7.20.2008

Initial Random Vacation Thoughts: Getting There


- How can you feel that it is good to be home and sad to be home at the same time?
- I could live in Terminal D. And I could spend hours people watching at any airport.
- Ticketing is a breeze. Swipe your credit card, swipe you passport, and a boarding pass comes spitting out.
- I was randomly picked to go into the new special see-you-neekid x-ray machine. I tried to suck in my gut.
- American Airlines gets a lot of bad press, but the airline worked like a charm for me. Both flights were on time, with no last second gate changes, no-waiting-forever-on-the-tarmac, and no baggage issues.
- In fact, I've never been on a flight like this one where we taxi down to the end of the runway to do the U-Turn for takeoff and (without coming to a stop) the captain says, "We're number one for take off."
- Also a first: The jet was barreling down the runway - seconds from the wheels lifting off the ground - when the captain suddenly shuts down the engines. He tells us about a minute later that he saw a "nuisance light" (the most confusing term ever) and didn't want to take any chances. I was afraid we'd head back to the gate and spend two hours having a maintenance crew check it out. But no. We just did went back to the start of the runway and took off.
- I love the first five minutes of a flight where I look out the window try to figure out what exact part of DFW I'm over.
- The plane was full. I got my tickets about a month ago with frequent flyer miles and that saved me a fortune.
- That American Way magazine isn't that bad. (But it also has a Mensa quiz that makes me feel stupid.)
- Took the above picture with a cell phone. I always wonder how hard it would be to arrange a trip to a part of the beach that no one else goes to.
- Filling out the Custom Declaration Form promising you aren't bringing certain things into the country seems silly.
- The Cancun airport is nice. Really nice. (Or maybe I believe that just because it's air conditioned.)
- Pushing the button which lights up either a red light (your baggage gets searched) or a green light (you are free to go), makes me as nervous as that guy in Midnight Express.
- Having pre-arranged transportation to the hotel is worth every penny. But I've learned that every Mexican airport will have a ton of guys trying to lead you to their transportation company. It took me about a minute to realize the guy I was talking to had nothing to do with my designated company - but only after he took my voucher out of my hand and started to walk away to lead me to his booth. I actually had to yell, 'Hey, give that back."
- The humidity in Cancun is brutal.
- I actually stayed about 25 miles south of Cancun, I think it's an area called Riviera Maya.