Cancun

The trip started out awesome, but the last two days kinda sucked... so let me explain... First I had to get up at 4am, (ended up, up at 3am)... I drive to my friends house, pick her up, then head the 2 1/2 hours down to the airport in Phili.. We get there check in, get breakfast and wait and wait..LOL The flight was pretty bumpy, but nothing too bad... I got to watch, The Devil loves Prada on the way down so I was kewl with that...HAHA

We arrived in Mexico at the airport and you can clearly see the differences. Everything looks pretty shady and there are lots of men around trying to grab your bags and walk you to your pick up post (for a tip of course). We get to the van and already I was feel dehydrated.. It was HOT there..LOL We get to the hotel and check in. The hotel is amazing.. VERY VERY clean, and everyone is very polite and friendly. First we were given a room on the 3rd floor (no elevators) but we asked to be switched and were to the second floor. The room (2 doubles) was very nice, beautiful tile floors, marble counters, a huge TV, awesome patios for every room... fresh flowers EVERYDAY...

We got our suits on and went down to the "quiet" pool, the resort has 3 pools, a quiet pool, a party pool, and a sports themed pool (volleyball & basketball) and snorkling lessons. We swam and layed in the sun the first day until dinner time, then went up to get ready for dinner. Food, OMG the food.... There are 6 restaurants on premises. 2 share one spot alternating nights. The buffet was big and had themed nights for dinner. I didnt have many items that I didnt like. Im pretty picky though. I tried alot of stuff I would never have eaten at home. Breakfast was always great, although the buffet items were kinda tepid at best, so I stuck to the stuff they fresh prepare or had fruit and cereal.

They have 5 or 6 bars on site which is great... The wait service is outstanding and treat you with so much respect. After a day or two they know the things you like to drink and come up to you and ask if you want "fuzzy navel" or"beer" or whatever you were drinking. They do not expect a tip but I would tip often because they were great.

The second day we hung by the pool as it was the best weather day of the week. I got a nice sunburn despite wearing SPF 50!! The next day it turned tan so it wasnt bad. We stayed by the party pool that day, and let me tell you it sure was a party. They do alot of games and contests. Keep in mind this is an ADULTS ONLY, tops optional place. The games were usually sexually related but not in a tacky sort of way. Everyone is treated with respect and its a no pressure zone, so if you dont want to participate, you dont have to.

Shopping down at Market 28 was great. You can really haggle with the people and get items MUCH cheaper then they are asking. They prefer when you pay US Cash, instead of CC or pesos. I really didnt buy much because everything I picked up was expensive (jewelry wise). I did get phil some religous items for a few bucks each. After the market we went to Jimmy Buffets Margaritaville, had a margarita and then went to do some more shopping in the strip mall. I got Phil and myself a few t-shirts $3 bucks each... Pretty good.

The best way to get around down there is by bus, it costs 65 pesos (65 cents or so) each way.. the taxi's are more expensive. Just dont take the bus during work ending or starting hours cuz its like sardines in there.

We went over to Isla Mujeras one day, thats an island that has shopping, snorkling, etc. We took the 9:30 ferry over, and came right back on the 11:50. It was pretty rough over there since we didnt do the tour we were on our own. It reminded me of the worst part of Newark or New York city. slum housing, and the shopping sucked.. So if you ever go to Cancun, avoid the island. It was a waste of $15 for the ferry..LOL

My friend that I went with had already been to Cancun 3 other times and had done pretty much everything. Often there were things I wanted to do but she would make comments like, "well I have done that already so I dont care if we do it" I felt alot of the time that she didnt want to so I never pushed the issue. I would spend ALOT of time in the night by myself or with other guests because she would want to go up to the room early and go to sleep. I met some really awesome people down there and they took me in and hung out with me. I didnt get to go to Coco Bongo (the one thing I wanted to do) She talked me out of it stating the place was too packed and hot and blah blah. I was pretty disappointed in my company and by the last 2 days I stopped trying to hide it. I grew increasingly aggravated with her and did my best to try to keep my feelings inside and not ruin my trip.

I made the trip the best I could on my own... I would definately go back, next time with Phil.. because I know we would explore the great sites they have to offer.

The trip back home was long and quiet (we werent really talking by this point) One suggestion is if you want some good shopping, save some money for the Cancun airport. They seem to have the best stores and best prices. I bought the majority of my gifts there for more then 75% less then they were asking at the shops.

All and all I had a pretty good time... I made it my own and spent time trying to have a good time on my own. It was unfortunate that I didnt get to do alot of the site seeing tours or club nights like I would have liked to do, but I will definately do it next time. The weather was pretty good.. hot alot but we did have rain daily... Only a 2 hour period or so hindered us doing anything.. the majority of rain was over night or early morning (6am). I would stay out around the resort til 2 or 3am most nights so I didnt get much sleep. Im having a hard time catching up and feel really tired and drained.

Money wise I did great. The trip itself with hotel and airfair for the all inclusive was $780. I brought $350 with me and only spent less then $150 (including food on the return day and gas in the car) and all gifts.

Here are some pictures from the trip... I didnt actually take all that many since I didnt have my camera with me most of the time...