We're starting a fresh mega thread for Sunday to keep updates current, make the latest information easier to find, and prevent the previous thread from becoming too cluttered as the situation develops. Please continue sharing all Hurricane Simon–related questions and updates here.

Current Situation

Hurricane Simon continues to pose a serious threat to Puerto Vallarta and other parts of Mexico's Pacific coast. Conditions and forecasts can change quickly, so please follow official advisories for the latest information.

AIRPORT UPDATE: Puerto Vallarta International Airport operations have been suspended amid the storm. Reopening information may change, so check directly with your airline and the official airport website before traveling to the airport.

Please share verified updates and firsthand reports about:

• Current weather, wind and rainfall
• Flooding, road closures and power outages
• Airport status and flight cancellations
• Hotel, restaurant and business closures
• Evacuations, shelters and official announcements

Residents & Visitors

Follow instructions from Protección Civil and local authorities. Avoid unnecessary travel, stay away from beaches and floodwaters, and check with your accommodation for its emergency procedures.

Government Shelters can be found here https://bahiadebanderas.gob.mx/refugios/index.html

WHERE TO GET RELIABLE INFORMATION

• National Hurricane Center - official US hurricane forecasts and advisories.
• Civil Protection Jalisco
• Civil Protection Puerto Vallarta
• Civil Protection of Nayarit
• Puerto Vallarta municipal government
• Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico - Puerto Vallarta Airport

We'll use this thread for verified updates, local conditions, closures, cancellations and useful information as Simon develops.

Please keep speculation, rumors, and panic out of the thread..

Stay safe, everyone.

EDIT

We're trying to keep this thread focused on pertinent information, useful updates, and specific questions so everyone can easily find answers without scrolling through unnecessary comments.

Please avoid repetitive questions, personal anecdotes that don't provide useful information, and comments that don't contribute to the discussion. Unnecessary comments will be removed

Do not ask whether you should cancel your trip. Nobody can reliably predict potential damage or what conditions will be like next week. Check with your airline, hotel, and travel insurance to make the decision that's right for you.

Thank you for helping keep this thread useful and organized for everyone!

On our way home our first flight was delayed four hours, which caused us to miss our connection in Miami. American Airlines could get us to Miami that day, but couldn't get us on the second flight until Wednesday, so we ended up spending two extra nights in Miami.

The airfare was purchased through the Venture X travel portal, so i was eligible for their trip delay coverage. I was a little worried that they might deny it since American Airlines was supposed to provide us with a hotel voucher - but I didn't ask for one because in the past they put us up in a pretty ghetto hotel.

For the claim, I submitted: a statement from American Airlines confirming the delayed flight, original itinerary, Uber receipts to and from the hotel, hotel folio, and receipts for meals and incidentals (toothpaste, contact lens solution, etc)

I didn't submit receipts that were just for booze at the bars, but everything else related to the delay was included - $696 total

A week after submitting the claim, I received an email that the total amount was approved! Three days after submitting my bank information the refund appeared in my checking account

Glad the Venture X trip delay coverage came through

My wife and I are flying RIC–MIA–MID this morning. Our first leg was scheduled to leave at 6am, but it’s now been delayed two hours due to a maintenance issue and we’re going to miss our MIA–MID connection.

The tickets were purchased with my Venture X on the Capital One Travel portal, so I should qualify for the trip delay coverage

If the airline offers us a hotel, are we required to stay at the hotel they provide in order to use the Venture X trip delay benefit? I ask because in the past, I've been put in some pretty crappy airline-provided hotels and would much rather book a decent reasonably priced hotel myself and submit it for reimbursement.

The other mods haven’t been very active lately, and I’m not finding as much time as I’d like to participate either.

We were having a lot of issues with bots, spam, and low effort/low quality posts so we set the sub to have minimum karma and account age requirements. I’m going to relax those requirements a bit so it’s easier for new members to participate.

