Note: This column appeared in The Citizen on April 6, 2008, following a vacation in Mexico.
While I love the traditional town and school district meetings where residents get together and argue the pros and cons of the various proposals on the warrant, it is an exhausting period for journalists covering those meetings. When "town meeting season" is done, I always try to unwind by getting away on vacation — as far away as possible.
Most years it is not all that far away, but this year my wife and I decided to take the vacation we'd discussed for years but never had a chance to act upon: A trip to the Mexican Caribbean. We booked a week at Sunset Fishermen Spa and Resort in Playa del Carmen, about an hour south of Cancun, looking forward to warm days and palm trees and hoping that, by the time we returned, New England would at least have no more below-freezing temperatures. (We were wrong.)
It was an altogether different atmosphere from what we left behind in New Hampshire, with summer clothing, tans, a slower pace and lots of opportunities for relaxation. On the other hand, we learned right away that we were not really getting away from home — at least not certain aspects of it.
Shortly after we landed at the Cancun airport, as we were waiting to claim our baggage, we spotted a Laconia Bike Week t-shirt on a woman standing on the opposite side of the carousel. We were to meet her and her two female companions while waiting in the queue for our return flight as well.
During our week in Mexico, we were to encounter many New Hampshire connections. While some people we met had no idea where New Hampshire was, it was not unusual to find people familiar with the Granite State and the Lakes Region.
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