Three AM is not a time many people enjoy getting up at. We all went to be early, but when the alarm went off it still was a shock to the system.

Getting to the Airport

The day before I had tried a new feature in the Lyft app, our go to way of avoiding parking at the airport. There is an option to schedule a ride in the future. Since we’ve had problems getting a timely ride to the airport early in the morning on previous personal and work related trips I wanted to give this a try. We aren’t in the middle of nowhere’s, but we’re solidly in the suburbs.

I put in the location and requested a 3:10am arrival which said to expect the ride between 3:10 and 3:20 giving us plenty of time to get into Boston for our 5:30am departure.

When my alarm went off at 3:00 I noticed the driver was on his way and would arrive in 10 minutes, right on time. We had prepared everything the night before so all we had to do is get the kids up and dressed and downstairs in 10 minutes. The timing worked out perfectly. I’ll definitely be using that feature again.

Checking Bags and Security

As expected, there was not any traffic and no construction related detours. I had checked in the previous day on the app and indicated we had 2 full size bags to check. At the checkin terminal we were able to quickly print out our luggage tags and printed hard copies of our boarding passes.

We got the bags weighed and they added a special “priority” sticker so there would be a greater chance our bags would come out first at our destination. This was a feature of my wife’s Silver status with United which was a benefit of her Marriott Titanium status.

With our bags on their way to the plane we only had our personal backpacks. We both have TSA PreCheck and we could bring the kids through with us. We were through security by 4:00.

Getting Breakfast

Our plan for breakfast was to go to one of the restaurants in the terminal. Stefanie’s restaurant is a part of the Priority Pass lounge program we have as a benefit of some of our cards. Rather than being a lounge, it’s a restaurant where we can get a $28 credit towards the check and a second $28 credit for up to one guest. We’ve used this at another restaurant in Boston as well as Gatwick Airport in London. It’s great!

While our flight left at 5:30, our boarding time started at 5:00. The restaurant didn’t open until 4:30 so it would be tight. Breakfast is usually a meal that’s quick to cook and we figured the restaurant would be used to people needing to eat quickly.

We were first in line when they opened and quickly got seated and ordered our food. Then we waited… and waited… and watched a dozen other meals come out before ours FINALLY arrived. I have no idea what took so long and there was no explanation given by our waitress.

It was about 4:55 by the time out food was delivered and I asked the waitress if we could settle up the check because we had to catch our flight. That didn’t seem to speed things up much. I gave her my Priority Pass card and that didn’t cover the full total of the bill. The breakfast we had ordered was apparently super expensive. If I had more time I would have asked if they could also run my wife’s card to add additional credits for her accounts as we’ve done in other Priority Pass restaurants, but by this time we needed to get to our plane so I put the balance on my credit card which took another frustrating amount of time.

With the gratuity we ended up with a still-expensive-for-what-we-got-even-after-the-discount breakfast that we had to wolf down in a couple minutes. It was pretty disappointing. With faster service and more time it probably would have been fine. If we do try it again we’ll just make sure we only use it if we have more than 30 minutes before our boarding time!

Flights and Connections

Thankfully our boarding gate was two gates down from the restaurant so it was only a short walk. When we got there, they had completed boarding of the boarding group after ours, so we just walked up and went right through the automated gates. Luckily since we had checked our bags we only had our backpacks and didn’t need to compete for any overhead bin space.

We quickly found our seats and settled in. The kids got their headphones out and started watching DirecTV. The flight was a short 4.5 hours to Houston.

Originally our boarding passes said the departure was from the same terminal that we lasted, but when we asked the gate agent when we got off the first leg, they pointed us to a gate in a different terminal. We had some walking to do.

It would have been nice to stay in the same terminal so we’d have time to find a snack, but the walk wasn’t too bad. The signs were clear and there was a train that got us to the other terminal. We found the gate for our flight to Los Cabos at exactly the time boarding was to begin. We quickly found restrooms and some croissants for the kids to snack on before our boarding group was called.

For this leg he had the same row and seats as the first flight. I stat between the two kids in one group of 3 seats while my wife had the seat across the aisle. We all got back to watching TV, though the system kept repeating the previews for the movies until the flight attendants finally reset the system and we could get back to watching our shows.

I was watching the Boston Marathon live on TV. Living in the Boston area and being a casual running I really get into the marathon. I had seen the women’s race finish and was watching the last mile of a very close men’s race when a message popped up on the screen indicating we would be leaving the DirecTV service area shortly. I thought it would be just my luck that the race would cut out right at the finish line, but the signal did last just long enough for me to see the men’s winner cross the line. It was a photo finish!

The connection from Houston to Los Cabos was only 2.5 hours so it was even shorter than the Houston leg. It was uneventful and landed a few minutes ahead of schedule.

Passport Control and Customs

On the plane the crew had handed out the paperwork needed for passport control on the Mexico side. One of the forms they only had the Spanish version for on the plane. Luckily for me that meant my wife got to fill that out since she’s a native Spanish speaker. Less paperwork for me!

