Senator Cruz confirms to reporters he'd planned to stay in Cancun through the weekend.

When the power went out at his home & school was canceled, his kids said "let's go somewhere where it's not so cold," so they booked the trip to Cancun.

"It's been a tough week," he said.

He claims he started having second thoughts "almost from the moment I sat down on the plane."

He also notes he "saw the initial firestorm" after arriving in Cancun and that, coupled with his "second thoughts," prompted him to change his flight.

"Leaving when so many people were hurting didn't feel right and so I changed my flight to come back today," Cruz says.

"When it became more and more of a firestorm it became all the more compelling that I needed to come back."

Q: Did you come back because you felt guilty or because you got caught?

Cruz: "It was obviously a mistake and in hindsight I wouldn't have done it."

But he also tried to deflect some blame: "We're in a strange time where Twitter is going crazy and the media is going crazy."