I wanted to arrive at the Cancun airport at least two hours early. We were flying internationally, and I had purchased a chair on our journey. You read that right. My husband indulged me, and we were bringing home a beautifully hand-crafted wood-framed hammock chair from the Yucatan. We took the chair to a shipping store in Playa del Carmen, got a quote for shipping it home, but opted instead to have it carefully packed for our flight. Folded and packed, the chair stood about 4 ft tall and 2 ft wide. After unsuccessful online research and unanswered calls to the airline, I decided that we needed to arrive at the airport early to avoid any problems. I was concerned that they would give me a hard time at baggage check-in (er, chair check-in). Little did I know that getting the chair on the plane would be the least of my worries that day.

We packed up the car at 4:45 am, to make the 45-minute drive to the airport. We arrived at 5:30 a.m., and there was already a long line forming for the ticket counter. But alas, the counter didn’t open until 6:00 am! My husband dutifully found a porter, loaded up two luggage carts, and deposited me and all of our belongings (chair included) in line. He left, still needing to put gas in the rental car, and then return the rental car.

The line started to move, and I started to panic. What if they wouldn’t let me, alone, check in ALL of our luggage AND my beloved chair. I called my husband and begged him to come back on the off-chance that I made it to the ticket counter quickly. But he “hadn’t returned the car yet,” he said, but “my chair,” I said. Obligingly, he returned, and just in time, because there were only two couples in line in front of me. And this is where things really began to unravel…

As they approached the ticket counter, the first couple, at the front of the line, were joined by no fewer than 7 more family members. A party of 2 turned into a party of 9, including an aging woman, being pushed in a wheelchair who suffered a coughing fit that rapidly progressed to a vomiting fit. The poor woman, I felt awful for her, but as the counter agent took on the role of medical assistant, I could feel the collective blood pressure rising from the group of anxious passengers waiting (my husband among them). P.S. our rental car is still in the loading zone, unattended, just outside the airport doors.

We finally made it to the front of the line! We had 20 minutes until our flight would begin boarding! The ticket agent took the chair, no questions asked, no issues! Then she casually requested our tourist visas. We casually answered that we didn’t have them – because we had driven across the US-Mexico border and flown from Tijuana to the Yucatan. Our in-bound flight was a domestic flight, not international, so there had been no mention of needing a travel visa. Turns out, we DID need a travel visa, and we SHOULD HAVE sought and found a tourist office during our 2-week trip. Oops. The agent told us to RUN to the immigration office, pay the fee, and return to the ticket counter. Tick tock, the clock was ticking, and guess what? Our rental car was still in the loading zone.

We did as instructed, and as we RAN BACK to the ticket counter, visas in hand, I assumed there was no chance we would make it on to our flight. The ticket counter agent had our boarding passes, and our fligpht was boarding… and guess what – that’s right, the rental car was STILL IN THE LOADING ZONE.

The rest of this story is really better told in person, but I’ll do my best. As I began to ask the counter agent about later flights, my husband, never one to give up easily, told me to hold on. He took off running and miraculously found a shuttle driver from the car rental company outside the airport doors. He knocked on the driver side window of the shuttle, handed the mystified driver the keys, pointed at the car, told him the “tank is full,” and told him the car needed to be returned. The driver protested, but my husband didn’t stick around for more discussion. I saw him run back into the airport, signaling wildlly toward the gates. and I told the counter agent that we were going for it.

With an encouraging wave and our boarding passes, she told us to follow her as she RAN through the airport with us. I felt like I was on a reality travel game show; as we all sprinted through the Cancun airport, security, the duty-free shops, to our gate. She managed to beat us and managed to persuade the gate agents to hold the plane for us. We thanked her, but not nearly properly, and in the chaos, I didn’t even catch her name.

We boarded the plane, found our seats, the door closed, the plane taxied, and my husband and I both burst out laughing (my laughter quickly turned to tears – likely a salty combo of joy and stress). Then we both instantly fell asleep on the plane.

It was a short 1.5 hour flight from Cancun to Mexico City, we snoozed the whole time, until we landed at 9:00 am. In that time, the Cancun car rental agency had already sent an email with a survey about our “experience.” We side-eyed each other and decided to call the company, under the guise of ‘wanting to confirm that the return was processed.’ They pulled up our records and indeed confirmed that everything was in order. Needless to say, we completed the survey while we sat in the Mexico City airport*, waiting for our connecting flight, bestowing upon Eurocar a glowing, 5-star review.

*Following the morning chaos and our nap on the plane, we both headed straight for the first restroom we could find in the Mexico City airport. Unfortunately, it was closed for cleaning. So, we decided to head toward the gate of our connecting flight. We had a 4 hour layover. We passed another set of closed bathrooms, then another… turns out, the water was off IN THE ENTIRE MEXICO CITY AIRPORT. How could it be?! What cruel and unusual punishment was this?? There was, literally, nowhere to GO. And oddly, no one seemed bothered (besides me). I couldn’t figure out how people were eating in restaurants (wouldn’t they need to GO?), and more importantly, how restaurants were still open (there was NO WATER). We held it as long as possible, eventually breaking down, sneaking into the closed facilities, and taking care of business in unfortunate surroundings (we weren’t the only ones that had done the same thing, so we just piled on, literally).

What have we learned? 1- Buy the souvenirs that will give you a story to tell. Years later, I always smile when I sit in my chair. 2- Get to the airport early. Early enough for mishaps, but not before the ticket counter opens, and not until after you return the rental car. 3- Never, ever, pass up a bathroom. You just don’t know when you’ll have another opportunity.