfare Sale From Detroit

As I sat on the curb in front of my apartment building, I made a plan. First, call a taxi to run to pharmacy and ATM. While waiting for the taxi, I called my friend Seth. He was in a meeting but, as usual, he was the calm, cool, voice of reason. He couldn’t give me a ride to the airport…unless I had no other option…but he would store some of my things in his home and he would deliver them to my mom on his next trip to visit his girlfriend, who was living on the East Coast. He told me it would all be fine and, because it was Seth speaking, I believed it.

I quickly made another phone call to my friend, Jason. Jason is one of those people that would do anything for a friend. Unfortunately, he was too far away to be able to get back to Denver in time for me to make my flight. I could’ve taken a taxi but, in Denver, that would’ve been a small fortune. Jason volunteered his mother to drive me to the airport. I’d only met her once before and it had been a brief encounter. He called her and told her my situation and she didn’t hesitate. She got in her car and was on her way to pick me up within a couple of minutes. I guess we can see where Jason gets it from, huh?! Crisis averted!

My best friend was planning to move with me and I was supposed to pick her up on the way to the airport. Around 5am I had spoken with her and she didn’t seem like she still wanted to move. She hadn’t even packed and wasn’t in her home at the time. When I tried calling her to tell her of the change of plans regarding getting to the airport, she didn’t answer the phone. I left several messages, but she didn’t return my calls. Very strange…

I went upstairs to start bringing down all of my luggage…1o pieces in all, ranging in size from small carry-on bags to a few pieces of rolling luggage that would hold everything you could possibly need for a 3-month trip. At least I could live in my apartment-sized luggage if I didn’t find a home! When I was walking out the door, on one of my trips downstairs, my friends arrived to finish moving out the things I wouldn’t be taking with me. They were kind enough to bring breakfast too! When I told them about the night I’d had and how the morning was starting off, they offered to clean my apartment so I’d get SOME of my security deposit back. They also said they would take some things to Seth’s for safe-keeping. Another crisis averted! Things were looking up!

Jason’s mother arrived within 30 minutes of my frenzied call for help. We quickly loaded up her car, said a hurried goodbye to the friends tending to my apartment, and we were off. Along the way, I kept trying to phone my best friend, but to no avail. Certainly she had received the messages by now.

I arrived at the airport and put all of my luggage on 2 carts and wheeled it inside. I was still having the uncontrollable crying bouts, but that probably was to my advantage at that particular moment. When I was checking in for my flight, the agent only charged me for a couple of extra bags….even though I was only allowed 3 free bags! He obviously felt sorry for me, but he was also happy for me when he learned I was moving to Cancun.

After I got checked in, I called my mom, Seth, and some other friends to let them know what was going on. I tried calling my best friend again, but still no answer. She didn’t check in for the flight either. A no-show on Cancun Moving Day. Who would be that silly?! My friend, apparently. She’d always been pretty flaky, but I never saw that coming.

In the gate area, I was still on my phone and still crying enough to make people stare. When I boarded the plane, I said goodbye to my mom and turned off my cell phone. On the plane, I was still crying, I think. I was on my way though and that helped me relax. I could finally breathe. I think I fell asleep as soon as I sat down. I woke when the flight attendants served lunch. I had ignored eating for days and now I was finally forced to relax and eat. I managed to eat all of my icky airline food and went back to sleep. I slept the rest of the way to Cancun. I woke with just enough time to put on makeup and attempt to look cute. My eyes were so swollen that it was hard to disguise it with makeup, but I did my best because I was going to need every weapon in my arsenal to get out of paying tons of money to the Customs’ Agents. I know my mom is reading this and wondering if I was wearing a low-cut blouse. She knows this is one of my tricks when I need men to do things for me and, of course, the answer is yes!

