Benassini-Lyons Travels

Moving Five Bodies 8,200 Kilometers  As I was saying in my last post - with much fanfare, we got to the Cancun airport at 3pm and began our flights, first to Lima, then to Santiago, and finally to Puerto Natales, Chile. First flight, landed at 10pm in Lima; so lucky, as we walked through the big international terminal, we eavesdropped on many conversations in English (“hiking here is so incredible, I mean, I am from Colorado, I can hike all the time, but here, the energy is just so amazing.”) and the first big bar we walked by was playing the last 5 minutes of the 49er-Green Bay playoff game.  My family will know that I have I am a closeted-emotional 49er fan – I cannot help that:  (a) the game was always the TV in our house during the Montana-Rice-Young years and (b) that watching those games and driving along Mission Street, whopping it up after Super Bowl wins, during my formative years would indelibly ingrain that red and gold into my psychology, even as I cringe and...

After spending a week at an all-inclusive hotel in Crete (The Royal Belvedere, affectionately called "Belvey" by guests and staff), and after the kids raved about how fun it was to eat "infinite food, infinite drinks, and infinite 'granitas'" ("granita" is the Italian word for a really sweet slushie), we decided to repeat the trick in Cancun for Luke and Alex's birthday. So we booked four nights at the Royal Cancun, but it turns out that Cancun is not Crete, and the experience overall was quite a bit different for all of us. Here is the scorecard. Food   In general, the food at Royal Cancun was probably better, but there is a catch. At Belvey, everyone was on the all-inclusive plan, so there was food available at any time and any of us could just walk over and get a piece of pizza or a chicken souvlaki in a pita. In Cancun, we had to be seated by a hostess, give our room number, and wait to sign a $0 "bill" at the end. It was all quit...

  M erida   We flew from Mexico City to Merida on January 9, Luke and Alex’s 10 th birthday.   Now I know, we gave them a birthday party at home with their friends and their grandparents gave them a little celebration in Tucson but my mommy-guilt is the real deal and I DO NOT like my kiddos to have a birthday that goes by without that day feeling a little bit special.   We were up early for the taxi to the airport; travel was ok, no issues; we arrived in Merida with a very good first impression – Warm weather (high 80s.. in January...would not want to experience summer here!)), nice airport, easy to find tourist desk and taxi information. We made it to our apt right at check in time (and were blown away by the place – it’s so hot, most places have very tall ceilings, 12 feet in every room, our house was U shaped, around a central courtyard and small pool, different tile designs in every room, it is the kind of bold, interior color-scheme I so admire as brave!)… But ...