Girl Trip 2011 - Isla Mujeres- Part 1: Pirate Girls Escape from Siberia

Angela, Laura and I woke up at my house at 3:30 AM, determined to get to paradise that day despite the forecast of a brutal Winter storm that was rapidly approaching. I had glowered at the sky and waved my arms at it while standing on my front porch the night before in an attempt to stall the storm, so I figured I'd either bought us a little time, or at least confused the neighbors. Pam had flown in the previous night and stayed at a hotel near the airport, so she was going to meet up with us there. Our flight was scheduled for 8:15 AM. 'Ting, ting, ting', said the sleet against the windows at about 4:30, so we threw our bags in the car and took off. Thankfully, Angela is a professional school bus/limo driver and she was driving, as the roads became more and more treacherous as we went. I-635 was like an ice skating rink and the lines for the lanes were not visible. I huddled in the back seat amongst luggage, posting my last will and testament on facebook. It took us a little over an hour, but we made it, only to find that Remote North Parking was closed (they couldn't run the shuttle busses out there, we found out), so we were given a coupon to park at the terminal for the same price as remote parking. About the time we saw that our terminal exit was closed, as well, I got a text saying that our flight had been cancelled. Oh, well...our plan was still to get to the American Airlines counter, find Pam and come up with Plan B. We parked at Terminal E and had to take a Terminal Link bus to Terminal D. We stepped out of the car and BOOM, my brain froze. Cold weather and me? Not so much. I just totally freeze up, both literally and figuratively and I was only wearing a jean jacket because who wants to show up in Mexico and lug around a big coat? You know those survival shows with the guy who shows you how to live in the wilderness or Arctic tundra and survive by drinking your own pee and curling up inside the cadaver of a freshly killed deer like a sleeping bag for heat? Yeah...I'd just freeze up and die as little ice tears trickled down my face. My only thought was 'Get inside the freakin' building!!!', as I grabbed my carry on, my rolling bag and the big cardboard box that contained a new keyboard for Chucho. We got inside and found a couple of guys who pointed us toward the bus. Yep, you guessed it, we had to go outside and wait for the bus. Finally, it showed up and as we boarded, lo and behold, sitting in the back of the bus as pretty as you please was Miss Pam! Yay! At least we were all together and if we had to huddle for warmth, the more bodies the better. It took the bus 45 minutes to get to the terminal next door due to traffic and road conditions! My feet were frozen by now, as I was wearing little ballet flats. Smart? Not always. Cutely dressed? You betcha. Arrived, checked in, changed our flight to the 11:45 flight (it was about 7:00 AM at this point and I knew where the $4 mimosas were. We had a bagel(first bad carb I'd had in a long time, I licked it for a while prior to devouring it) and then moved on for Mimosas and I presented Pam with her Pirate Princess Tiara. Then we shopped for bit and made our way to our gate. At about 10:30 they announced 'Well, folks...we have a plane for you here, but it's frozen. So, we're going to fly one in from Guatamala for you, so please hang tight." In hindsight, this has as much credence as the tooth fairy, but we wanted to believe so badly that we went with it. About a half hour later? Flight Cancelled. Da plane! Da Plane! At this point, people were directed to stand in line at a counter and 'try to get on the 2:45 flight' and it was kind of a mad rush to get there/get in line. But when we did, there was no one to help us, so we just stood there in line. Angela looked over at the next counter and recognized the American Airlines employee who had checked us in earlier that morning and had been very nice and personable and went over to talk to her. She was over there a long time while the AA employee tapped on the keyboard and finally Angela waved us over. 'I've got y'all booked on the 4:45 flight and stand by on the 2:45', said the wonderful AA employee! Score! We didn't know if these flights were going to get out, but it was the best we could do. One of the girls asked 'What if one of us gets standby and the others don't?'. They decided that if that happened, that they would send me on first and I could arrange transfers, etc. 'That will never happen', I thought. When they finished boarding that flight and started calling standbys it was like 'The Price is Right'. We all stood around looking anxious and waiting to be called to come on down! Finally....'Jana Epperson'. I walked over to the gate attendant and she said 'Okay, this is the last seat. Are you okay with leaving your party?' (The girls were yelling, 'Go! Go!'). I glanced back at them and then back to the AA employee. 'Sure', I replied. 'You understand that there is just one seat left?' she reiterated. 'Yes', I said, 'I don't care if it's the jumpseat, as long as I get out of this frozen hell'. 'Well', she smiled broadly, 'It's First Class!'. I didn't tell the girls until right before I ran down the jetway. I held up my ticket and yelled 'FIRST CLASS' and ran. Super evil laugh. PIRATE! Ahhh...First Class. A blanket, wine, free headphones, leg room, warm nuts. This was a pleasant surprise especially since we had to sit on the tarmac for almost an hour waiting to take off. A coach passenger wandered up to speak with my seat mate. "I believe you got my seat', he joked, 'lucky guy. AND you get to sit next to a pretty girl.' Ha ha...totally outed him as a First Class poser, just like myself. Luckily he was pretty quiet and it was a totally pleasant flight. The food was even good. Sunset from the flight The four people in the first four seats of First Class were AA employees. I don't pretend to know how the airline system works, especially with it being such a messed up day, and for all I know these people had to be off the clock, or whatever. But I couldn't help but wish that my girls were sitting up there. We arrived in Cancun, luggage made it (even the keyboard, which I was worried about since it wasn't mine), line for immigration was very short, 10 minute wait in customs, out the door and into the van. I arrived on the island at about 8:30. Dock on Cancun side at night Ferry Steve greeted me with a big hug and a 'Poor Baby, you've been through so much', which is just what I needed. I stashed my luggage in room 3 and made my way up to the roof where I found Jeff and Gail and a much, much, much needed margarita. Jeff and Gail stayed and visited for a while. We met them on our last Isla Girl trip and they are a lot of fun. Then they headed out in search of dinner and Steve and I stayed to drink more margaritas and wait for the girls because we're martyrs like that. It was actually very nice to have Steve to myself for a while. I just love that guy. About 10:30, we heard the doorbell ring and ran to the edge of the roof to look over. There they were and with huge 'we made it' smiles!! After their celebratory margarita, we left Steve and wandered over to Miguel's for a late supper. Drop your stuff and GO!!! Pirate Flags at Miguels...he was ready for us. We feasted on Coconut Shrimp, fresh guacamole, fajitas and Pomegranate Margaritas and then headed back to Casa Sirena for a good night's sleep. It was a beautiful night, warm and quiet and we had made it! And....exhale. **Many of the pics you'll see used in this series of blogs are courtesy of Angela Baldwin. Thanks, Ang!!!