I got off the plane with a smile on my face. I was home! It was hot and Immigration was miserable, but I was still concerned about Customs. I had my work visa so that required me to fill out a different form than a tourist, but it was simple enough and I was on my way in no time. Once I claimed all 10 pieces of luggage, I wrangled it all onto 2 luggage carts and made my way to the traffic light at the Customs checkpoint. I pushed the button…green…but with that many bags, I still had to see an agent in a tiny little office. No good could come from that. I was envisioning all the money I was about to pay when an airline employee I’d met earlier in the week, magically appeared. I met him when I was returning to Denver from my weekend trip to Cancun. He knew I was moving to Cancun and had requested a gift. I brought chocolates for him, but his co-workers thought he had left for the day. Wrong! He had been just outside the Customs area waiting for me to arrive! He accompanied me to the scary little Customs office (only scary because I knew they wanted lots of money) and waited for the agent to return.

When the Customs agent returned, he didn’t look very happy to see me, or my mound of luggage. Since my Spanish was little more than the most basic of ‘Basic Spanish’, the airline employee spoke for me. He told the agent what I had in my bags and that I was moving here and assured him I would buy all my things in Mexico from that moment on. The agent scolded me for a minute and then let me go without having to pay one single peso!! All the flirting in the world would not have gotten me totally off the hook so I am forever grateful to Alex from Suntrips! If it hadn’t been for him, and the fact that it was time for the Customs agent to go to lunch, I’d probably still be standing there forking over money to Customs!

Alex helped me cart all of my bags out to the hotel shuttle. While the bags were being loaded, impatient vacationers were yelling for me to get in so we could be on our way. I told them my bags were being loaded and we weren’t leaving without them…and continued chatting with my new friends. After about 10 minutes, all the bags were strategically placed in the luggage area of the van, I bid farewell to Alex, and got in the van. A short time later, I arrived at the Miramar Mision. A bellman carried all of my bags up the stairs to the lobby. I was looking forward to calling my friends and having a relaxing evening. I was home!

Nope, it couldn’t be THAT easy! When it was my turn to check in, the front desk clerk told me the hotel was over-booked and I was being walked to another hotel. What else could possibly go wrong on this day?! I couldn’t argue because there were no rooms to be had. I insisted they give me one of their nicer rooms when I returned the next day, and then had the bellman lug all my things back down the stairs and put them into a taxi.

A short time later, I arrived at the Caribbean Princess…a hotel that DID have rooms available and I was able to relax! I made some phone calls, took a shower, and visited with a friend. After that, I got into bed and slept the whole night! (Something I hadn’t been able to do in quite a while!) I woke in time to check out and move back to the Miramar Mision. Keeping with his word, the front desk clerk gave me an oceanfront room. That was my first home in Cancun!

I spent the first few days as a tourist. You know the drill…..sleeping late, lounging by the pool, napping, and partying like a rock star. It was SO nice to see the jets flying over the hotel zone and knowing I never had to leave if I didn’t want to! After a couple of days of this (the relaxing life I was meant to lead!) the reality of being homeless started to set in and I got back to apartment hunting. I looked at many apartments, but none were in my price range now that I would be living alone. Finally, on Day 6, I had a couple of friends take me out to walk around neighborhoods and look for apartments for rent. Within 30 minutes we found a great apartment and it was in my price range! It was in a great neighborhood…convenient to everything and safe. Later that evening, I had Ivan go look at it with me to make sure I wasn’t just taking the place because I was desperate. He loved it too and we met with the landlord. I moved in the next morning and then I was finally at home in Cancun.

To be continued…..

Monster Tattoo is a well-known tattoo and body piercing shop, located in Mercado Coral Negro in the Hotel Zone. They do permanent and temporary tattoos, as well as body piercing.

The shop has hygienic work areas and they use sterile instruments/body jewelry for their tattoos and piercings. The artists believe in nothing less then the highest level of quality.

Bring your own artwork, or choose from 1000′s of tattoo designs in the shop! If you don’t find a design you like, one of the artists will create a unique piece of body art for you.

Monster Tattoo has the largest selection of body jewelry in Cancun and their piercing staff is fully trained in all aspects of body piercing.