With that change, I’m going to need a little help from the community to keep an eye on things. If you see a post or comment that doesn’t belong here - spam, scams, obvious bots, or anything that violates the rules please report it to the mods. Reports make it much easier to deal with things that need attention.

thank you!

Anyone at MIA right now? How are things looking?

I'm supposed to fly MID -> MIA tomorrow, then MIA -> PHL -> RIC on Wednesday. American just sent me an email warning that my flights might be impacted, so I'm trying to get a sense of what things are actually like there right now.

I read that so far today there have been over 50 cancellations and 100 delays, 89 cancellations and 360 delays. which has me a little concerned.

Anyone currently at the airport or flying in/out today?

Trying to figure out whether I should be making contingency plans. Thanks!

I’m renting a car for the first time in 20+ years. I have Emerald Club Executive status through my Amex card, and I reserved a full size car (Nissan Altima or similar)

My understanding is that I don't have to go to the counter and go straight to the Executive Area, then pick any car I want? What can I expect in terms of selection? Do I just pick a car, get in, and drive to the exit? Do I need to check in with anyone first or show my rental confirmation?

How does the gas work? Will the car typically have a full tank when I pick it up and then I return it with a full tank?

Just want to make sure I’m not looking like an idiot my first time

Any other tips?

I haven't used a US hotel shuttle in years. My wife and I have an overnight layover in Miami and will be using the free hotel shuttle from Miami Airport to the Hilton Miami Airport Blue Lagoon, and then back to the airport the next morning.

What's an acceptable tip for the shuttle driver for the two of us? We just have carryon size luggage

I received this offer by email on my Bonvoy Amex (the old SPG card)

"Earn 1,000 Marriott Bonvoy points after spending $15+ on eligible transit/rideshare purchases, up to 3 times, for a total of 3,000 points. Offer expires September 13, 2026."

When I click on the ink it takes me to the Amex login page and after logging in, a window pops up saying “Unable to load content.”

Has anyone else received this offer and had the same issue?

My wife (63) and I (58) are retired and currently living in Mexico, but we're planning to move back to the US next year. We're planning to move to Virginia and buy a home for around $600k with $300k down.

I spoke with a mortgage lender, and based on our credit score and finances, they think we'd likely qualify for a 30-year mortgage at around 6%

Our financial situation is this:

• $260k in cash
• $1.5M in an income earning investment account
• $750k in IRAs
• Investment, Social Security, and pension income currently generate $105k/year
• Our investment account has had a cumulative rate of return of 9.54% over the past year
• We currently own a home in Mexico that we expect to sell for $350k. It may take a while to sell after we move, so we don't plan on relying on those proceeds for the near future.

If we paid $600k cash, we'd still have roughly $1.16M invested, plus Social Security, pension, and investment income. If we financed $300k, we'd have roughly $1.46M invested but would have a ~$1,800/month mortgage payment.

One thing I'm considering is the tax cost of selling investments if we decide to pay cash - we would need to sell $340k of investments, which would result in some capital gains tax liability. If we take the mortgage, we could leave that money invested and avoid the capital gains

Our investment account has had a 9.54% return over the past year, although obviously I understand that past performance doesn't guarantee future returns. That makes the comparison between a 6% mortgage and keeping the money invested particularly interesting.

The mortgage interest can be deductible if we itemize, but I'm not sure how much of a meaningful tax benefit we'd actually get given our income and deductions. I'm also aware that investment income is taxable, so comparing a 6% mortgage rate with investment returns isn't the same as comparing it to an expected portfolio return.

For those familiar with retirement planning, how would you approach this?

My neighborhood has been having more power outages than usual lately. Last Friday night, the power went out in the neighborhood for a few hours and then came back on. Later that night, it went out again, but this time it was only my house, my neighbors still had electricity.

I reported it through the CFE app, and someone from CFE came around 1am and put a ladder up to the meter/mast. By the time I went outside, he was getting ready to drive off , and I tried, with my Spanish, to find out what the problem was, but I couldn’t really understand him.The power came back on by itself at exactly 7am, and everything was fine.

