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.
