Let's talk about Spring Break, Part 1

Let’s talk about Spring Break! 

Spring break is long gone (it was two weeks ago) but I haven't taken the time to talk about it yet. That’s probably because talking about my Spring Break is a daunting task: there are so many things to talk about!

Let me start by telling you I went to Mexico, for the first time in my life. 

About two weeks prior to the break, I was surveying potential customers (SBCC students) about my product for my Enterprise-Launch class. There I see my friend Bob, a Dutch guy who is very good friends with Bram— another Dutch guy who used to be my roommate. When Bram left California at the end of last Spring semester to go back home, Bob came here in Santa Barbara, and Bram made sure that Bob and I would meet each other at the beginning of the Fall. Bob and I have been friends for 6 over months, but I hadn't seen him in a while. 

We started talking to catch up, and then he took the time to answer my questions about my business start-up. Then he suggested I survey his friends too, who were now sitting nearby. That’s how I met Yassin, Fares, Deniz, Jasmine, and many other very nice people, a very friendly and diverse group of friends. 

Apparently, they liked me just as much as I liked them. After I surveyed them, they invited me to hang out together at a party in the weekend, and the following week Yassin invited me to join the group for Spring break. A group of 11 friends, they had reserved three rooms with 4 bed spaces each at the Marriott Hotel in Cancun, Mexico. They found a good deal, but they also needed one more friend to come along. 

Well I had no plans for Spring break and I had never been to Mexico. So I decided to accept their invite. All I had to do was purchasing a plane ticket and pay my friend for the room, which he had already paid in full. Pretty easy! 

So on Thursday, March 24 I went to school with my carry-on suitcase full of clothes and my backpack full of airplane stuff and food (lots, LOTS of food) and I left right after class. 

Actually 12:36, local time ;)

My friend Alyssa gave me a ride to the SB Airbus station, where I took the bus to LAX airport. LA traffic was terrible, and I almost missed my flight. On the plane to Houston I met two guys who were also international students from Europe at SBCC, and we all landed in Texas at 1am. My flight to Cancun was scheduled to depart at 9:15am, and my new friends’ next flight— to Panama— was at 8:10am. In other words, we had a lot of time to kill. 

At first, I was tempted to go to my own gate and look for a comfortable armchair or some place to fall asleep. However, because I wanted to be nice, I decided to stay with my two new friends. They had checked their luggage and were unsure whether they would go straight to Panama or whether they should have picked them up in Houston and checked them again to Panama. Instead of just looking at the sticker that they were given when they checked their luggage, they decided to go to the baggage claim area and wait there. After hanging out there for about an hour, we decided to go back, but we were not allowed to! Apparently, when you go to the baggage claim part of the airport, you are actually out of the airport, and if you want to go back in, you need to go through the security check again. Too bad, the airport was close from 2am to 5am, so we had to wait there for a few hours. 

It was an adventure. 

I talked to one lady who worked at the airport, and she was extremely nice. She said that different terminals open at different times, but she only knew about the terminal she works in… So I asked a security officer, and I found out that terminal A opened at 4.

We took the train, got to the new gate, slept a little bit, and then went through security. In these circumstances, the massive food supply in my backpack turned out to be really helpful, especially the dark chocolate! 

After that, we sat for 10 minutes on those armchairs that give massages, and then fell asleep on them for about an hour. Woke up, ate more food, and then split up. My plain left on time, and around midday (local time), as I walked out of the airport, I was invested by a wave of humid tropical heat and a bunch of high pitch voices asking me “Taxi? Bus? Vamonos!” 

To Be Continued…

A presto,

- Fede