In theory it would help us get through some of the lines as quite a few people would have to get the forms and fill them out after we landed. Unfortunately one of the forms wasn’t quite clear what parts we were supposed to fill out and which parts were for “official use only”. There was an officer doing a pre-check of the paperwork before letting people go to the passport control area and saw that my wife had missed a section so we had to go fill that out. During that time another plane had arrive so there was a mob of people backed up.

Once the paperwork was complete, we made our way through the mob and somehow got through without getting our paperwork checked again the second time. We made our way down the escalator to the passport control area and there was barely any line to get our passport stamped. We were quickly through and in to baggage claim to get our bags.

When the belt started up we were excited. We knew we had our bags tagged so they should come out first. We also had purchased a new bag that had a little color so it wasn’t all black like seemingly every other bag not he belt.

While we waited for the belt to start moving my wife took some cash to exchange for pesos at a nearby window. We usually take out local currency from an ATM but she had some US dollars with us and decided to exchange those instead. I’m not sure if we got the best rate but it wasn’t a lot of money so it wouldn’t have made a lot of difference.

Back at the belt, we we saw lots of bags, but none of ours. The belt stopped a couple times as they brought new loads of luggage from the plane but as it stopped for the last time, we still didn’t have our luggage. My wife went to ask one of the workers and she had on her sheet that our luggage didn’t make it on our flight and would be arriving on the next flight later that day.

She took us to the baggage claims desk and took our hotel information and other contact information. We showed her pictures of the type of luggage we had to make sure we got the right bags. We could expect them to be delivered between 4:30 and 5:30 that evening at our hotel so we wouldn’t need to drive back to he airport to pick them up, thankfully. We were disappointed and a little bit frustrated we wouldn’t have our beach gear right away, but the staff was very helpful and professional so we had no complaints. It also helped that my wife spoke Spanish, though the staff seemed to be able to communicate well in English as well.

We then proceeded through customs with only our backpacks.

The Pitches

Once through customs we intended to make our way to pick up a shuttle to get our rental car. Before we could get there everyone was funneled through an area full of people asking us lots of questions. They seemed to be helpful asking things like “which rental car company are you looking for?” and offering to call them to make sure the shuttle was on it’s way to pick you up. They also showed us a map where things were and asked where we were staying to help give us directions.

Thing suddenly switched when they asked if our rental car was prepaid and how much it cost. They said we could get a lower price through them and we could get all sorts of activities at deep discounts if only we went to a short sales meeting for some condos. Ugh. We should have been more pessimistic and guarded as there was no real reason why those people would have been trying to help us out. It was all just a ploy to get us to agree to a timeshare pitch we had absolutely no interest in.

We quickly thanked them, said no and tried to get ourselves out the door. Then, in the next room, we were trying to make our way to where the people in the first room said we would pick up the rental car shuttle when another person asked us which rental car company. We stupidly told him and he insisted we follow him to where the shuttle was. It wasn’t in the direction we were headed headed and he just lead us to another person giving us a very similar timeshare pitch. We spent less than 30 seconds there before existing that room. We finally saw a row of booths for several car companies, still inside the airport and went over to the one for Sixt, the company we were renting from. That booth of course was the only one empty. We asked the person in the both directly next to it and that person claimed to have never heard of Sixt but offered a “great price” on a rental from their company. Mind you, these booths were attached to each other with no divider between them.

Exasperated we following the airport sides to the car rental shuttle area which we should have done to begin with. There we encountered about 20 people holding signs for different rental car companies (except Sixt of course). They were all asking if we had a prepaid rate so they could try to get us to change. While we didn’t have a prepaid rate, I quickly figure out to tell them that I did so they would stop bothering me.

While it wasn’t anything harmful, the constant pitching was annoying as can be. It didn’t make for a good start to the trip. In hindsight it was simpler that we didn’t have our luggage to carry around at the same time.

The Rental Car

The Sixt shuttle eventually arrived. It seemed like hours but it was more like 5 minutes. We were thankful to be out of that place and on our way to the rental counter. It was a short 5 minute ride.

In their office they had our reservation as expected. We did the paperwork and they had our car ready. Unfortunately it didn’t come with an upgrade and we were getting the car we had originally reserved. My wife asked in Spanish about an upgrade to one of the other cars she saw in the lot (a base trim VW Jetta) and they said it would be $100 US for the 5 days for that. No thanks.

There was no recognition of my Platinum status with their program, but at least they didn’t make me pull out my proof of insurance from the credit card. Once the paperwork was done we piled into our white Chevy Aveo. We were hungry and my wife asked for a recommendation of some place to eat. She got the name, which we plugged into google maps and found that it was about 25 minutes away.

We slowly got on our way with our loud squeaky breaks making quite the racket. The car was pretty disappointing all around and didn’t feel all that safe. The interior was well worn and the car had nearly 80K kilometers on it. At least the air conditioning worked.

Lunch

We followed the GPS directions to the restaurant the workers at the Sixt desk had recommended. There was moderate traffic on the two lane divided highway. We seemed to hit every traffic light but overall the driving experience was the same as in the US, only with drivers that were much better behaved than in Boston!

