Nightmare in Cancun

A Kelowna man and his German girlfriend have seen a dream vacation turn into a nightmare.

Alexander Martin and Jutta Oberbillig flew to Mexico a few weeks ago, but almost ended up on the streets of Cancun when Jutta was denied access home.

"On Sunday the 19th, me and my girlfriend – who is a permanent resident in Canada – went to leave (from) the airport at Cancun, but when we got to the WestJet counter, the employees informed us that Jutta could not leave the country due to not having a permanent resident card," Martin said Tuesday from Mexico.

Oberbillig did have her passport and a separate piece of ID, which allowed her to leave Canada and fly to Mexico, but without the permanent resident card, she was told she couldn't return. 

"They stranded us here ... I wasn't going to leave her down here by herself. We decided to mail her PR card here, but that's been a nightmare in itself," said Martin.

The couple reached out to the Canadian and German consulates, which said they couldn't help them. The only way they would be able to go home is to get the card or go all the way to Mexico City, to the German consulate, and have a temporary card issued. 

Martin said German consulate staff didn't understand why Jutta was not allowed to fly to Canada. 

"We found out from the German consulate that Jutta should have been allowed into the country regardless of having the PR," he claimed.

Martin and Oberbillig took to social media to seek help because they were quickly running out of money trying to keep a place to sleep. 

"We think we are running out of money, and we have no way of checking our bank accounts because both our phone plans are done and everyone speaks Spanish, so we have no way of accessing anything," said Martin. 

The couple has had to reschedule their flights four times and have already lost several weeks of wages and thousands of dollars to make sure they don't end up stuck in the streets, waiting to fly home. 

The card is expected to be delivered Friday, and then they will be able to fly home – if all goes as planned.