To think my wife is being unreasonable

[SomeGuy]

We are going to Mexico next week (flights not yet booked, but about to be).

Flights on Monday cost £735 total for our family of 4

On Wednesday the cost is £895 for our family of 4.

DW is organiser of a monthly lunch meetup with her friends. There are usually about six women, with their children, and each brings food. The next meet-up is not at our place, but at the house of one of the other people involved, and is scheduled for next Tuesday.

She says we can't go on Monday, saving £160, because she has given her word that the lunch meet would take place on Tuesday, and she says they would probably cancel it if she doesn't come (even though it's at one of her friend's house, who quite frequently has a lunch with just one other person).

I think she is being unreasonable, because there is frequently one of the 6 that cannot make it, and there's not really a significant difference between 5 cooking for 5 and 6 cooking for 6.

It's not that we can't afford the extra £160, it just seems wrong to 'waste' it.

I have an almost 2 year old. I'd pay much more than £160 not to have to go to Mexico on holiday. Nothing to do with swine flu.

In any case, I think it's lovely she's loyal and reliable to her friends. Husbands come and go but good friends are hard to come by.

I think the French harvester/grill type places are infinitely worse than British equivalents (based on the HUGE sample of 1 ) - we went to one in France a couple of years ago, a seafood version (not Buffalo Grill) and I had the mixed seafood platter. Well. Some of it was still moving, some of it had been dead so long it had its own extra lifeforms. It was revolting. NOT what one expects from a French "restaurant" but I have learnt my lesson - never again.

Went to another seafood restaurant in a village about 10m from Calais, a nice place, fairly upmarket without being post - asked the waiter "Parlez-vous Anglais?" "Non, pas du tout" he replied smugly. Just as well I could remember school French then, wasn't it? Again, given the proximity to Calais, you'd think he might have picked up a smattering of English to increase his custom?

Thumbwitch - He was probably Polish and doing his best in French.

lol Swedes - I don't think so, he seemed remarkably French!
but he did thaw a tad when I managed to order everything in French.

Is she home yet?

hmm thumbwitch....about 10 metres from Calais...that'll be Calais then......??

oh Pan, how very "Europeanly correct" of you - you know I meant miles!

arf.

I think if I had a 2 year old I would be objecting to going to Mexico on the grounds there is no childcare there, otherwise it sounds a fine idea. However I do concede that some people like their children and want to spend time with them.

No childcare in Mexico?
Que?

Quattro....Copenhagen to Gdans than back to sweden/finland, etc...
Gdansk, I assume the one in poland...if so...it is not exactly the same direction as copenhagen/sweden/finland...is it ????????????

Looks like we dodged the swine flu by staying out of the UK.

Oh how amusing the swine flu comments that accompanied our departure were, when on our return, reading the airline-supplied Daily Mail, we found that Britain is in the grip of an uncontrolled swine flu epidemic (rules which apply to developing countries re safety in respect of terrorism, swine flu, etc., don't apply when something's affecting the UK).

Bigger danger was DVT, or as unfortunately happened to the woman in non-sensible heels in front of us, falling down the airplane steps (she died in hospital two days later).

Hope you all had a good holiday. Where did you stay in the end?

We stayed here:

www.thomson.co.uk/destinations/caribbean/mexico/mexico-caribbean-coast/playacar/hotels/clubhotel-riu -tequila.html - not bad, AI buffets get boring though
www.thomson.co.uk/destinations/caribbean/mexico/mexico-caribbean-coast/tulum/hotels/dreams-tulum-res ort-and-spa.html - too many Americans all clutching wads of dollar bills
www.mayaland.com/mayaland.php - superb location, room rather dated but it contributed somewhat to the 1920s explorer vibe
and here:
www.holboxdream.com/holboxdream-english.html - nicely decorated rooms with conch shell shower (tended to spray the water everywhere, but amusing for a few days on holidays), hammock, small pool and a/c

DD was most impressed with the 'fish-fish' (dolphins, turtles, sting rays (I think? they swam together in a group of about 50 in a perfect triangle shape), manta rays, whale sharks) and the 'tweet-tweets' (we went on a boat trip to a lagoon with tens of thousands of flamingos).

I like the look of the last place. Seems a bit more intimate.

I know this is the end of the thread and what am about to say is a complete hijack of it. But having read it -and all the comments about Mexico being "swine-flu - land" my blood is boiling. And yes I know I am being very very U here. But still national pride is national pride, after all.

FGS. We (I live here) had swine flu in April and May. We all took extreme measures to contain it (I was quarentined in my home for a month seeing as I am both pregnant and diabetic. By a decree; meaning that my work couldn't sack me for not showing up). It is more or less under control, ie. in the sense that only one state -out of 32- has still any cases. This is the state of Chiapas. Not somewhere on the "beach holiday trail". There are a team of medical specialists there now trying to help the state resolve this. Where I live, in the North, we have not had one single case. In my parents town in the the NW of England and my sister's in Scotland, there have been at least 5 or 6 cases.

So, all in all, you are much likelier to catch swine flu in the UK than in Mexico.

Well done for Some Guy for going. All this media hysteria about Mexico (when in fact it started in the US and was only detected first in Mexico) has been extremely detrimental to all of us in all areas. This is why it is really cheap to go. So please do. You'll have a great time. Mexico is fabulous.

Sorry about the rant and the hijack. It just gets my goat so much.

And no, I don't work for the Mexican tourist board, altough after rereading this, I'm thinking of giving them a ring to offer my services