Cancun Trip 2009

After many days leading up to our departure date filled with excess activities it was finally time to make that trip to the airport. It was another dead of night departure leaving at 2:30am so I was off to the airport around midnight so I did not have to keep everyone up at my house.

This trip was bigger than years past with about 30 people going to Cancun as a customer appreciation for Pacific Plumbing Supply. It is a group of plumbing and mechanical contractors, wives or girlfriends, and a couple of children who were also brought along. It has become somewhat a tradition as this is the fifth trip over the last six years. It has been a cruise in years past but this year it was decided on something a little different so a land based get away was planned this time around at the all inclusive Riu Cancun Resort.

The Alaska contingent part of the group started gathering at the Airport Chili’s for the couple of hours wait before we boarded the airplane to head into the night sky flying south to warmer weather. It was a reunion for some of us who had been on previous trips continuing to develop those friendships and also a time for getting to know the others who were making their first trip. It is funny in this competitive industry that we can gather this group who compete for work or the different projects in Alaska and turn off the egos and attitudes so we can kick back for a week and relax letting our guards down and enjoy the many personalities. It is a lot of fun observing these people who have known each other, battled for the work and share the stories of the various difficulties working in the sometimes harsh environment of Alaska.

We headed to our gate as the time drew near to board the plane. You could see in everyone’s face or eyes the tiredness of the last few days. We all took seats on the plane and quickly pushed back from the gate so we could be deiced before taxing out for takeoff. We accelerated down the runway as the white/blue lights on the side went by the window faster and faster as we slowly lifted off the runway climbing into the cold night sky. It was clear skies on this night with the lights of Anchorage growing smaller as we made our turn over Cook Inlet reversing course southbound toward Seattle. It is just over a four hour flight so we will arrive early morning into SEATAC airport.

I am not sleepy as I sit in the darkness of the cabin peering out the window in the hopes of possibly seeing the Aurora tonight. The Northern Lights does not happen so I sit looking for anything to hold my interest while most everyone slept. After about an hour I start to notice a small yellow sliver of light rising about the distant horizon and quickly realize that the moon was starting to rise. It is a three quarters moon so while we are in Cancun we should see a full moon rising over the Caribbean Sea. My ipod gives me some great music that only I hear as I sit there and marvel watching this beautiful moon slowly climbing into the night sky. I listen to a shuffle of music switching between 266 songs loaded on my ipod so my favorites like Jimmy Buffet, James Taylor, Cullowhee, comedy, and some soothing piano music by George Winston and Jim Brickman. It is wonderful how in the dead of night music is your friend bringing back a flood of old memories, times gone by, and giving you strength to look forward to the coming days.

The days are growing longer this time of year in the far north so it is not long before I start to see the faint signs of first light across the aisle windows. The moon now has climbed higher in the sky the reflection seen in the shiny wing just outside my window. As we leave the leave the inter-coastal area before making our approach into Seattle it slowly changes outside to clouds with the sun now rising up changing the soft white color to a pinkish shade before turning into a bright red orange. It is really pretty as we descend now to just above the cloud tops. The speed of the plane can now easily be seen as we move across them for about ten minutes before we start making a slow decent down into the orange mist which quickly went to gray as we dropped from the sunlight above us.

The landing was about what I expected as we dropped onto the runway firmly quickly reversing engines to help slow the plane’s speed before heading off to the taxiway. Work crews were already out in full force working on another runway resurfacing project. As we taxied into the gate the quiet plane now started to stir back to life as the normalcy returned and the cell phones quickly were brought out with calls to those picking up passengers. Seattle had the ‘wet’ look to it as the overcast had left the wetness everywhere and on everything.

Several of us headed towards the main terminal to grab some breakfast while others headed to our next gate for departure in a couple of hours. Wayne and I met up with part of the Seattle contingent who was already sitting down to breakfast and Bloody Mary’s. That is the natural thing to do at six thirty in the morning. We sat and talked for over an hour as we enjoyed our breakfast.

Anticipation of our arrival was evident as we boarded the 5 ½ flight from Seattle to Cancun as it seemed people had developed a second wind becoming more talkative while waiting to board. We were ready to push back but had to wait several minutes for an ambulance to arrive for a medical emergency on the plane parked next to us. Once the paramedics were climbing the steps to board we started moving back as the pilots started the engines. We taxied out behind the ‘flower girl’ painted on the tail of a Hawaiian

Airlines jet and the Alaskan Native on the tail of Alaska airlines jet behind us. The Hawaiian Air taxied into position for takeoff, applied full power, started to accelerate for about six seconds then cut power down the runway aborting takeoff decelerating and moving off the active runway. We moved into position and the last I saw it as we climbed back into the morning clouds it was slowly making its way looking to be returning to the gate.

This flight has been spent writing and enjoying my music while observing the many people on this flight. It is a mixture of all sorts. There is a group of about 15 guys who are going to Cancun for “Goose’s” bachelor party. They all have on bright yellow tee shirts exclaiming what a party it is going to be. I am sure the bride is also on board with her contingent but they are keeping a much more subdued feel to things. There is the families who are traveling for vacation and the ‘lovers’ looking forward to a get away as can be seen on their faces and body language.

I’m on song 112 of the 266 as I will stop now so I won’t totally wipe out the battery on my laptop. There is still about two and a half hours until we land so maybe it is time for a ‘power nap’ so I am refreshed when we land. I have not slept in over 40 hours so that may be the wiser choice.

Until later.

We were “feet wet” at 3:10 pm as we flew past Galveston Texas out over the Gulf of Mexico. It took another hour and a half before we landed in Cancun and the ‘fun’ of clearing Customs. We found our bus for our ride to the Hotel. The group boarded the bus and it seemed to split into two groups, one at the front of the bus and the other at the rear. Needless to say I was in the rear group enjoying a couple of cerveza’s as we took the 20 minute ride to the Riu Cancun Palace on ‘hotel row’. Check-in was easy as they took us to a private room with everyone getting their bracelet and room key. They told us to make our dinner reservations early for one of the three themed restaurants, Steak, Japanese, and Brazilian foods. Wayne and I made our time for the Steak house for Thursday evening and the Japanese for Friday night so when that was done we headed to the elevator to go to our room on the fourteenth floor.

We waited outside for one of the four to return to the lobby with a crowd of people when we were able to get on the third one. We boarded and before the doors closed there were 10 people on board with the sign saying a maximum load of 8. Before we could say anything or reopen the doors the elevator started to go up from the lobby floor. The floors punched into the panel showed floors 5, 8, 13, 14, and 15. It started to slowly rise and then quickly shuddered with a quick lurching stop between floors. It tried several times to continue to rise higher and higher when it suddenly stopped altogether and then dropped with a sudden motion and stopped. We were stuck between floors not going up or down. The incident quickly seemed to frighten several people as the instructions flied, “Push this button”, “Open the doors!”, and “Ring the bell!” Nothing worked and the realization of how hot it was inside the small enclosure. We were slow baking as the windows in the rear of the elevator was exposed to the sun since this was an “outside” type with glass views of the lagoon as you rose high above the lobby.

After about 15 minutes in the 120+ degree box several people started to get a little panicky hollering for the maintenance people to get us out. There was a man not with our group who was not comfortable with us trying to open the door.

Day one in Cancun . . . some bumps but overall a great day with a wonderful buffet and everyone gathering on the veranda for drinks, jokes, and fun while enjoying the warm tropical breezes before heading off to sleep.

Ice