Cancun, Part 1

Emily and I had a fantastic time on our trip to Cancun!

August 26, Monday

Well, I got about four hours of sleep and that's the best I could do. I was so proud of myself that I got everything in my carry-on and backpack and we didn't have to check a bag. We originally planned to leave at 6:15 AM, but last night Michael said he would take us so we had a little extra time this morning. We had a prayer and said goodbye to the boys. I think it was around 6:30 AM when we left. We got through security easily, even though it was a pretty long line for TSA pre-check. We got Emily some breakfast and I got myself a croissant at La Madeleine. Emily got an egg and cheese biscuit at McDonald's and we sat at La Madeleine to eat our food. By the time we got there, they were already boarding our group so that worked out perfectly. Across from us, two of the seats were empty so the lady on the aisle by us moved over with her husband on the other side so we had the three seats to ourselves so that was nice. 

It was nice that there were no customs cards to fill out. And they had an automated customs line that was pretty easy to get through. It was really nice to skip getting our bags to go through customs. We found our shuttle driver and headed over to the resort. There were many beautiful resorts on the way. The Grand Fiesta Americana Coral Beach Cancun is beautiful! The entrance is gorgeous and so is the lobby and they greeted us with a cool towel that smelled amazing. 

We got right up to the counter for check-in and they upgraded us. Apparently, it's because of my Expedia status. They offered us twice as big of a size of room but it only had a king size bed. Emily and I both agreed that we'd rather have our own beds so they still upgraded us a bit and we got an oceanfront instead of an ocean view. It still kind of seems like an ocean view to me because it's not on the side of the hotel where you're actually facing the ocean but it's pretty close. We made our reservations for dinners. At first, they couldn't get us the one we wanted for the steakhouse but later we got one. I tried to get a beach bed reservation but they only had one left and it was by the pool. We had to go exploring a couple times to figure out which one it was and ultimately decided not to bother because I want to be facing the ocean. Also, it's literally a bed and not loungers where you can sit up. There seems to be plenty on the beach so we'll just do that on Wednesday. We love our room! It's big and beautiful and has a sitting area and nice big bathroom counter. The balcony is amazing! You can see everything and the view is gorgeous. We took a few pictures and hung up our dresses and then went to find food. 

It was a little confusing to figure out what was open and what wasn't. We did a big circle around the resort. We were also trying to look at those beds but we couldn't figure it out. We finally figured out that this is the one that was available, but I wanted to be close to the ocean, not the pool.

We finally ended up going back into the hotel and going to the Coral Café to get some food. Emily was starving. She really wanted pizza but it wasn't open but the guy offered to get pizza for her so that was very nice. We also had some pastries and I tried the pineapple flavored gelato. We sat and had our food at the café. 

We went back to the room to get our suits on so we could go to the pool. At first there weren't any reservations for tonight for Teppanyaki, but we were able to get one so that was great. It was at 7:30 PM. We relaxed in the pool for a while. Only problem was we couldn't tell what time it was. We finally had to ask some other people at the pool and by then it was 6:30 PM. We hung out a little bit longer and then went to our room to get dressed for dinner. Emily turned on the TV while we were getting ready and she was pretty happy that Crazy Rich Asians was on so we watched a little bit of that. The dress code for the restaurant said formal and we were concerned what that might mean so we wore dresses but everybody was just dressed in normal clothes. I feel like formal just means you can't wear your bathing suit to the restaurant. The restaurant that had the Teppanyaki was called Torii. It was wonderful! We were confused because they didn't give us menus, then we realized they were just going to give us whatever they were going to give us and it ended up being delicious anyway. Our chef put on a really good show. We had miso soup as our appetizer. There was a lot of fire, a lot more than we get at Osaka. The only bummer was that they didn't have yum yum sauce. Emily was happy to get two Coke zeros in a can with a glass with ice. The rice was still delicious even without the yum yum sauce. There was a mom and her young son sitting next to us and they were so cute. He got a Shirley Temple. The chef didn't throw zucchini chunks, but he threw broccoli so that was fun. It took me three tries to get it because he was a terrible shot and not because I didn't do a good job, haha. Anyway, the guy was really fun and we enjoyed the meal. They made us chicken, steak, and shrimp along with some vegetables. They even had a dessert. It looked like a bao bun but it was really like a whipped cream thing with some raspberry filling in the middle. 

Emily didn't like it so I had a little of hers but even after that I felt like we could do better on dessert so we went back to the café and I got some cheesecake. Emily was too full. We headed back to the room. It was so cold that we went out to the balcony and enjoyed sitting out there for a long time. I think we were out there for about an hour. We sat in silence and played on our phones for a little while, then we talked, read scriptures, and had a prayer. It was awesome. It felt like sitting in paradise. We could even see the stars. I think we were in bed by about 11 PM. Even though that's only 9 PM Phoenix time, we were completely exhausted and we needed to get up in the morning to get ready for our excursion.