The Florida Crew:

Skip and Judy

Jim and Joan

John and Jackie

The Pennsylvania Crew:

Frank and Yvonna, and Judy's sister Doris

The alarm rings promptly at 3:15 a.m., but who’s sleeping? Vacation anticipation has a way of robbing you of sleep. At 3:45 a.m. our friends Jim and Joan arrive, and we load the car. A quick stop at Yummie’s Donuts for a dozen of their finest and a couple cups of coffee,

and we’re on our way to pick up the rest of the Florida crew. We pick up John and Jackie and it’s off to Sarasota-Bradenton Airport for the first leg of our flight. Of course we arrive before security even opens, so it’s time to enjoy the donuts and plan the days events. We board our flight to Miami and leave right on schedule at 6 a.m. A quick 45 minutes and we’re in Miami. Our bags have been checked through to Cancun, and we have our boarding passes, so nothing to worry about, right? Wrong! Our connecting flight is coming in from Washington D.C. and is late. We are more than an hour late before boarding even starts. This is surely going to screw up transportation arrangements in Cancun! Plans were to hook up with our Pennsylvania friends, whose flight was supposed to arrive within 20 minutes of ours, and travel together to the Mayan Palace. Transfers had been made through USA Transfers via the CancunMX.com message board. (Thanks Tim and Brant!) Will they wait? Do they know about our delay?

After a short one and a half hour flight, we arrive in Cancun a bit more than an hour late. Immigration was a madhouse as usual,

but processing went quickly and after a half hour we grabbed our bags and headed to customs. Another line to wait through! While waiting, I see a flight from Philly has arrived and bags are appearing. A quick check shows that it’s our friends flight! They were late as well! While Judy waits in line, I find Frank and the rest of the Pa. crew getting their bags.

All is well…that is if USA Transfers is still waiting to pick us up. Back in line, we all get the green light and we’re out into the warm and humid air to find our transportation. Just as promised, there is our USA Transfers driver patiently waiting for us.

Brant and his crew do a fantastic job with transfers. We highly recommend them! After a short wait for the van, and we’re on our way to the Mayan Palace.

The 45 minute ride to the Mayan Palace is quite enjoyable as we take in the sights. It’s been 5 years since we were down this way, and a lot has changed. We arrive at the Mayan Palace, and head for check in. Our friends Jim and Joan have booked the room through their vacation club membership. We are 9 people total for this vacation, so it’s a big room and a suite as well. Rooms aren’t ready yet, (are they ever?) so it’s off to the Balche restaurant for a bit to eat. Afterwards, it’s back to the lobby to pick up the keys and get our wristbands. While it isn’t an all inclusive, bands, and later we find the meaning of the color of the bands, are required.

Our suite…for 5 of the 9 of us, is large. The furniture is a bit different from what we’ve come to expect in Mexico. It’s very austere, and quite modernistic.

But it’s our home for the next 7 days! It’s off to explore the grounds. We check out the pool area, the restaurants, the beach, and the grounds.

For a late evening snack, we decided to go to the deli and pick up a sandwich and a few other things. That’s when we discover that no cash is used at the Mayan Palace. When you register, you give your credit card number, and they set up an account…good up to 6000 MP. If you exceed that maximum with out paying on it or adding it to your charge card, charging privileges are denied. Seems like a strange set up, and we didn’t like it much, but got used to it.

Finally, after a long day that started so early, we went to bed around 10 p.m. Dreams of tomorrow dance in our heads.