Day 1, Sep/17/2011:
At 2:30AM, there was a knock on our door. Already await and fully prepared, I asked before I opened the door: "Is it Khuan Bo?" Hearing a simple "Yeah," I opened the door to find my friend standing outside with a big smile, whose son was waiting in their van on our driveway to give us (Khuan Bo's couple, Cindy and me) a ride to San Francisco airport. Our group Cancun trip started from this very moment.
On the way to the airport, Khuan Bo, in the back seats of his van, reminded me, sitting next to him, that his driver son and the girl friend were laughing at the old folks in the van for being too conservative and careful in insisting on early arrival at the airport for the 6AM flight. Haha…they might be right that old folks are generally conservative, but we certainly did not want to be late for the flight due to traffic jam caused by some car accident, transportation problem or unforeseeable events. One-hour road travel can easily end up triple the amount of time. Before we finished our conversation, at the brink of an eye, the van already pulled in Continental Air departure unloading zone. We thanked the young man and his friend for the ride and headed our way with our luggage. Inside the building, Khuan Bo and I exchanged the undesirable stormy weather forecast in Cancun on web, but were fully determined to have the best time with our group in the worst weather scenario. Before we felt hungry for breakfast, we found ourselves standing in line for check-in.
At 2:30AM, there was a knock on our door. Already await and fully prepared, I asked before I opened the door: "Is it Khuan Bo?" Hearing a simple "Yeah," I opened the door to find my friend standing outside with a big smile, whose son was waiting in their van on our driveway to give us (Khuan Bo's couple, Cindy and me) a ride to San Francisco airport. Our group Cancun trip started from this very moment.
On the way to the airport, Khuan Bo, in the back seats of his van, reminded me, sitting next to him, that his driver son and the girl friend were laughing at the old folks in the van for being too conservative and careful in insisting on early arrival at the airport for the 6AM flight. Haha…they might be right that old folks are generally conservative, but we certainly did not want to be late for the flight due to traffic jam caused by some car accident, transportation problem or unforeseeable events. One-hour road travel can easily end up triple the amount of time. Before we finished our conversation, at the brink of an eye, the van already pulled in Continental Air departure unloading zone. We thanked the young man and his friend for the ride and headed our way with our luggage. Inside the building, Khuan Bo and I exchanged the undesirable stormy weather forecast in Cancun on web, but were fully determined to have the best time with our group in the worst weather scenario. Before we felt hungry for breakfast, we found ourselves standing in line for check-in.
After two three-hour flights, we landed in Cancun in the afternoon. Outside the airport we came to face with tens of travel agencies and tour bus drivers. My eyes were focused on searching for "Westin Hotel" and our names sign. Sighting our desperation, one Mexican fellow asked who we were with.
"Westin Hotel," I said.
He pointed to someone in purple uniform shirt who then opened his long list of passengers he was supposed to pick up for the day. After five minutes of searching, we could not find our names on the man's record. I showed the man the name and address of the hotel and asked him to call the hotel front desk on our behalf. The man accepted our tip and made the call using his cell.
"No reservation under your name," said the man after he talked to someone at the hotel.
Khuan Bo and I grew concerned and perplexed, and discussed among ourselves, wondering if the noon-arriving group (Leminh, ThuyPhung, Ngoan Nhu’s couple) ever got to the hotel or was still stuck at the airport like us. Our attempts to look for them soon proved infertile. When the situation seemed hopeless, the man offered to show me where to purchase a calling card inside the airport. I took his advice and bought one which enabled us to call our travel agent in the U.S. During my phone conversation with the US travel agent in the States, someone in red uniform approached me with a list on his hand that had our names. Here he is, how amazing that the travel-agency booked bus driver finally found us!
Learned from the near nervous experience, I asked the driver to make a sign with names of our next classmates group scheduled to arrive two hours later, and to display the sign upon their flight arrival.
At around 8PM, the last classmates group (Anh Huan’s couple, Tuyet Nhi’s couple and Van Cam) arrived at the hotel. After loud and exciting greetings in the lobby, the whole group---some had not seen each other for 40 years---gathered for chi-chat. Anh-Huan and wife surprised everyone when they presented to me a photo album and a “Certificate Of Appreciation” in recognition of my efforts in arranging and planning for the BangHang group travel. I gratefully accepted the gift and certificate, so deeply touched by their thoughtfulness, and thankful to the group for their willingness to take time off from their busy life for this meaningful reunion trip.
"Westin Hotel," I said.
He pointed to someone in purple uniform shirt who then opened his long list of passengers he was supposed to pick up for the day. After five minutes of searching, we could not find our names on the man's record. I showed the man the name and address of the hotel and asked him to call the hotel front desk on our behalf. The man accepted our tip and made the call using his cell.
"No reservation under your name," said the man after he talked to someone at the hotel.
Khuan Bo and I grew concerned and perplexed, and discussed among ourselves, wondering if the noon-arriving group (Leminh, ThuyPhung, Ngoan Nhu’s couple) ever got to the hotel or was still stuck at the airport like us. Our attempts to look for them soon proved infertile. When the situation seemed hopeless, the man offered to show me where to purchase a calling card inside the airport. I took his advice and bought one which enabled us to call our travel agent in the U.S. During my phone conversation with the US travel agent in the States, someone in red uniform approached me with a list on his hand that had our names. Here he is, how amazing that the travel-agency booked bus driver finally found us!
Learned from the near nervous experience, I asked the driver to make a sign with names of our next classmates group scheduled to arrive two hours later, and to display the sign upon their flight arrival.
At around 8PM, the last classmates group (Anh Huan’s couple, Tuyet Nhi’s couple and Van Cam) arrived at the hotel. After loud and exciting greetings in the lobby, the whole group---some had not seen each other for 40 years---gathered for chi-chat. Anh-Huan and wife surprised everyone when they presented to me a photo album and a “Certificate Of Appreciation” in recognition of my efforts in arranging and planning for the BangHang group travel. I gratefully accepted the gift and certificate, so deeply touched by their thoughtfulness, and thankful to the group for their willingness to take time off from their busy life for this meaningful reunion trip.
Each of us was then also delighted to take out a token Mexican dollar coin in exchange with a hand-crafted candle carefully designed and made by Ngoan Nhu and husband. What an impressive craftsmanship! The evening started with exciting talks and ended with a nice dinner at the hotel restaurant. Thanks to Cuong Ly and Tuyet Nhi for buying the group fine wine for the celebration. By the time we finished our dinner, we were all tired since we had very little sleep, if any at all, in the past 24 hours. We decided to head back to our hotel room for a shower and rest at close to mid-night.
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