Prices are very reasonable!
Permanent Tattoos start at $40 usd
Body Piercing starts at $20 usd (without jewerly), or $35 usd (with jewelry)
Henna Tattoos start at $10 usd

SPECIAL OFFER FOR MEMBERS OF THE CANCUN CLUB:
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$5 usd off all body piercings

Tattoo Artists: Piranha & Beto
Body Pierciers: Yky & Boomer
Customer Service: Sam

Stop by and say hello to the guys on your next trip to Cancun!

Hours of Operation: Everyday from 10am until midnight, or until the last customer leaves.

Walk-ins accepted for piercing, but appointments are preferred for tattoos. Call or email Monster Tattoo, to schedule an appointment.

Located at Blvd. Kukulkan Km 9.5 in the Coral Negro Flea Market, Ground Level, Local 15
(Monster Tattoo is on the side of the flea market that faces Salvia Condominiums and Plaza Forum by the Sea.)

Email: monstertattoo1@hotmail.com

Phone: 883-1810

I returned to Denver, from my quick trip to Cancun, on Monday afternoon. Friday morning…just 4 days later…I was scheduled to fly to Cancun for the REAL trip. Yes, Friday was MOVING DAY!!!

I had an entire apartment full of things that had not yet been packed, shipped out, sold, or given away. It was overwhelming to think that everything had to be out of that place in less than 4 days! My apartment had to be cleaned from top to bottom and keys turned in to the management office. I also had many last-minute errands to run before I boarded the flight on Friday morning. Everything else seemed to take priority over eating and sleeping. I had far too much to attend to to waste time doing those things.

In addition to the mulitude of tasks I had to complete prior to Friday morning, I had to work. I was working as a travel agent at the time and had final payments due for a large group the week I was moving. I took their payments up until the day before I moved. I did this mainly because I am a control freak and only trusted one other agent with my clients. I wanted to make sure everything was ok with the group before I left town, because I didn’t know how quickly I would have a phone or internet service, once I arrived in Cancun.

Since I needed the computer until the last possible moment, I had to delay packing clothes and bedding, as well. You see, I was planning to pack my computer and printer in my luggage with clothes all around them for protection. Packing the clothes would have to wait until Thursday night.

As if I didn’t have enough to do with my time, friends living in Cancun emailed to ask me to bring some things for them. They only requested small items so packing them wasn’t an issue, but finding the time to go out to buy the things was a MAJOR issue. I made the time on Thursday afternoon, while on one of my daily trips to the post office. My apartment was starting to look empty, but it was now a disorganized mess! I like order and I was far from it at that point.

Thursday night, I made my final trip to the post office. Some friends came over to help me clean, but I am sure they only helped so they could take possession of anything nice I might not have wanted. As long as everything was out of the apartment when I left the next morning, I didn’t care.

While they were busy moving out any items that didn’t make the cut, I ran out to take some things to my friend, Seth, and to say goodbye to him. He’s been one of my best friends since my 21st birthday (so I’ve only known him for 2 years…yea, right!) and I was dreading that goodbye. We had met when we were both living in Virginia, during college. Coincidentally, we both ended up moving to Denver the same Summer. He is the man that I compare all other men to and, I’ll tell you, none have ever measured up. He is the best and I was going to be so sad to leave him. We said our goodbyes and I was strong…until I got to the car. Then the tears came.

I drove home in my car that was nothing short of a death trap. Luckily, I only had to drive a mile or two. I was sad because I was leaving my friends and overwhelmed that I still had so much to do in the next 12 hours and my car was on it’s last legs. When I got home, my friends were still there moving things out. They decided to go home and finish it up the next morning. I still had all the packing to do. It was going to be a long night.

I thought I had managed to make a pretty good dent in the packing before I looked around at the piles of things that still had be done. I got entirely overwhelmed and started having a mental meltdown. I didn’t think there was any possible way that I would do everything that needed to be done before morning. I started to panic and then I started crying….and crying….and crying….. Well, you get the idea. I am not one of those girls that cries at the drop of a hat so the fact that I was crying uncontrollably let me, and everyone else, know I was in the midst of a trauma. I called my mom and continued the crying, only this time it was via long-distance phone calls. Several before the sun even came up in Denver.

