Well it’s been a little more than 6 months since our last vacation, so when the itch surfaced in December, I booked a trip to Cabo San Lucas through Apple Vacations. We ended up getting a super deal when the charter airline cancelled our outbound flight. When I called Apple to find our alternatives, they said if we left out of Chicago a couple of days earlier that the package price was cheaper than what we had originally booked, and that we would get $150/person discount for having to switch our airport. Sold! Tom and I saved over $1,200!! What a win.
Our flight left Chicago at 7:00a.m. which meant a super early start of 2:00a.m. to get to Pete and Laurie’s house by 3:15a.m. The early morning was a small price to pay for the super huge savings that we got. We were running about 10 minutes late, but that was ok as Pete and Laurie had also gotten up at 2:00 to start their packing! You would think being the experience travelers that we are that we would have been a little bit more organized. We ultimately decided to take my car so we packed it all in and swung by Pete’s business to get his sunglasses out of his truck. We were finally on the road to O’Hare when my gas light came on. I probably should have gotten gas after bowling the night before. As someone who timed it out and didn’t leave much wiggle room, I was only slightly nervous about our time. That early in the morning there was next to no traffic and other than a car honking at me way too long when I was going to change lanes heading into the airport, it was pretty uneventful. Seriously that car kept honking long after he passed me. Whatever.
We parked in the long term parking lot and made our way up the elevator (the escalators were out of service) to the tram to take us to the terminal. We get out of the elevator and spot a sign that says the tram is out of service and there are buses to the terminal downstairs. So back down we go. A bus pulls up, and the driver starts pointing to the other side of the building. So we clarify with him and he tells us to go to the other side of the building to catch the bus. We go to the other side and the bus waiting there tells us she only goes between the parking lots and that the tram is working. Arggh!! So back up we went. About 7 minutes later the tram arrives.
Checking in went smoothly, but with no TSA precheck offered, we waited in the security line. It wasn’t too terrible, but a much longer wait than we are used to with the pre-check option. Our gate was just on the other side of the security with a McDonald’s right across from the gate as well. Finally I would get some breakfast!
As we are waiting in line we spy Diana Rohloff, Tom’s old bosses’ wife. Tom tells me what he wants and he goes with Diana down to their gate to say hello to Jeff. Tom and I both wanted the same breakfast meal, but somehow I must not have conveyed that very well because when it was all said and done I only paid and received one sandwich. Since Tom had a bowl of cereal before we left the house, I claimed the sandwich. Not more than 5 minutes after we finished eating they began boarding. It’s a good think we didn’t have any other delays on our way to the airport. It turned out to be perfect timing, but border line disastorous.
We board the plane and I’m shocked to find rows and rows of empty seats. We are leaving the midwest in the middle of winter going somewhere warm right? Where is everyone? Maybe this is why we got such a good deal. That’s ok. I’ll take it. Tom, Laurie, and I each enjoyed a row by ourselves.
We landed a half hour early at 10:30 Cabo time and were in good spirits. Seeing as the plane was pretty empty meant that immigration and customs was no big headache either. We exit customs and into the airport with a gentleman greeting us. Here I thought was our Apple representative, but after confirming where we were staying and showing us a map of things to do in the area, the real intention was revealed. He actually worked for another resort who was offering us to spend a day at their resort so that we could rate it and tell our friends about it, in exchange for a whale watching tour. Although probably a good deal, I don’t like getting the sales pitch and pressure as soon as I walk off the plane, so we all walked away. We were soon in our van on the way to the hotel.
It was about a 40 minute drive from the airport to the hotel. Check-in was a breeze. Our room was ready, but Pete and Laurie’s wasn’t, but they are right next door to us, so we put all of our stuff in our room and set about to find lunch. The lunch buffet was good and we were ready to set out and explore the grounds. The hotel is nice and I’m impressed with how many pools and different areas to sit there are, with shaded options for Tom as well. We shouldn’t have a problem finding seats this week.
We didn’t do anything else too exciting for our first day. We were all pretty well exhausted from the early morning. After hitting up the dinner buffet we turned in for the night all ready to sleep!
Stats of the day (stolen idea from a friends blog that we will now incorporate into ours)
Steps Walked: 16680
Cabo San Lucas High Temp: 77 Degrees
Cabo San Lucas Low Temp: 59 Degrees
Cruise Ships in Port: 2
