Moving Abroad: Moving Day
After three and a half months of planning, the day finally came to actually move to the Yucatan. I was both excited and nervous. I had never set foot on Mexican soil before in my life, but there I was, moving to Mexico. Other than the snippets I had seen on YouTube, I had no idea what to expect. I was officially stepping out on faith and totally depending on God to catch me.
I woke up at 5:00am, after getting a total of about two and a half hours of sleep, and started getting the kids ready for our flight. We were set to fly into Cancun and then board a bus to our final destination. My sixteen year old isn’t fond of flying and refused to take more than one flight, so this was our best alternative.
My morning got off to a rough start when I woke the twins up. They have never been early risers, so a 5:30am wakeup did not go over well. One was excited, but tired and sluggish. The other was downright upset and crying nonstop. The big girls were ready. One was recording her vlog about our move, while the other was helping load the bags and the twins into the car. Getting everyone ready and loaded into the car took a lot longer than I had anticipated, so in true Mama Mia form, we were running late.
All the way to the airport, I prayed that we didn’t miss our flight. I didn’t have enough money to pay for a flight change for five people, so if we missed our flight, we would not have been able to go. I was on pins and needles because the thought of being stuck in the states was terrifying. I knew I needed a change and I was counting on the move to be the change I needed.
We arrived at the airport barely an hour before our flight was scheduled to depart. We rushed through the process, practically running through the airport the entire time. It was very difficult because one of the twins was still crying and being defiant. She didn’t want to carry her backpack, or even walk on her own two feet for that matter. I was completely stressed out by the time we reached our gate.
Needless to say, we were the last people to board the plane because they were literally waiting on us. As we boarded, we got all kinds of dirty looks from the other passengers. Not only were we the reason they were late departing, we also were boarding with a crying kid. I can say with total certainty that everyone on our flight would have happily voted for us to get off. Thank God the airlines don’t work that way!
Once we were settled in our seats, ready for takeoff, reality set in for me. I was on a plane with four minor children, headed for a city in a foreign country where I knew no one, with only about $400 in my account and no return flight. I freaked completely out! It started off as an anxiety attack, but once we were actually in the air, it turned into a full-blown panic attack, complete with hyperventilation and a river of tears.
Imagine trying to breathe while wearing a face mask, crying, and hyperventilating. I honestly didn’t think I was going to survive the flight. The flight attendants were also worried and started questioning my sixteen year old daughter, since I couldn’t muster the breath to answer her questions. “Is this your mom?” “Does this happen often?” “Does she have medication?” Of course, my daughter answered as any of my kids would. “She’ll be alright. She’s just crazy.” My kids usually write off my anxiety as “just being crazy.” I never want my kids to worry about me, so I immediately tried to pull myself together. By the time we were half way to Cancun, I was back to normal. I simply told myself that everything was going to work out however it was supposed to and that I would survive, and so would my kids. As basic as that may sound, I actually had to repeat that to myself over and over again until I calmed down.
When we landed, I put on my brave face and went into “figure it out” mode. I have always been resourceful and able to figure out whatever I needed to figure out in order to get whatever I needed or wanted, and moving to Mexico was no exception.
As we headed out of the airport, I figured out very quickly that the language barrier was going to make things a little more difficult for me, but definitely not impossible. I stumbled through purchasing bus tickets with my very limited Spanish and my translator app, and we headed out to the bus stop. We had to wait about forty minutes for our bus, and then change buses in downtown Cancun.
I will tell you that downtown Cancun looks absolutely nothing like the tourist area. The downtown area lacks all of the beauty that everyone loves about Cancun. It’s like a totally different world. While visiting the bus terminal in Cancun, I realized that I prefer the beauty and convenience of the tourist areas over the cultural experience of the local areas, but I’ll discuss that more in depth in a later blog. However, I do appreciate the cultural experiences.
When we arrived at our final destination, I realized the US dollars are not prized possessions in some places. Trying to get a cab in the Yucatan with American money was virtually impossible. They accept pesos, that’s it, that’s all. But I had no pesos and didn’t know where to get any. Finally, a taxi driver felt sorry for us and decided to take my American money. I was relieved and very thankful, and we headed to our Airbnb.
Knowing absolutely nothing about the area, I had booked an Airbnb that was pretty far off the beaten path. It was about forty minutes from the downtown area and about fifteen minutes outside the city limits. Because there were so many pandemic restrictions, I really didn’t mind being off the beaten path, but when we turned down a wooded gravel road, I was terrified. I immediately started apologizing to my kids for booking such a terrible location.
Then we reached the end of this deserted road and the gates opened to a beautiful home that looked just like the pictures on Airbnb’s website. I was completely shocked that something so beautiful could be at the end of that scary road. I decided immediately that we would never leave the property walking, but we would stay the entire month that I had booked.
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- Gravel road leading to the house.
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- The entrance gate to the house.
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- View of the house from the gate.
Once we were settled into our “new home,” we realized that we had to go to the grocery store. By this time, it was after 8:00pm and we were all tired, but we were also hungry. I contacted a friend that I had met on Facebook and she informed me that I should be able to use my Uber app. Now that was a lifesaver. I request an Uber and we went to Walmart.
Walmart was a familiar sight but it was definitely not the same as the Walmarts we were used to. The tire section was smack dab in the middle of the store. There were also little motorcycles for sale in the middle of Walmart. Of course, all of the labels were in Spanish, which made it a little more difficult to find exactly what we wanted. We basically shopped by pictures, buying things that looked familiar or had brand names that we recognized. Upon leaving Walmart, we discovered that the Uber rules in the Yucatan were different than in the states. There were five of us, but only three people were supposed to ride in an Uber. The driver that took us to Walmart failed to notify us of that rule so we had three drivers cancel on us before one felt sorry for us and agreed to take us home. I tipped him well!
By the time we finally got back to the house and settled in for the night, we slept like a bunch of little babies. With all of the hiccups that we had experienced in that one day, it felt good to shower, change into some comfortable clothes, and just go to sleep. We had no idea what the future held for us, but we were thankful for clean, comfortable beds and a good night’s sleep.
Thank you for reading. If you want more of the story, be sure to read my next blog, Life in Mexico: The First Few Days.
One Response
I read your blog. It was amusing ,funny and histerical. I would have loved to see the flight attendants face when your daughter told her you were just crazy.