kenahrens.com

On my way to Cancun or am I?

Covid is not over but there is a pause right now.
Two years ago I booked a vacation in April, just before the flight we ended up in lockdown.
I got half my money back so last June I booked a weeks vacation in Cancun for this April.
I booked it with #SunwingVacations mainly because it is the only Canadian Carrier with packages to the resort I prefer.
Now #SunwingVacations is having a melt down.
People are stuck in Every Airport #SunwingVacations travels to. I have no idea if my flight will leave on time.
I am still looking forward to the trip. However it will probably be my last trip with #SunwingVacations.
I have had issues before with transportation from the resort to the airport and in general I find their staff on the ground at the resorts less than helpful.
I have traveled with them five times and the return flights actually departed the gate no less than 35 minutes after the scheduled departure time, Twice for over an hour.

It has been almost a year since my last update and really nothing much has change. Yes we have the vaccine and everyone who wants a shot has had at least the first shot and most already have the two shot series required.

However there is a large block of idiots that do not want the vaccine. Some due to the fact that they think it was developed too fast and don’t trust it, other because they are Anti-Vax and of course the third group who say it won’t happen to me.

Sorry, I have a very good friend who caught it in November and still has not recovered fully. MY parents have lost two of their friends and another good friend of mine lost his mother as well.

We still have restrictions, the boarder still is not open and new versions of the virus are being discovered weekly. Herd immunity is the only way of getting this thing under control. Which means an 80% vaccination rate. Now when you consider that almost 20% of the population is under the age of twelve and they do not have a vaccine for them it means everyone else needs to get the shot. Until they do we will not be out of this mess.

However right now there is no good reason not to have the shot and I do not think that the government should pay for the treatment of anyone who catches the virus who is not vaccinated.

Unfortunately I work in a business where some people have to be in the office all the time, there are shipments to receive, mail to process, hardware to configure and ship out. The rest of the staff can usually work from home or the occasional onsite however I have been in the office every day.

Now that is not bad unless you consider how weird it feels to be in a 10,000 square foot building by yourself. But now I am used to it and it feels a little strange when more than two or three of my co-workers are in the office at the same time.

All in all I am coping, I miss the social contact with friends, I was bowling in a league before this all started, whether or not it continues after I do not know. It is the little things, not being able to go out for a coffee.

Or just wandering a shopping mall. Right now if I have to go into a store. It is in and out as fast as possible and I already know what I am looking for. In a way this is good I am spending far less money and my only impulse buys are on Amazon.

Hope everybody is staying safe.

Well we are still all dealing with Covid. The situation has gotten a little better here in BC, however the rest of the world seems to be swirling down the toilet right now.

Cases in BC are up a bit as they relaxed the rules but it still seems that most of the cases are being imported. Right now over 1,000 people are being told to self monitor and they now have over 107 confirmed cases. All caused by 6 tourists from Alberta.

Everybody is getting tired of the restrictions and more and more people are ignoring common sense. It doesn’t take much to realize that wearing a mask protects you and everybody around you. Social distancing is something that is going to stick with us for quite a while.

The service industry is going to have to reinvent itself, and going out is going to get a lot more expensive. Right now you can have a group of six maximum in any venue that is open. People complain when they can’t push the tables together for their big group. They are threatening the staff in the establishments.

Sorry folks I don’t want to die because you are an idiot. The establishments should call the cops and have them all charged with endangering the health.

The media had done their part in this mess as well. Photos of the Costco line-ups taken from an angle that makes you think they are jammed together when if you looked at the lineup from the side directly you could see two cart lengths between people. A photo of a crowded beach take from ground level looking like there is no room to walk when a drone photo from overhead shows four or five meters between groups.

However others see the crowded photos and figure they can do the same. and that is when the problems start.

My favorite resort down in Cancun is open again. An I would love to make it down there however Mexico is not handling Covid well at all. Even if I could get a flight down when I got back I would have to Isolate for an additional two weeks. Having to take three weeks off work for one week in the sun is just not worth it.

I hope everybody Stays Calm, Stays Safe and Stays at Home.

Well we are all trying to make due with the changes COVID-19 has dealt us. Mine started in Mid March when my employer decided that if I went to the airport for any reason I would have to Quarantine for 14 days. That was March 13th.

At the same time I decided to Cancel my trip back down to Cancun which was scheduled for April 8th.

On March 27th I returned to work after my two weeks of quarantine and was informed that we would all be working from home starting the following Monday. Except for me and the General Manager.

