Day 1 started early in the morning with us leaving for the airport in Edinburgh where we boarded the first out of three flights: Edinburgh to Newark, New Jersey. We flew with Continental and compared to the last time I flew with them, the service was much better and the airplane itself felt newer somehow. Movies and food can make time fly, literally. After a few hours in Newark airport we continued down to Houston and George Bush Intl. airport where we had another few hours to kill before our last flight to Cabo San Lucas Intl. We are not entirely sure where, but somewhere along the way our luggage got lost, which of course posed a bit of an inconvenience for us as we did not have any other clothes and toothbrushes and sun block etc.
When we got to Cabo, we met up with our friends Denis and Jessica at the airport and took a taxi to our first hotel ”Tesoro” which we booked just for one night as we flew in a day early. The first night was an early one, just grabbed some Mexican food around the corner and went to bed.
Day 2 that’s when the fun started. We took a taxi out to Sheraton Hacienda Del Mar, our hotel, checked in and hit the pool. As we still did not have our luggage, I had to buy new swimwear and other essentials, but we were still crossing our fingers that the luggage would arrive before the evening. It did. 15 minutes before our first organized cocktail reception and dinner we got our stuff. Phew! The dinner was a really nice gathering; we were greeted with Margaritas and a Mariachi-band playing local music and were seated next to one of the outdoor pools for a great buffet dinner.
When we got back to our room, we had our first out of many gifts waiting for us; gift-credit cards with money on them and a Flip, which is a pocket video camera! Not too shabby!
Day 3 was labeled ”The Beach Day”. CareerBuilder bussed all of us to a beach in the city centre where they had set up both a DJ, a bar, a fantastic barbeque buffet and activities such as kayaking, jet skiing, banana boating, parasailing, snorkeling among other things. I tried jet skiing for the first time ever and let me tell you, it was awesome!
When we got back to the hotel, we had another cocktail reception and buffet dinner waiting for us. Starting to see a pattern here?
Gift of the day: 2 portable iHome speakers for MP3-players.
Day 4 was our first individual activity day where we got to go on an excursion of our choice, and we had already chosen to go horseback riding on the beach. Let me tell you, that was so much fun but also very hot! There is no hiding from the sun when on a horseback on a Mexican beach! We were probably just over 20 people on 20 horses riding down by the water accompanied by curious dogs and hungry buzzards and it was a really nice and calm experience despite the scorching hot sun.
Later in the evening, we had one of the main events of the week, the big dinner where everyone on the trip got to dine and dance together. Shaena did not feel up to it for this one, so I went with our friends instead. We were bussed to the Hilton resort about 10 minutes drive from our hotel where the staff had set up a massive outside venue on the beach complete with a big stage, more buffet food and room for all 1200 guests! That is what I call impressive! Food in excess, great music and karaoke on the stage later on in the evening. I was exhausted after that, and we all fell asleep on the bus back to the hotel.
Gift of the day: A beer cooler/holder with 6 Coronas and 2 towels.
Day 5 was the much anticipated Swim with Dolphins-day. As always, we got up in the morning, went down for breakfast on the terrace and had some food while whale-watching and then we took off to the Dolphin pool. When we got there we put on wetsuits and life jackets and got a quick briefing on what not to do with the dolphins. Apparently, dolphins are not comfortable around you if you don’t show them an open palm, closed fists do not go down well with Flipper and pals. So, we hopped on the pool with our dolphin Ricardo and everyone got to pet Ricardo and dance with him, basically one by one we grabbed his fins and danced around. After this, everyone got the opportunity to cuddle and hug and kiss Ricardo and take pictures, and needless to say, we were up for cuddles and pictures! A very nice touch was also that the pictures were compliments of CareerBuilder.
The last one-on-one activity we did with Ricardo was the dolphin race. We got to choose either a quick race of a slow race. Shaena went for the slow one where she’d grab on to Ricardo’s fins and go for a ride on his belly while I went for the quick one where I was asked to swim over to the other side of the pool and Ricardo would come speeding after and when he turned around, I grabbed on to his fin and he dragged me back to the other side of the pool full speed. What an incredible experience! All in all we got 4 pictures printed from the dolphin day and we’ve decided to hang them in the nursery for baby to see.
Later in the evening, there was another dinner event planned for our enjoyment. As this was an award from my company, there was also an awards-dinner scheduled, and this was it. After our encounter with the dolphins and before the dinner we also got a complimentary bottle of champagne delivered to the room for us to enjoy while getting dolled up. We didn’t, but we sure looked good and the event sure was swank! A professional photographer greeted us by the entrance and all the winners and their guests were seated in their respective groups. And on the table in front of us were our awards. I got a nice crystal piece with my name inscribed on it. So proud!
Gift of the day: Adidas sweatpants and a personalised handwritten thank you letter addressed to me from CB's VP of Customer Care.
Day 6 was the last full day and my company had organized a shopping trip, but everyone could just do whatever they wanted so we took the shopping bus downtown with my boss and his wife and Denis and Jess. We decided against shopping the whole day and instead we hired a taxi boat to take us around so that we would get out on the water away from the heat. The taxi boat also took us to the famous landmarks of Cabo, the arch, lover's beach, The Window To The Pacific, Land's End where the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific Ocean meets, and we also got to see sea lions and whales close up and snap a few photos. We rounded of the day by petting a lion cub and got a few nice photos of this as well.
Later in the evening… yes, another 3-course meal!
We also had time to chill and relax every day between activities of course and the whole trip was so very well planned so that even though there was a lot going on, we never felt rushed or pressed for time and we were pampered like kings and queens. What an incredible company to work for! Not many companies would go through all that trouble to care for their staff, especially not these days.
