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Feb. 22, 2000 - Tuesday
A couple weeks ago I was invited, with guest, on a business-related junket to Cancun in March. Naturally, it's not every day that one gets an expenses-paid trip to a Caribbean resort, so I've been anxious to go. However, we have Harry. On the one hand, Harry would fly virtually free (excepting taxes) and would take up no additional hotel space at the company's expense. On the other hand, this is a pseudo-business excursion and Harry's charm might not be universal or appropriate in that setting.

For a while we've thought about trying to pay for one of Harry's aunts to come with us and act as nanny when Harry's mother and I are otherwise occupied. I got the idea for a business friend (the same one who offered tips on flying) who had once done the same, though not in Cancun and not at the Ritz. Unfortunately, the cost of an extra plane ticket and hotel room for four nights there was ultimately prohibitive. Then we found that the hotel offers baby-sitting services from accountable Ritz staffers, certified by the hotel every six months whether or not they are state or government certified. With the ability to leave Harry in what seems like very capable hands at a reasonable price when we're with our group - and with Harry's raging success flying over the weekend - we finally committed to the trip...with Harry.

Naturally, bringing a 12-week old baby to a foreign country is no small decision. Things could go wrong: sickness, abduction, who knows what? But, while Cancun would not be an ordinary destination for Harry’s mother and I under more normal circumstances, it is more modern than the rest of Mexico and the Ritz-Carlton is no ordinary hotel and that made the choice to bring Harry much easier.
Ultimately, we believed that traveling with Harry to this place in this foreign country - this essentially enclosed resort - was probably not that big a risk. Our doctor says Cancun should be fine. Hopefully, we'll all be right.


Comments, opinions?