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Published: February 11th 2012
"Home is where your heart is, but happiness is where your family and friends are". Truer words were never spoken. Glad to be home & hear the voices of friends and family after being away. Back to the familiar comforts of home.
Do you remember that old saying, "Be careful what you wish for, it might just come true".. Well Rory & Ava kept wishing to get their hair braided & it's not cheap & it's tedious & takes a long time to get done. We finally relented, and in the end, they both looked so cute but they also ended up with a sunburn on their scalp. Ouch.
While we really enjoyed our extra days in Playa "
Be careful for what you wish for" was on my mind too. It was FABULOUS, but our last day meant a lot of juggling. We had to vacate our condo by 11 am and our flight wasn't till 8 PM. We had 4 suitcases and 5 backpacks all weighing from 20 to 45 pounds. It would be difficult to enjoy the pool/ocean & then try and shower and change without a condo to do so in. SO here comes Tonya
Sarina to the rescue again. She has made our trip possible, accommodated us in every way, especially on our last day. What would I do without Tonya?! I have no idea and I don't want to find out either. However, SHE might just like me to find out though 😊
Upon handing in our keys the manager of the new condo did a tour to ensure there was no damage. Her only comment was "You were supposed to clean the BBQ & utensils when you used it". I was stupefied. BBQ? I explained to her we never used the BBQ as we ate our for all our meals. She gave the impression she didn't believe me. I further explained I had a working relationship with Tonya of Playa Beach Condos & Villas & out of complete respect for Tonya we'd NEVER do anything that looked unfavorably upon her. The truth is, we leave every condo we stay in better than we found it, short of changing the sheets & I pride myself on leaving a good tip. (in fact frankly the maids should tip me when I'm done with a condo 😊. I was getting nowhere so we just
left; but it sure would have been a smart move on her part to give me the benefit of the doubt since the condo was left in good order. Perhaps if she asked me even, "How was your stay with us"? or "How was everything?" but nothing. The lingering feeling was "Don't let the door hit you where the good lord split you". I think what happened is we checked in early, and they hadn't inspected the last guest who obviously used the BBQ. Otherwise it was a lovely condo. When I told Tonya what had happened she was very surprised and disappointed by the incident. Tonya represents many condos there, so there are plenty of places to stay in the future...(However, I'm tempted to sneak back into that hotel and really use a BBQ just for the hell of it!)
So thanks to Tonya, we took our u-Haul of luggage by cab back to Luna as she graciously arranged for us to use her condo for the balance of the day. The security guard who had just packed us up a few days ago, laughed when he saw us & he helped us with our baggage. We thanked
him as best as we could with mucho Pesos!
Tonya's condo is beautiful, stunning and the ultimate for an oceanfront vacation with lots of room and beautiful views from the balcony. Third floor has roof with hammocks overlooking the ocean and a lovely patio set. It's a "dream come true type of place". Al was drooling (and it wasn't because I was wearing a new little dress I bought.) We spent a few hours in Tonya's unit but they had someone moving in so down we went with our luggage to the first level! It was musical luggage day! We managed to enjoy the pool and the beach for a few extra hours which we were SO grateful for.
Our flight was late taking off but once in the air we really enjoyed the French Canadian steward on Westjet who was hilarious. Everyone was tired, it's dark and he comes out with some funny one liners. When giving lifejacket demonstrations he said, "find it under your seat, pull red belt, then adjust your mask, THEN ADJUST YOUR HAIR". (smile) And then he says, "So if you are are in the water & your lifejacket doesn't inflate well...sigh, shit
happens" (hahahaha). And then he said, "Smoking is allowed only in designated areas, and that would be out on the wing. The movie we are showing tonight on the wing is GONE WITH THE WIND". He kept this up throughout the flight and we enjoyed the humor.
We were half an hour late landing, and it's now after 1 am. So we wake the girls, fight our way off the plane only to be searching for passports in line. OK whew found them. Cleared immigration no problem. Half an hour passes & still no luggage coming and everyone has had it up to here. An announcement is made that Customs is checking the luggage on the plane but their equipment is not working. I take the girls to the bathroom but they run ahead. So I bleary-eyed wander 'round the corner into the bathroom & I look up to see this guy washing his hands & he's looking at me rather stunned, and I'm looking at him rather stunned. SO I'm thinking, "OK either he's in the wrong bathroom or I am" and by the looks of things, my parts don't belong in this bathroom. So I whirl around
and get the heck out of there as fast as I can, thinking to myself, wouldn't it just be great now if Al was to walk into the men's bathroom as I'm exiting! How would I reallly explain this? Clearly I was tired. So once over the shock, I start laughing to myself as I walk into the ladies room, and actually said out loud, "Well that's one for the books...er blogs" just as this woman comes out of the bathroom stall. She looked at me like I was bonkers, probably wondering to herself, "what the hell is that lady laughing about & talking to herself for at this ungodly hour with our luggage no where to be found"...
(Note to airport officials; whatever happened to putting doors on bathrooms anymore with signs for ladies & men? Like say pictures of Marilyn Monroe and James Dean, or even "Bulls" & "Cows", "Senors" or "Senoritas" to make sure tired people (or weirdos like me) don't wander into the wrong bathroom? Wait till Al reads about this escapade. 😊
So finally about 1:40 am the luggage starts coming & only 3 of our 4 bags come. We're missing Rory's. The
rest of the passengers have all left and it's deserted now and there's one family left; one little kid passed out on chair like a rag doll, one kid crying with a burnt head, a father walking aimlessly around the luggage belt praying for a damned bag to appear and a mother who is laughing to herself about a bathroom incident. (yes that was US sadly).
So we go to fill out a "delayed luggage form". Rory starts to really cry because it's her bag that's missing. Keep in mind we really budget our spending money before we go. We use cash most of the time so we don't come home to a big credit card bill. I can safely say we used our credit cards about 3-4 times overall.
So we spend our money wisely and so do the girls. Rory bought gifts for her friends and price shopped to stretch out her dollars. She also spent countless days collecting shells. We also bought her two new dresses which she was SO excited about so her bag missing was traumatic. I tried to reassure her that her bag would show up and she says, "But mom, I
found all those shells on the beach to give to Aunt Cindy, my cousins, my friends and my teacher... Even the hardened Customs guys were feeling pretty bad for her. We are leaving and we hear them yell, "Is it a red bag"? YEP, it was Rory's lonely bag moving slowly down the belt towards us like a flashing beacon in the night. I gotta say, her frown turned upside down to a smile & her face lit right up. I was so happy for my little gal I could've done a jig right there but after that bathroom incident I was keeping a low profile (hee-hee)
We grabbed a cab and were home after 2 am. We got out of our taxi in our sandals, slip-sliding on the ice & snow. Tired but relieved to be home. Welcome back Robuskys...
"No matter how dreary and gray our homes are, we people of flesh and blood would rather live there than in any other country, be it ever so beautiful. There is no place like home." The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Awww...I missed you my "Archie Bunker" chair as I crawled into it. (You all know about
Archie's chair don't you? If not send me a note, I'll fill you in!!!)
(Will send one final blog if you can stand it! Pics further down & yes you can click on them to make them bigger...go on now, you can do it!!!)
Sal
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Danielle Kelley
non-member comment
A Good sense of humour brings fond memories..
I can so related to the genius funny flight attendant because travel is not what it used to be... I think... I hope you let the airline know how you appreciated his humour. Some people just don't get it... Loved your blog and it wouldn't be a Robusky trip without the "incidentals"... Glad you're home...