Wednesday, February 18, 2009 - 3:00 am

Our wakeup call was at 3:00 am! Since the four of us shared a room last night, Gale and Maureen got up first to take showers and pack things up. Everyone was ready in time for the hotel shuttle at 4:30 am. When we arrived at the terminal, we weren’t able to find wheelchairs right away for Gale’s parents, so they had to walk further than they were used to. It became evident that they weren’t going to make it much further on their own, so we sought more help in finding wheelchairs. There was quite a long line to check-in with the airline, but once we had wheelchairs and people to push them around, we went right to the head of the lines: the check-in line, the security checkpoint line and we were allowed to bring the folks on to the airplane first. Believe it or not, there are advantages to traveling with disabilities!

Our flight took off at 6:15 am and we arrived at the Cancun airport a few minutes before 10:00 am. Before landing, we were assured that there would be wheelchairs waiting for us since we boarded with them. Something must have been lost in translation, though, because we had to order the wheelchairs when we arrived and the four of us waited on the plane for a little while before we could disembark. As before, however, we were taken to the front of the lines (immigration and customs) and made it through the process quite efficiently. Our shuttle driver was waiting for us and we rode with one other party of 5 to get to our resort. This ride took a little over an hour – fortunately, we were dropped off at our resort before the other party. Some people spent as long as 3 hours on the shuttle because of all the people that had to be let off before them.

Upon arrival at the resort we immediately ran into Alicia and Brad with their wedding consultant. They were on their way to check out the spot where the ceremony will take place and they were looking very relaxed and happy to be here. We found ourselves, once again, searching for wheelchairs. Gale had called the hotel back in January to find out if wheelchairs would be available and, evidently, it depends on who you talk to! Some said, “No problem - We have them here.” Others said, “No, we don’t have any.” As it turned out today, there were a few on the property, but all were being used. Gale, Sr. and Mary were able to walk to the Lobby where we checked in. Our rooms weren’t quite ready for us, so we walked to one of the restaurants that was nearby, and enjoyed some lunch and cocktails. At around 2:30 pm, Gale and Maureen headed back up to the lobby to pick up the room keys and check out the accommodations. The walk there was a beautiful one, however, it was probably a good quarter of a mile trek! We knew that our parents would have difficulty making the journey once, let alone back and forth every day at least twice while we’re here! Maureen went back to the restaurant to wait with Gale, Sr. and Mary, while Gale (Jr.) tried to come up with wheelchairs. A $20 bill seemed to help, and, magically, one appeared! We used the one wheelchair to shuttle the parents to their room. Then at 5 pm, Gale (Jr) met a representative of the medical supply company in the lobby and picked up a motorized scooter for Gale Sr.’s use while at the hotel.

By late afternoon, we were in our rooms relaxing and getting changed into more appropriate vacation attire. Gale’s brother, Mark, and his friends Eric and Rita arrived during the late afternoon and Dave and Judy, the parents of the bride, showed up early evening. Mark, et al, had late reservations at one of the specialty restaurants; the parents planned to order room service; and Gale and Maureen decided to walk down to one of the buffets for dinner. It was an early night for everybody.