The Airport Fiasco!

We arrived (Dawg and wife, Señora Luvely) at Denver International Airport and had just made our way through security to the terminal. As I was leaving the men’s room, Señora Luvely approached me and said “did you hear them page us over the intercom?” Now worried, we arrived at the information desk to receive the following message from Señor JHawker and Señora Frendli (my parents) … “Please call us as soon as possible”. Hmm, that was comforting, considering we were meeting them in Cabo, where they would treat us to a week in their vacation club. Knowing Señora Frendli, such a message could have underlying details anything from “Just wanted to tell you we are in Houston and can’t wait to see you” to “someone has died and we can’t make it”. Unfortunately, in my infinite wisdom, I insisted that we leave our cell phones at home, since they would not work in Mexico anyway. The following half hour was a frantic attempt to remember phone numbers and contact a relative via pay phone who could give us the cell number of Señora Frendli. Failing to achieve a phone connection with my beloved mama, we boarded the plane and wondered about what lie ahead.Upon arrival, we exited the terminal (after a brief encounter with a few friendly gentlemen in the timeshare area, who ensured us the best place to wait for my parents was right there with them) and began waiting for the elder party, expected to arrive 20 minutes after our flight. We soon found that there is no “previous” arrival board at terminal 2 and only later realized that there was actually a terminal 1 where they were probably already waiting.

Using my Mexican prepaid cell phone (from a previous extended trip in Cuernavaca, Mexico), we began texting relatives again to figure out what was going on. No one knew anything … which was probably a good thing, meaning there had not been a death in the family. We made our way to terminal 1, but to our dismay there was no sign of Señor JHawker and Señora Frendli. After a cerveza and sandwich, we saw the next flight from Houston arrived at 8:00 PM, 5 hours later. Hopefully, they would arrive on that flight.

As everyone knows, the airport in Los Cabos is not the place to hang out for 5 hours. So we picked up the rental car and headed to the Hacienda Del Mar vacation club,

not knowing if they would let us check in without the elders. It turns out that was not a problem. We settled in to the luxurious accommodations and then decided to return to the airport and search for a restaurant en route. We passed many fine dining establishments and kept driving, assuming there would surely be a good restaurant on the main highway in San Jose Del Cabo, close to the airport (we had taken the toll road previously to the hotel). Again, my infinite wisdom failed me and we found ourselves sitting in a tiny, authentic Mexican establishment across from the airport next to Dollar Rental Car. Although it wasn’t what we had planned, they did have decent food and cold beverages and we actually grew fond of the quaint little place before we departed (we even returned a week later for lunch before our return flight).

After dinner we returned to terminal 1 and were pleased to eventually bump into the long awaited Señor JHawker and Señora Frendli. As difficult as our day had been, it had been even worse for the elders, having a delayed flight from Orlando and a missed connection in Houston. Despite the first day ordeals, we were happy to see each other and excited about the next 7 days.