While we didn’t want to end our time at the lovely Dreams Jade we knew it had to be. No beach sunrise for me today. 🙁 Last night we were advised we could pre-order room service and baggage pickup. The day started dark and early with a 2am wake up call. They were prompt and courteous. It was nice to have breakfast already ordered because 3am is not the time to make important decisions!
The staff arrived right as scheduled to pick up our luggage at 3am. I was amazed at how awake and eager to assist they were so early in the morning! Once the luggage was picked up we did a final sweep of the room for any forgotten items and then sat down to eat.
Hubby and I bid farewell to our room and headed down to wait for our airport transfer at 3:30am. Kalido travel was right on time and provided a pleasant ride to the airport. Great conversation and good driving! There was a lot of construction going on by the airport so we didn’t know how that would impact of drive. Thankfully given the time of morning there wasn’t a lot of traffic. Their service is quite inexpensive compared to their competitors.
Arriving at the Cancun Airport was a bit different than we are used to. Thankfully airport staff was there ready to guide us along. We were greeted by a gentlemen who helped with our luggage and led us to the little self kiosks. You scan your passport and print tags for your luggage. Once you have your tags attached you get in line for your appropriate airline. I think it is important to mention – there are no seats in the airport lobby area! Given hubby and my mobility issues this posed quite the problem. Thankfully we didn’t have to wait too terribly long before we were able to secure a couple of wheelchairs and were stationed off to the side for ADA assistance.
Once the United staff was at the desks the line started moving fairly quickly. After a few guests, the United employee assisted my husband and I with our baggage and also offered us a free seat change leaving us closer to the front of the plane. This turned out to be AWESOME!
The handicap assistance guys were great. They wheeled us through the airport & through customs. Customs went pretty smoothly. There was a handicap lane so we made it through the line and to our gate pretty quickly. They even stopped at the Duty Free store so I could pick up some 1921 Tequila Cream Liquor! Once at the gate we had a couple hours to wait for our flight. They were actually going to wait there with us. We let them know there was no need to wait with us, we would be ok. We didn’t want them to miss out on other tip opportunities while we just sat there waiting for our flight.
Our gate was right next to the restrooms, a coffee shop and convience store which was fantastic. I grabbed a breakfast bagel and I surprised the hubby with a Pepsi from the coffee shop. The convience store had lots of goodies and even some very inexpensive souvenirs. We picked up some snacks, a couple of stuffed monkeys and a 4 pack of magnets.
As boarding time approached we realized just how great of an upgrade we got from the nice gate agent. We went from row 28 to row 9 making boarding and deboarding so much easier – not to mention any trips to the restroom along the flight! The friendly ADA helpers came back at boarding time to see if we needed assistance boarding. They were so pleasant and eager to assist. However, we did finally encounter a language barrier issue. You see, hubby and I always aim to sit accross from eachother with both of us in aisle seats so we choose not to use priority boarding. It just seems silly to us to board early just to have to get out of our seat neighbors ways so they can board. Waiting until the end lets us seamlessly board and take our seats.
Our helpers and the gate attendant did not understand why we were not boarding with priority. It took several times and the help of Google Translate but we finally got them to understand why we were not boarding yet. A few families with little ones overheard and liked the idea too. They waited until later in the boarding process to board with their curious little ones. I’m sure this made for a more pleasant experience for the kiddos too.
Once board we were amazed to see that neither of us had seat neighbors in our row! The rows in back of us were empty as well aside from one young lady who slept the entire flight. The duration of the flight was uneventful and peaceful. Come to find out as we deboarded the plane there was a newborn baby in row 1. The baby was so quiet the entire flight that we didn’t even know she was there!
Our layover was once again at Newark airport. This time there were two handicap assistance waiting for us. They were incredibly helpful with the process. Come to find out, we were misinformed about Duty Free purchases and needed to claim our baggage and pack that delicious Tequila Cream before going through customs again for our connecting flight! They helped us with all the extra steps to save my newfound delicious guilty pleasure. Fast tracked through Customs/TSA again. The nice ladies left us at the food court since we had such a long layover.
Hubby enjoyed a pizza and I had a fantastic taco bowl. After quite a lengthy seek and search mission I finally had my Diet Mountain Dew fix for the first time in a week. After that we decided we would head to the gate just to be sure we are there and up to date on info. The ladies had told us the gate was just “right over there” so we were confident we could find it. Well, let’s just say we were wrong! We kept going in circles and every time we asked someone which way we needed to go they would send us the other way. Exhausted and hurting since we’d since let the helpers and wheelchairs go, we eventually found our gate. Truth be told, it was “right over there”. It just happened to be down the escalators and around the corner too.
Once at the gate we found a seat near a charging station and settled in for the long haul. We had some nice conversation with a friendly lady waiting for the flight before ours. She was super sweet and fun to talk to. The remainder of the layover was uneventful for us. We found plenty of entertainment in watching the poor gate agents try to rangle passengers who refused to listen or even act with reason. We felt so bad for them!
At last, time for boarding to start. The gate agent called hubby and I up and offered priority boarding but we declined. When we explained why he really loved our thought process on it. Thankfully, the passengers for our flight actually listened to instructions and boarding went off without a hitch.
Early into the flight the pilot let us know that we will experience a bit of turbulence due to a storm system traveling our same flight path but rest assured all would be ok. Drink and snack service went on as scheduled but before they could do trash pick up they flight attendants were called to their seats due to the turbulence and remained there for the remainder of the flight. This was fine though. Safety first for all involved! Turbulence had my anxiety going but the communication from the pilot and having hubby there helped a lot.
Arriving in Grand Rapids was a rough landing! Wheels hit the runway rather hard and anything in the cabin flew. There was one cellphone that flew from the back of the plane to our row (row 9). It took a minute for someone to claim it since it had traveled so far! Thankfully while rough the landing was safe.
Exhausted and ready to be home we deboard the plane to a single ADA helper. Hubby generously let me get the helping hand knowing the rough landing killed my back and hip. They helped us get to the baggage area. Along the way we found my mom waiting for us. She had flown in earlier from Las Vegas and was catching a ride home with us. Hubby and I headed to grab the car. We drove back to the terminal and picked up mom and the luggage and were on our way home. Parking wasn’t too terrible considering it was for a week.
The ride home was nasty weather but alright none the less. We made it home and are already wishing for more cocktails by the pool in the sunshine.