I have been working Monday, Wednesday and Friday in the office since then and working from home the other days. When I work I am the sole person in the office. It is kind of creepy being in a 8,000 square foot office by yourself.

However it seems to be working none of my co-workers have come down with the virus and we are still operating. Unlike everyone in the customer service industries. I wonder how many of the smaller business will survive.

In BC we were lucky we locked down early and have not had nearly as many cases as the other provinces. Hopefully it will stay that way.

I cancelled my flight to Cancun and it was just last week that I was notified of the refund. I got half back to my card and half as a credit to future travel. If they manage to survive the shut down.

With Trump to the south of us pushing to open the borders hopefully or idiot in power keeps them closed until they get it under control down south.

I think airline travel has changed forever. They will have to give people space to allow for distancing which also means they will have to charge probably double for the flights just to make the same amount of money.

Some airlines will not make it and others will be much smaller at the end of this. I don’t put much faith in being able to travel again until 2021.

Another spring has come and again I made the trip down to Cancun for a week in the sun. returned to the Riu Palace Peninsula as I have has a great experience there the last two years and this one was no different.

Many of the same staff who are very friendly and helpful.

Now I am not into a lot of partying or doing the tourist trips. My Ideal vacation is a quiet pool, with lots of cool drinks. Sun and good food. And the Riu Palace Peninsula provides all of this. I make sure to get one of the villa units which are off to the side a bit and are restricted to Adults only and have a separate pool area dedicated to the units.

It is a bit of a walk to the restaurant areas which are located on the far side of the resort from the Villa’s. However you also get much less foot traffic past the pool and your units, if you decide to spend the day on the beach instead of the pool it is a short walk to the beach area.

Waiter service by the pool starts at 10:00 am until 6:00 pm, the sun is usually going down by then and the pools close at 6:00 as well.

My usual routine consisted of waking about 6:15 when the birds in the gardens started squawking, a quick Shower and shave then over to the sportsbar which is the only facility open before 7:00 where I got a double Espresso and Bailies to start off the morning. I would then go back outside to enjoy the coffee while watching the sun rise.

7:00am and the buffet is open for breakfast. Here you can enjoy everything from a freshly made smoothie to a full English breakfast with sausage and baked beans. Custom Omelets are available as well as a large selection of cold breakfast fixings and fresh cut fruit, cheese and meats.

By 7:30 I was done with breakfast and laying by the pool.

Starting at noon they have a BBQ down by one of the main pools featuring Burgers, Hot dogs, Chops and some flank steak along with fries and condements. If you don’t like this there is a full buffet put on in the steak house with pizza, ribs and salads as well as sandwich fixings.

I would usually stick it out by the pool until 3:00 when I would return to the room for a shower and a short nap.

5:00 pm and I am at the Cappuccino Bar enjoying a couple coffee’s and watching the other guests as they return from the pool area to the rooms in the main hotel.

6:30 and the Restaurants are open for dinner. They do not accept reservations at this resort for any of the restaurants it is first come first serve. I am usually waiting for them to open the doors.

Many of the guests here are from south America or Europe and they tend to eat later so there is usually not much of a crowd at 6:30.

After dinner I either visit the Piano Bar for an after-dinner drink or back to the Cappuccino Bar for another coffee. Then down to the chillout bar located near the villas and the beach. It is a quit location with mostly conversation and quiet background music.

Being outside and during the day they serve the waiters who work the beach and the VIP Pool as well as anyone who needs a break from the sun. The evenings can be cool if there is a strong wind. Usually on the days when you have had rain during the day it can be quite cool.

Usually by 10:00 to 10:30 I am heading back to my room to get some sleep before starting it all over again.

There is a show bar that has stage acts usually running from 8:30 to 10:30 nightly.

Saturday night has a beach party with a DJ and music and once again it usually shuts down around 10:30.

Wednesdays around 3:00 pm they have a foam party at one of the main pools on site, again with a DJ.

Rain Days If it rains of course nobody is on the beach or the pools, in the lobby they set up a number of gaming tables with Black Jack, Roulette and Poker playing for fun and prizes.

The sports bar and the piano bar fill up early and by the time the rain finished most people were far drunker than if they spent the time out by the pools.

Some of the restaurants have some issues with the rain as they only have screens on the outside wall the rain does make it thru and they end up moving the tables in by about 10 feet to keep them dry. Some of the hallways are affected as well and they have a crew squeegeeing up all the water non stop.