Bye Bye Cancun

On our way home. Mike on the bus, heading to the airport


It was an experience that we thoroughly enjoyed. People have asked me if there were points when we were scared. I'd say twice. Each time we got on a bus to destinations unknown, I was scared we'd land in some horrific place. I wasn't scared for the storm, as I said, I'd been through them before -- it was the potential of being in a suffocatingly hot or insect infested place that made me nervous.

We met some really nice people - some just a few towns away, other across the globe. We met people from Seattle; Red Bank, NJ; Scotland; North Brunswick, NJ; CA, The Bronx; Colorado and on and on. We both feel that we would not have gotten to know so many people so well if it weren't for the bunker experience. We both feel really lucky that it was so painless.

We felt lucky on so many fronts:

We got a call Friday night before we left - to find out that they'd upgraded us to the Aventura Spa Palace which had about 6 total properties around Cancun. If we'd have stayed in the original resort, they didn't have other properties and we probably would have had to evacuate to a school with no a/c.

As we were deplaning and going through customs, (Mike ALWAYS gets random searched) I let a couple of girls go through the lines before us because their friends were further up. The second girl got stopped for random testing -- that was the spot Mike would have been in.

The two days we spent in the bunker were overcast and pouring rain -- we would have been indoors anyway.

We got our luggage back.

We got placed back in a very nice resort and were able to resume our holiday with some really nice people. As a matter of fact, all the different people from the bunker were all talking and trading stories all week as we passed each other at bars, in the pool, etc. We met sooo many more people than we ever would have.

...And best of all, we had each other and we didn't have to be at work. Whoo hoo!

Thank you to all of you who expressed concern. Muchos Gracias!!

There were distinct differences in reactions that Mike got and reactions that I got. Its funny, we were very careful to minimize the danger factor when we emailed to Mike's family. I had my cousin call my family and, apparently, my mother just laughed. She never evacuates. :) My officemates emailed me their concern and everyone gave me a big welcoming hug when I got back to the office. Mike's office were taking bets on when Mike would get back and what condition he'd be in. niiiiiiiice.