Margaritas and Rocking Chairs: The Journey Home from Cancun Part 1

Sunrise in Cancun

One of my goals with this Blog is to write about both my flight adventures and travel adventures. I will talk eventually talk about my trip to Cancun, but today I have a flight log for you today. A few week earlier I talk about my flight south to Cancun; today we talk about the return journey back to Calgary. Before I start this, word of advice to those wanting to go to Mexico for peace and quiet; don't go during Spring Break, a big reason for me heading home a few days earlier than planned. Because there were no Air Transat flights home till the next week, my cheapest option to get home was via Charlotte and Phoenix with US Airways. To most of you this doesn't sound like the greatest routing, but for someone who loves to fly, this was the perfect option. Plus the price of the ticket was really inexpensive, especially for a last second purchase at midnight from my hotel.

The next morning, I packed up and began my journey to the airport. Now I'm sure all of you have heard horror stories about Mexican taxi's, but in Cancun they are actually really good. I was a little nervous at the first, but was super impressed with the driver I had. He was fast, friendly and got me to the airport with no fuss, I left him with really nice tip for getting me to the airport with no problems. Arriving in Cancun, I saw how busy the arrivals area was and this was on different for departures. Most US flights arrive and depart out of Terminal 3 (Canadian flights use Terminal 2) and at my time of departure, most airlines were getting ready to depart back to the US. I was booked on US 884, the second Cancun-Charlotte flight of the day, was scheduled to leave at 12:30pm local time. Check in was quite slow due to lack of check in kiosks and people not knowing how to use the machines. The security process was quick and efficient and before I knew it, I was walking through the largest duty free store I've ever seen and into the hustle and bustle of Terminal 3.

My early arrival to the airport would prove to be of benefit to me. I received a phone call from US Airways advising me that my flight to Charlotte would be delayed due to an equipment problem with the B767-200 that was on the flight (first time I've seen an airline call advising of delays). Luckily from walking around the terminal looking at the different planes, I had seen another US Airways flight just loading up for its journey to Charlotte. Panicked, I ran as fast as I could to the gate realizing if I didn't make this flight, I would likely be spending a night somewhere that wouldn't be home. But thanks to the hard working efforts of the gate agent, she was able to locate my bags and got me the last seat on US 882 to Charlotte.

A US Airways A320

I took my seat on the Airbus A320 and breathed a huge sigh of relief, my journey home was about to begin a little earlier than planned. Pushback was 15 minutes late, mainly due to my last second switch, but within 5 minutes, we were rolling of off Runway 12R heading northeast for Charlotte. Before we left Cancun, one of the flight attendants on our flight saw me at the gate and happily offered me a drink from the bar, thanking me for my patience. I was more than happy to have a drink at 30,000 feet, something I've never done before. Because the flight was pretty full, I was seated in the very last row with a gentlemen heading for Cleveland and a family heading home to Charlotte. We struck up a conversation, talking about our trip's to Cancun, our hometown's and of course, me being from Canada, they asked me a lot about my country and I asked them a lot of the US. I learned a lot about Charlotte from the family I was sitting with; it is pretty similar to Calgary in terms of population and size. It would be such a lovely city to visit someday that's for sure. Touchdown on Runway 18L in Charlotte was a little rough and within 15 minutes, we were line waiting at US customs with some of the most friendly border guards I have ever seen (and I'm not be sarcastic here).

Charlotte Airport is quite possibly one of the most unique airports I've ever been to. Throughout the entire terminal are white rocking chairs for customers to relax and enjoy, quite a site to see them in an airport. Because I now had a 4 hour layover in Charlotte, I had a chance to find a good bar and just finally have a chance to relax after my trip. Coincidentally I happened to find a Mexican bar called Tequileria, where I had a couple of double shot Margaritas and a really good meal (Probably the most Mexican thing I did on the entire trip). I highly recommend this place if you are ever passing through Charlotte and have some time to kill. This was also the first time where I was old to enough to finally drink in the states. I didn't realize it until I was asked for ID and completely forgot I was 21 and old enough to drink in the US.

I don't want to make this blog too long, so I'll split this into two parts. In the next part, the flight to Phoenix and than on to my final destination, Calgary.