The morning after – home time; and we could not be happier and more content with our trip! Definitely a memory for life, and hopefully we’ll get to do it all over again next year in Aruba.
When we got to Cabo, we met up with our friends Denis and Jessica at the airport and took a taxi to our first hotel ”Tesoro” which we booked just for one night as we flew in a day early. The first night was an early one, just grabbed some Mexican food around the corner and went to bed.Day 2 that’s when the fun started. We took a taxi out to Sheraton Hacienda Del Mar, our hotel, checked in and hit the pool. As we still did not have our luggage, I had to buy new swimwear and other essentials, but we were still crossing our fingers that the luggage would arrive before the evening. It did. 15 minutes before our first organized cocktail reception and dinner we got our stuff. Phew! The dinner was a really nice gathering; we were greeted with Margaritas and a Mariachi-band playing local music and were seated next to one of the outdoor pools for a great buffet dinner.
When we got back to our room, we had our first out of many gifts waiting for us; gift-credit cards with money on them and a Flip, which is a pocket video camera! Not too shabby!Day 3 was labeled ”The Beach Day”. CareerBuilder bussed all of us to a beach in the city centre where they had set up both a DJ, a bar, a fantastic barbeque buffet and activities such as kayaking, jet skiing, banana boating, parasailing, snorkeling among other things. I tried jet skiing for the first time ever and let me tell you, it was awesome!
When we got back to the hotel, we had another cocktail reception and buffet dinner waiting for us. Starting to see a pattern here?Gift of the day: 2 portable iHome speakers for MP3-players.
Day 4 was our first individual activity day where we got to go on an excursion of our choice, and we had already chosen to go horseback riding on the beach. Let me tell you, that was so much fun but also very hot! There is no hiding from the sun when on a horseback on a Mexican beach! We were probably just over 20 people on 20 horses riding down by the water accompanied by curious dogs and hungry buzzards and it was a really nice and calm experience despite the scorching hot sun.
Later in the evening, we had one of the main events of the week, the big dinner where everyone on the trip got to dine and dance together. Shaena did not feel up to it for this one, so I went with our friends instead. We were bussed to the Hilton resort about 10 minutes drive from our hotel where the staff had set up a massive outside venue on the beach complete with a big stage, more buffet food and room for all 1200 guests! That is what I call impressive! Food in excess, great music and karaoke on the stage later on in the evening. I was exhausted after that, and we all fell asleep on the bus back to the hotel.Gift of the day: A beer cooler/holder with 6 Coronas and 2 towels.Day 5 was the much anticipated Swim with Dolphins-day. As always, we got up in the morning, went down for breakfast on the terrace and had some food while whale-watching and then we took off to the Dolphin pool. When we got there we put on wetsuits and life jackets and got a quick briefing on what not to do with the dolphins. Apparently, dolphins are not comfortable around you if you don’t show them an open palm, closed fists do not go down well with Flipper and pals. So, we hopped on the pool with our dolphin Ricardo and everyone got to pet Ricardo and dance with him, basically one by one we grabbed his fins and danced around. After this, everyone got the opportunity to cuddle and hug and kiss Ricardo and take pictures, and needless to say, we were up for cuddles and pictures! A very nice touch was also that the pictures were compliments of CareerBuilder.
The last one-on-one activity we did with Ricardo was the dolphin race. We got to choose either a quick race of a slow race. Shaena went for the slow one where she’d grab on to Ricardo’s fins and go for a ride on his belly while I went for the quick one where I was asked to swim over to the other side of the pool and Ricardo would come speeding after and when he turned around, I grabbed on to his fin and he dragged me back to the other side of the pool full speed. What an incredible experience! All in all we got 4 pictures printed from the dolphin day and we’ve decided to hang them in the nursery for baby to see.
Later in the evening, there was another dinner event planned for our enjoyment. As this was an award from my company, there was also an awards-dinner scheduled, and this was it. After our encounter with the dolphins and before the dinner we also got a complimentary bottle of champagne delivered to the room for us to enjoy while getting dolled up. We didn’t, but we sure looked good and the event sure was swank! A professional photographer greeted us by the entrance and all the winners and their guests were seated in their respective groups. And on the table in front of us were our awards. I got a nice crystal piece with my name inscribed on it. So proud!
Gift of the day: Adidas sweatpants and a personalised handwritten thank you letter addressed to me from CB's VP of Customer Care.Day 6 was the last full day and my company had organized a shopping trip, but everyone could just do whatever they wanted so we took the shopping bus downtown with my boss and his wife and Denis and Jess. We decided against shopping the whole day and instead we hired a taxi boat to take us around so that we would get out on the water away from the heat. The taxi boat also took us to the famous landmarks of Cabo, the arch, lover's beach, The Window To The Pacific, Land's End where the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific Ocean meets, and we also got to see sea lions and whales close up and snap a few photos. We rounded of the day by petting a lion cub and got a few nice photos of this as well.
Later in the evening… yes, another 3-course meal!We also had time to chill and relax every day between activities of course and the whole trip was so very well planned so that even though there was a lot going on, we never felt rushed or pressed for time and we were pampered like kings and queens. What an incredible company to work for! Not many companies would go through all that trouble to care for their staff, especially not these days.
The morning after – home time; and we could not be happier and more content with our trip! Definitely a memory for life, and hopefully we’ll get to do it all over again next year in Aruba.
Those pictures look like a lot of fun! Boating and jet skiing in Houston seems a nice idea, just got in my mind when you mentioned about your stopover. I'm considering a Fun In The Sun package at La Torretta Del Lago.
ReplyDeleteHmm, anyway, really enjoyed the post, thanks for sharing!
Hey Albert,
ReplyDeleteThank you for stopping by and thank you for the nice comment!
- Peter