We were at the restuarant within half an hour and found parking in the back. The restaurant turned out to be an excellent choice! The boys had some breaded shrimp which they both loved and my wife had the house special which was some sort of stuffed shrimp with a sauce on it. She loved it!

Hotel Checkin

With our stomachs finally full we headed off to our hotel. It was another 20 minutes from the restaurant on the same kind of two lane divided highway, though there were fewer stop lights on this portion of the road compared to the portion to get to the restaurant. There was a gatehouse with a guard on the entrance to the road the hotel was on where we gave them our name. They directed us to the hotel entrance where we parked to went in to check in.

The lobby was busy with people checking out and others checking in. An agent got to us within a couple minutes. The checkin process was a bit long, but it was thorough. As part of the checkin we got our room upgraded to a larger room in the main hotel building. It sounded good to us!

The agent also told us about our Titanium benefits at the hotel which included breakfast for 2 and 15% off food and beverages at the hotel. She also gave us some coupons for drinks at the coffee shop located on the property. We got one per day which was nice.

After checkin we were introduced to an agent who we initially thought was going to show us our room but instead showed us a map of the property and some of the highlights. He then moved into pitch mode and told us about all the fantastic discounts he could arrange for us on activities. We politely declined. The constant pitching was definitely a pattern and a new reality we’d have to get used to on the trip. Luckily declining didn’t bring on a second wave of a hard pitch and we were on our way to get what little stuff we had from the car.

I got the stuff out of the trunk and drove the car to the free self parking lot which was just up the street. I met the family back in the lobby and we found our way to our room.

While we weren’t sure what to expect, we quickly realized we had gotten a pretty fantastic room! It had a huge balcony on the front overlooking the ocean. It has a SECOND balcony on the side overlooking the beach and ocean on that side. The side balcony was almost as big as the room itself which was pretty generously sized with two queen beds and lots of space to spare.

The bathroom had a jacuzzi tub, two sinks, a shower and a separate room for the toilet. The room was fantastic!

Exploring the Resort

After we found the room we went exploring the resort. It’s pretty large and we wanted to know where the pools were so when we finally got our luggage we’d know where to go. The beach in front of the hotel has some nice soft sand, though it’s pretty steeply sloped. You can’t swim in the ocean because the surf is too dangerous. There are big powerful waves and currents and signs everywhere warning you in multiple languages of those dangers.

Just back from the beach are several pools. There are some serenity pools to one side. The main pools are in the middle and the sports and activities pools are opposite of the serenity pools. There is also a kids pool higher up the hill in a different area. It took us awhile to find it, but it’s located next to the kids club.

The kids pool has several structures and a slide. It’s zero entry on one side and is very popular with the kids. We decided to go into the kids club to check it out. We got information on the activities, schedules and prices which ranged from $10 an hour, to $40 a day to $100 for 5 days per child. The kids club is for kids 4-12 but is aimed more at younger kids with craft activities and story time. They do have video games for older kids and enclosed trampoline which seemed to always be occupied when we were at the pool during our stay.

After that we retreated to our room as we didn’t have any sunblock with us because it was in our bags that still hadn’t been delivered.

Vacationing with Friends

This vacation was slightly different for us than others. We usually vacation by ourselves. After I booked this vacation I emailed some old friends of ours who live in Guadalajara, Mexico to let them know we’d be in Los Cabos. Those are obviously two different parts of a large country so I didn’t expect anything to come out of that.

To my surprise, a few days later they wrote back saying they had that same week off and could find cheap flights to come vacation with us. We hadn’t seen them in years and it would be great to see how their kids had grown up in that time. We had made arrangements to stay in the same resort so we could hang out and catch up together. They arrived shortly after we made it back to our room. We made plans to meet up for dinner once they had settled into their room in the next building over.

On our way back to our room I checked at the concierge desk to see if our bags were in yet and found the delivery van had just arrived that minute. Great timing! I grabbed our bags and brought them back to the room so we could put on some more appropriate clothes.

Dinner

Since we had both been through a relatively long day of travel (though ours was much longer than theirs) we decided to eat at the resort to simplify things. We chose the Tomatoes restaurant with the Gaucho Grill buffet located next to the lobby. The meal proceeded with the courses being served family style. They had several Mexican style sides for appetizers and even brought some pizza’s by for the kids. For the main course they had several types of grilled meats including chicken, steak and some sausages, again served family style. They continued to bring more until we were full.

We found that the kids 12 and under got a discounted price and kids 6 and under ate free. That really helped with the final bill since we had 5 kids in our group. The staff was very accommodating with our big group and excellent with the kids. The kids were awesome surprising the staff by ordering and interacting in Spanish!

Evening Activities

After dinner the kids wanted to go to the pool before it closed at 8:00pm. That seemed like a very early time for a pool to close in a resort, but those were the rules. That said it never seemed like those rules were enforced as we saw people swimming late at night most nights.

It was very windy that evening and it didn’t appear the pools were heated so it wasn’t long before the kids were shivering and ready to get out. They only swam for about 20 minutes.

I was amazed we were able to keep going as late as we did after getting up at 3am EST. It was a long day and we all went right to sleep once we got into bed.