I kept weighing all my options. I could suck it up and get on the plane with whatever I could fit into my bags, or I could stay in Denver and change my flight to another day. If I chose door #2, I would have to extend my lease (it expired at the end of ‘moving day’) and fly stand-by on another day, plus I’d have to pay to make the date change. I couldn’t drive to Virginia to stay with my family for a while because my car wouldn’t make it and I didn’t want to invest in another one when my money was supposed to be going towards my new life in Cancun. After several hours of going over every option, in my head and over the phone, I decided I was getting on the plane that morning. If I didn’t do it that day, I wasn’t sure I ever would. After that decision was made, things started to fall into place. I was still crying uncontrollably, but I’m sure that, at that point, it had much more to do with lack of sleep and food. Starvation and exhaustion will do that to you, I guess.

I packed all I could fit into my bags, took a shower, and went to run one last errand. The car picked that moment to die. No problem, except I had planned to drive myself to the airport and leave the car there to be picked up later. So, after that stressful night it all came down to this. Was everything pointing to me staying in Denver, or telling me that my time in Denver was over and it was definitely time to move on? Only time would tell.

To be continued…..

After my big Cancun Birthday Bash in May 2003, I returned to Denver and started planning the actual move to Cancun. I started the lengthy process of sorting through everything I owned and deciding what got to go with me and what had to be thrown out, donated to Goodwill, or taken to my mom’s house for safe-keeping. This turned out to be much more than I had bargained for! In fact, this monsterous feat wasn’t completed until several minutes before I had to leave for the airport on “Moving Day”. As you can imagine, several months of cleaning, sorting, and packing was far from fun.

Soon after I returned to Denver and started preparing for the big move, I decided to get the most important issue out of the way…..transportation to Cancun. I searched high and low for rock-bottom prices on airfare and managed to find it! I booked a roundtrip flight and 3 nights lodging at Miramar Mision. I booked the roundtrip flight mainly because it’s cheaper that way, but decided that return flight could be my “Plan B” in case I chickened out and wanted to flee to Denver. I chose Miramar Mision for the low price, the location, and because I love the pool there. (I’m so sad that this hotel is currently slated to be demolished..only to be replaced with more condos!) I thought I’d relax by the pool for the first few days of my new life. Not a bad way to start!!

Back to cleaning, packing, sorting, tossing out, dropping off at Goodwill, giving to friends, shipping to mom’s house…….. This ordeal sounds just as miserable as it was. Absolutely NO FUN! In between all of these tasks, I researched shipping things to Mexico…how to do it and the cost. On my very limited budget, the price to ship everything I owned to Cancun was too high. I had only just decided to commit to ‘grown-up furniture’ about a year before and now I was forced to sell it…and anything else I could live without.

My life, up to a couple of weeks before I moved, was filled all of the mundane chores I’ve mentioned, as well as lots more research. I also visited friends and planned to visit my family for a few days.

Two weeks prior to the move, my friend, Seth, and I embarked on a road trip from Denver to Virginia, where my family lives. I needed to get some of my things to Virginia, and a road trip was the easiest way to do this. I dreaded the trip and had vowed to never drive through Kansas again in my life. I had to break that vow, but it wasn’t so bad in the really comfy Lexus SUV with DVD player and satellite radio. I despise being in the car (or the act of traveling in any form…), but I didn’t even get bored on that trip. It was a whirlwind trip though…the whole trip, including a couple of days for visiting, took less than a week.

When I returned from the road trip, I had to pack my bags for Cancun! No, not the BIG trip….not yet. The weekend before I moved, I made a short weekend trip to bring some of my things and to look for apartments. The apartment-hunting expedition was unsuccessful, but I did lighten my load a bit by leaving my cameras and some other important items with my friend, Ivan. I also spent time with friends and, of course, managed to have more fun than should be allowed! Before heading to the airport for my flight back to Denver, I hugged my friends and, instead of saying “goodbye”, I said, “I’ll see you this weekend.” As I boarded the plane, I did something I had never done before…I smiled when I was leaving. I knew the next time I arrived in Cancun, it would be my home.

To be continued…..