As a graduation present to ourselves, myself and 11 other friends booked a trip to Cancun Mexico.  We’re now back but not without some stories.

We had our trip booked and were pumped to go, but one week before we were set to leave, the company that we booked through (Conquest Vaccations) went bankrupt, sending us all into panic.  Looking around, the only replacement trips we could get would cost us nearly twice the price through a different carrier.  I honestly didn’t think we were going to Mexico at that point, and I wasn’t even sure if we’d get our money back.  One of the plusses of this however, was that I got to go on CTV’s morning show Canada AM and talk about the cancelled trip (External Link: http://watch.ctv.ca/news/latest/conquest-collapses/#clip161835).  We DID manage to get another trip booked to Cancun for the same dates for roughly the same price though, thanks to my girlfriend Holly, and we had a great time.  The first time being at an all inclusive.. its strange being fed like kings and being handed free alcohol and only giving a $1 USD tip in return.

Highlights:
Resort pool area and swim up bars
Amazing restaurants
Free Alcohol!!!
Driving a speed boat on the ocean
Snorkeling on the reef and seeing Sea turtles, giant Manta Rays, and Reef Sharks
Visiting the Ancient Mayan Ruins of Tulum
Seeing the bar area, notably Senior Frog’s and Coco Bongo

However, there were some not so awesome parts of the trip (not to complain, but it needs to be told).  My friend decided to rent a scooter (against the advice of the lot of us),  crashed it going 60 km/h driving towards the bar area, and wrecked the scooter and messed himself up.  Luckily he didnt die, or break anything, but he was bandaged up for the rest of the trip with some very bad bruises.  To make things worse, he refused to pay the scooter place for the damaged he did to the scooter (shot suspension and scratches and cracks) claiming they could not stop him from leaving the country, and those scooter guys stalked us, and jumped us one night infront of the hotel with brass knuckles and a switchblade.  Luckily hotel security was there or things could have gotten bad.  After some convincing (mainly the fact that if he didnt pay, they’d follow us downtown where there is no secuirty, then he would be coming back to Canada in 5 or 6 peices), he finally paid up.  The same guy also missed the origional flight because he forgot his passport had expired and had to pay for a whole new flight, broke his camera when he walked into the pool with it, broke his brand new prescription sunglasses when he faceplanted getting out of the pool, got pickpocketed by a hooker, and got his luggage lost on the way home (okay, that one wasnt his own fault).  Made for an interesting trip.

Despite all that, (plus the Swine flu epidemic that broke out the day we landed in Mexico), we still managed to make it back home alive, in good health, and with a lot of great stories.

And thats all I have to say about that.

(All my pics are up on m y Flickr account)