Yesterday morning at about 5:30am, the power to just my house went out again. I submitted another report through the CFE app. At 9am two guys showed up who were not wearing CFE uniforms. They did have a car with a CFE sign on the side, although it appeared to be a magnetic sign.

I explained what had happened. One of them cut the lock on the meter and tested the meter jaws where the meter plugs in with a multimeter. He said the jaws were bad and told me they could replace them “independently” for $2,500 pesos. I agreed. They replaced the meter jaws, did something with the wires at the top of the mast, and installed a new CFE lock. They also documented their work by taking pictures of the repairs, the meter, and my house. Everything is working now.

I'm sure I probably paid too much, but these guys were able to fix the problem right away. The meter base is my responsibility, so if I had sent them away, I would have had to make another report and then go back and forth with CFE while sitting in the sweltering heat with no power, and potentially have all my food go bad.

I have three Deco PX50s in my house that have worked flawlessly for the past three years. Starting about a week ago, my devices began losing their internet connection.

I’ve been able to verify that the Deco is what’s dropping the connection. I can log directly into my ISP’s router and confirm that the internet connection itself is fine.

So far, I’ve tried rebooting both the ISP router and the Decos, optimizing the network, turning off Fast Roaming and Beamforming, swapping out the Ethernet cable connecting the main Deco to the ISP router, and changing the DNS servers.

I also reset the Decos, which seemed to fix the problem for a few days, but the connection issues eventually returned.

Any suggestions on what else I should try?

EDIT -

• Firmware Version: 1.4.0 Build 20251121 Rel. 40333
• Hardware Version: 1.6

Having my 3rd colonoscopy tomorrow morning. Started the prep today - 2 packets in the morning and then 2 more between 6 and 8 tonight. After the morning round, the stuff coming out is already clear.

I don’t remember being this hungry the last two times. I’ve been eating Jell-O and drinking Gatorade and hot chicken broth.

My dad had colon cancer, so I had my first colonoscopy in 2020, and they found some polyps. I had to have another one in 2021, which was clear. Now I need to have them done every 5 years since I’m at higher risk.

I’m so hungry - I want a burger and fries.

I had a stay at a Hilton property in Mexico from 7/28–7/31, and points from the stay still haven't posted to my account. In the past, points have posted within 24 hours of checkout, so this seems unusually slow.

Just wondering if there’s currently a delay with points posting or if I should go ahead and submit a missing points request.

I'm having some limescale issues and am hoping someone has some suggestions.

I live in an area with extremely hard water (around 350 ppm). We installed a water softener in May 2025.

Everything was working great until back in June when I noticed that the filters in one of the shower heads and the cold-water filter on the washing machine were becoming clogged with chunks of limescale. At one point, the cold water in the downstairs shower stopped completely. I removed the shower head, turned the water on and off several times, and eventually a large amount of limescale came out. After that, the water flow returned to normal.

Since then, I have continued to see some limescale coming through the system. The water softener appears to be working - I tested the calcium hardness with a pool test kit, and it reads zero.

My assumption is that this is old scale that was already inside the house plumbing and is gradually breaking loose now that the water has been softened.

This morning, the cold water pressure became very low at both the kitchen sink and the downstairs bathroom. Once again, after cycling the water on and off at the downstairs shower, a large amount of limescale came out and the bathroom pressure returned to normal. However, the kitchen sink still has very low cold water pressure.

I removed the supply line from the kitchen faucet, and the cold-water pressure is still low coming directly from the shutoff valve. This makes me think there is a blockage somewhere upstream in the feeder pipe rather than an issue with the faucet itself.

Has anyone dealt with this before? Is there anything that can be done to flush the remaining scale out

My wife and I retired early, currently live in Mexico, and plan to move back to the US and apply for a mortgage in early 2027. Looking for any pointers on what to do or avoid between now and then.

