I didn’t like the dates of the pre-planned trip, and I wasn’t sure I would have chosen the hotel his company picked for us. I had never really had a desire to visit Mexico, and I didn’t know Spanish. I also had a secret fear of being detained, of not being allowed back into my home country, like my own twisted version of The Terminal.
I was so complacent about our prize that Johnie actually e-mailed a couple hours later offering to turn down the vacation. I didn’t want to be the girl who passed up an opportunity to go to Cancun for free, and I didn’t want to spoil Johnie’s fun, so I told him we’d go and began researching the city. I e-mailed a couple friends who had visited Cancun and began pouring over tourist reviews.
It only took a couple days for my excitement to exceed Johnie’s. If I was going to go to Cancun, I was going to take full advantage of the opportunity given to me. I charged myself with planning the absolute best vacation possible. One lousy meal, one lackluster tourist venue, and I deemed my mission failed.
I estimate that I spent at least 80 (probably closer to 200) hours planning the 5 day trip. I didn’t have much to do at work, so I devoted myself completely to the Cancun planning project. Back at home, I would talk to Johnie about costs, reviews, and my thoughts over dinner, and then reevaluate plans throughout the evening.
I decided we definitely had to visit Mayan ruins. I read more and more reviews, considered more and more packages, and discovered more and more sites. Many of the packages took all day, had uninteresting (for Johnie, me, or the both of us) side stops, and only included one ruins site. I ended up ordering a set of maps detailing Mayan ruin sites, and considering factors like accessibility (there were some that you could climb on), safety (some were steep and didn’t have ropes to hang on to), and crowds (Johnie doesn’t like them).
I probably read at least a hundred local restaurant reviews before picking out a couple of must-stop spots for us to enjoy a meal. I decided our best tourist-marketed excursion would be on some underwater scooters that allowed us to see the coral reef up close. Think scuba diving without scubaing or diving. And one night I even stumbled upon a little eco-tourism village where visitors could stay in their own little huts and enjoy crafts, meals, and ceremonies from the locals.
I felt confident I had planned the perfect vacation for us. Six days before our flight, while talking to my mom, the subject of the swine flu came up. I had heard about it on the news. I had already determined a little flu was not going to ruin my plans. I reassured her that we had already planned on drinking only bottled water during our trip, were already taking immune building vitamins, and had already packed plenty of hand sanitizer. I also shared that Johnie and I had decided, after hearing of the flu outbreak, to diligently prohibit others from coughing or sneezing on us.
Secretly I was most worried that flight passengers were being screened for flu-like symptoms before being allowed to board their plane. I prayed that I would stay healthy enough to make it to Mexican soil. If I needed to visit a doctor on my return - or be detained in an airport The Terminal-style for a few days - I felt it would be worth it.
Five days before our trip, Johnie’s company sent an e-mail saying they were evaluating the health risks of traveling to Mexico and how that might impact our plans. I felt like everyone was completely overreacting to the whole thing and that the e-mail was sent out to calm the fears of germaphobes. But the next day they announced their decision to cancel the Cancun trip. I was devastated.
They offered no other details but that they were still deciding the best option for the employees who had won the vacation. I consoled myself with the hope of a large monetary bonus in lieu of the vacation, or travel vouchers that would allow us to reschedule the trip, or just moving the dates of the trip they had planned for us.
A day later the company informed us they were planning a trip to an alternate location with the same dates as the old trip. I was a little disappointed to abandon my new-found Mexican dream vacation, but I was increasingly excited about the mystery location. I was sure that the company would not have bought our passports without taking us to a place to use them.
It was two days before our flight when we learned our destination. Florida. I cried a lot. I had visited Florida before. I could get in my car and drive there. I surely didn’t need a passport. I talked to Johnie about taking the small cash bonus option instead of the trip. He wasn’t open to that. While he was disappointed by the Cancun letdown, he was excited for a few days off work in what he was told was a “really nice hotel.”
I’ll hand it to Cox. It was a really nice hotel. And they gave us extra perks and bonuses throughout the trip to help. If we had won this trip to Florida without having a Mexico trip offered and then rescinded, or if I had been given a few weeks to grieve the loss of my plan and the hours I spent creating it, I could have probably written a post twice this long about how amazing the Florida trip was.
Don't get me wrong, it was a good trip. We both had a good time. I am thankful for the vacation, and the opportunity to stay at a hotel way out of my budget. I didn’t have time to really plan, and it was just “stupid old Florida that we could visit anytime,” so I made our new vacation itinerary to include a lot of ocean side relaxing. That was something I had decided we didn’t really have time for in Cancun.
Other than a bus ride all the way to the Florida Keys from Miami (in my defense I didn’t realize the lighthouse was THAT far away), and an evening excursion to Espanola Way (the closest thing to Mexico the city offered), we spent our time on the beach, on the balcony of our room, or generally lounging with the calming sounds of waves in the background.
There are plenty of pleasant memories to share from that trip, but sadly they are all marred by the fact they came at the price of a lost trip to Mexico. And while I think almost everyone else involved in the trip has probably gotten over it, I sadly have not. Embarrassingly so.
Just the other day (yes, more than two and a half years later), I was thinking about potential 2012 vacations and wondering if we might need a passport. Then out of nowhere I started tearing up, memories of the missed Cancun trip - and a second canceled Mexico trip (which comes later) - flooding my mind.
Don't worry, I am comforted by plans for a Mexican vacation someday. And, while I still hold my pre-trip conviction that we should always take full advantage of every opportunity we are given, I did learn an important lesson through it. Sometimes there is beauty to be found when things don't go the way we planned for them to. And, just because you don't get to your destination the way you thought you would doesn't mean you won't get there in the end.
