It felt like a terribly early start to be getting up at 5am for our flight from Gatwick to Cozumel. Tube, train then train again across south London before we arrived and then the queuing commenced. I don’t know what it is about airports but they are never the right temperature, alternatively too hot and then too cold and invariably a long distance to walk until you get to your gate. But we managed to survive despite a last minute dash for our gate with the tannoys warning the gate was closing soon. At least we weren’t the last there!

On the plane we ended up sitting separate, mainly because I refuse to pay extra. Dave managed to swap for a window seat but was surrounded by a wedding party intent on enjoying themselves for all 10 hours on the plane. They were already wearing Mexican sombreros and they hadn’t even arrived! I had a free seat next to me to spread out and relax with no noisy neighbours.

Landing was an experience in itself with the crosswind whipping up around the plane and causing us to roll and shake like a rollercoaster. I have a lot of respect for the pilot who managed to land the plane through all that and we applauded at the end. Sadly we then had the joy of roasting in a tin can in 30’C heat without good aircon waiting for the skybridge to attach, cheers ensued when it was finally achieved after a few failed attempts.

Getting the ADO bus from Cancún to Playa del Carmen felt like we spent a fortune – $416! It’s going to take me a while to get used to the exchange rate because that was only £17 for two tickets. After an hours journey through green jungle we then had an hour ferry ride on a catamaran to reach Cozumel.

While the food on the plane had been better than some I was still famished by this point. We had tacos near our Airbnb accommodation, apparently you order them individually, so we had a few false starts on quantities but got it right in the end before heading for sleep as we had been awake over 20 hours at this point.