• My FICO 8: Experian 808
• Wife’s Experian FICO 8: 800
• No debit - pay all credit cards in full every month
• Opened 1 new credit card in the last year
• 3 Hard credit checks in past 2 years (will fall off in June and August 2027)
• Previous mortgage paid off in 2018
• No late payments or collections

We use credit cards for almost all spending and generally use a combination of 5 different cards for points/cash back.

Main questions:

1. Are there any steps I should be taking now to increase/preserve my credit score and stay mortgage ready?
2. Is it better for me to to start paying cards off before the statement posts to keep reported utilization low at 0–1%, and only 1 card reports a small balance or does that not matter?

My wife and I live in Merida, Mexico, so twice a year we head to the Caribbean coast to use our Hilton Free Night Awards and Amex Aspire resort credits. We were originally supposed to spend a few nights at the Conrad in Tulum followed by a few nights in Playa del Carmen earlier this month, but one of our cats got sick and we had to cancel the trip.

When we rescheduled, my wife decided she'd rather skip Playa Del Carmen and instead stay at an all inclusive so we booked 3 nights at the Hilton Cancun All Inclusive Resort, using 2 Free Night Awards for the first two nights and then paying cash for the third night with my Amex Aspire Card to trigger the $200 resort credit.

We used to regularly stay at the Hilton Playa del Carmen Adults Only all inclusive, but after it was sold to Hyatt, we've been working our way through Hilton's other all inclusive properties (Mar Caribe and Tulum) . The Hilton Cancun was the last one we hadn't visited.

We arrived around 3:00pm. Unfortunately, our room wasn't ready, so we headed to one of the restaurants for lunch and a few drinks while we waited.

As a Diamond member, we were upgraded to a 7th floor Ocean View Suite overlooking the main pool area. The room was very modern, spacious, and comfortable although the decor was a bit minimalist and sterile.

Dining

The resort has four themed restaurants that require reservations for dinner. A few days before our arrival, the concierge emailed us so we could reserve dinner for our first night. We chose Auma, the steakhouse. My strip steak was pretty tough, but I never have particularly high expectations for food at all-inclusive resorts.

Buffet: We had lunch and breakfast here one day. There was a large selection of food, but the overall quality was pretty average

Sunan: This is the asian themed restaurant - we ate here twice, once for lunch and once for dinner. Lunch was better. The dinner dishes were pretty disappointing

Maxal: We saved the Mexican restaurant for our final night, and it was the best meal of the trip. I had the barbacoa, and my wife really enjoyed her shrimp dish. If we had eaten there earlier in our visit, we probably would have visited twice.

Room Service: We ordered breakfast two mornings. The food was decent, arrived in about 45 minutes

Bars

The lobby bar was our favorite spot. We stopped in several times each afternoon and evening, and the service was consistently outstanding. The bartenders made excellent cocktails and were genuinely friendly.

Pool and Beach

The resort has two large main pool areas along with a separate children's pool with water slides and other activities.

We spent one afternoon at the pool and were able to grab the last two loungers that still had some shade.

The beach is the weakest part of the resort. Like many beaches in this area, sargassum is an issue during the summer. The resort has offshore barriers to reduce the amount reaching the beach, but the water was still brown and there were large patches of sargassum visible offshore. Unfortunately, for much of the year, this part of Cancun doesn't have the postcard-perfect turquoise water that many people expect, so we spent most of our time relaxing by the pool instead.

We did walk over to the Waldorf nextdoor - we just checked out the lobby and pool areas - very luxurious and much quieter than the Hilton - We only saw a handful of other people there. My wife commented that it seemed a little boring and the Hilton was much more lively

Overall

Of the Hilton all inclusive resorts we've visited in the Cancun/Riviera Maya area, I think this one ended up being our favorite. The room upgrade, excellent service, lobby bar, and pool areas more than made up for the mediocre food and underwhelming beach. I'd redeem Free Night Awards here again.

Looking for furniture store recommendations in the Richmond area with style similar to Crate & Barrel and West Elm - contemporary and modern

What stores would you recommend with a similar aesthetic?