Part I

The planning of this multi-family trip started a couple years ago, when my sister and her family including my bachelor brother were visiting us here in San Clemente from their home in Toronto, Canada. They stayed in a nearby VRBO and we took turns between hosting dinners and going out to eat. Between that, and loading up the kids, the car to run to the beach or for day trips to places like Balboa Island or Laguna Beach, it didn’t feel very relaxing; other than the 3 days we spent in Ramada at Maingate where housekeeping picked up after us and restaurants were ample…but then the Disneyland crowds made up for the missing stress and hustle.

My sister and I thought it would be easier to visit an all-inclusive resort that was family friendly and had wonderful amenities, than to run around to all over to various cities and/or counties local attractions and plan and cook meals for a large group and then have clean up.

I think it was around then that I started really lurking around travel blogs and forums; and trying to sell my husband on the idea and we could minimize the cost of travel by getting credit cards with a good point bonus or other features. As of now, we both have a United card through Chase and I also have a Citi Prestige Card, Fast forward many months to the summer of 2016

At some point we decided that we would focus on Mexico, given that because we are on the West Coast, most of the flights are connections and involve what seems like a full day of travel to visit places like Punta Cana or Jamaica.

I spent a good few months checking Trip Advisor at various resorts in different cities, but kept on coming back to the Barcelo resorts in the Riviera Maya. Then going back and forth in my mind between the 5 resorts they have on their complex. I saw a good deal but before we could pull the trigger, the price went up substantially (plus $1000) so I started to look around again.

Then, over the US Thanksgiving weekend, there was another sale, so my sister and I quickly booked. My sister booked though some online CA Company that included airfare for about $9k Canadian. I booked the resort though a Citi Concierge personal for $4k US but the 4th night free benefit would bring it down to about $3,400. Oddly enough, the price difference on the Barcelo site for a standard garden room compared to a pool view Premium room was only about $200 more for the entire week. Where my sister and another Canadian family I talked to who booked through a third party site said they had to pay about $170 extra per NIGHT.

We booked the kids airline tickets using our United points. We only had enough in our accounts to cover one child each, it was proving to be difficult to do the booking on line as the system was insisting our children were unaccompanied minors, since there were no adults in their separate reservations. We ended having to call United to have them do the booking. It was 34k miles round trip per child and aprox $50 award fees and taxes.

Where I probably made a mistake is that I used my Citi card to pay for that charge. My thinking in the moment was that the Citi Prestige Card had better insurance on it for trip interruption, but since we also had private insurance policy and that my husband and my tickets would be fully booked with the Citi card, using the United card for the kids tickers would have saved us from baggage fees and got us as group one boarding. My husband’s and my tickets were $289 each, paid in full with the Prestige Card. UA1276/UA1277. In the end, we ended up with three separate reservation numbers, one for each child and my husband and I on a shared reservation.

My husband absolutely refused to drive from South Orange County to LAX so looked around at various shuttles and decided on 24/7 Ride LAX . I usually use Prime Time or Super Shuttle but decided to shop around and went with 24-7 because their price was about $60 less than the competition. Afterwards, I was tempted to cancel after seeing all the negative Yelp reviews in regards to last minute emails about drivers not being available and leaving travelers scrambling to get to/from the airport. But when I checked reviews for the competitions mentioned above, they too had the same complaints.

While I can completely understand intending travelers frustrations and anger over canceled reservations , when it's put into perspective given how many times a day they take people to and from local airports, sometimes there are going to be times that they just can't get people there.

We ordered a private van to and from LAX

Given that our flight went through a time change, even though it left at 9:30am, it would not arrive to CUN until after 5pm. Then with customs and immigration to go through, plus over an hour journey to get to where our resort was in the Riviera Maya, it seemed like a waste of money to spend almost $600 in a daily fee to get to the resort and check in at probably 8PM- and lose an entire day. So we decided to fly in the day before and stay at an airport hotel.

The driver that took us to the airport arrived early but patiently waited outside until we were ready (it was a 4:40 am pick up).The van was fairly new and in spotless condition. The driver was professional and kind. So far, so good…it left me feeling optimistic about the return.
At that hour, there was pretty much zero traffic through most of the OC and light traffic until we got to LAX, where of course it was a little more congested. But we were at curbside checked in and making our way through security by 6:00am.

Even though we had 4 United club passes through our credit card, and I was looking forward to checking it out post renovation, my understanding of the rules was that the passes couldn’t be used for children, so we opted to use Alaskan Board room in the next terminal with our Priority pass cards. My 7 year old was also excited to check out the pancake machine

We had a little trouble finding the lounge which caused some bickering between my husband and I (he was ready just to head back to our departure gate-even though our plane wouldn’t be there for hours yet) but we eventually figured it out.




We were welcomed by male agent, who let us know about the children’s area. I didn’t think my kids would be very interested in it, as it looked very preschool like in the pictures, but they did end up spend a little time in there watching tv.

As promised, my youngest got her pancakes.




My oldest preferred some fruit.



DH didn’t want anything but to go back to sleep


I had mimosas…okay.. I am lying, it was champagne, just champagne. But in my defense, I would have added some orange juice but I couldn’t find any.


Overall, I found the service in the lounge to be friend and efficient. I would have offered the bartender a tip, but a sign clearly indicated that tips are not accepted. I also heard the barman politely refuse a tip offered by another guest, citing the said policy.

Around 8am, I took the girls into the bathroom to change out of their pajamas and into their cloths for the day. Ironically enough, on the way to do so, a woman who was in the lounge and getting ready to leave, stood up and started applying deodorant under her armpits (she was wearing a sleeveless dress) . I just don’t get why people in tight quarters, in a common area, in full view of others, feel the need to start grooming themselves. Ick.just Ick..