Friday, November 13, 2015

The Mexico Trip (The Gory Details)

Divi-Divi airlines. (No, these don't fly to Miami.)

I've mentioned before that traveling from Curaçao is never a simple matter... It can be, if you're going to Caracas or Bogotá. Or Miami. Or Amsterdam. Or Dominican Republic. Or Bonaire. Or St. Maarten. Or Aruba. Or, nowadays—thank you, JetBlue!—New York City.

But not Mexico.

To the point that once I received an itinerary from a travel agent helping me with my trip (this was years ago, before online booking caught on) suggesting that I travel from Curaçao—in the Caribbean—to Mexico—North America—via Charles de Gaulle. Yeah. The Paris airport. You know. Paris, Europe.

(That's a good story. Remind me to tell it to you some day.)



After experimenting over the years with different routes (I've yet to try the Paris one), I have found that the most efficient less time-consuming one is via Miami, and with American Airlines. I know, who wants to fly AA? But it's the only airline flying to both Curaçao and Mexico. If there's a delay, they'll put me on another flight or somehow make it right, not give me the world-famous Not My Problem, Sweetie shrug.

It does imply a long layover in Miami. I've spent ten hours there. So you can imagine how happy I felt when I checked flights and realized I could leave Curaçao in the afternoon and still have just enough time to make the MIA-MEX connection. It might be a little tight, especially if Immigration was busy, but it would probably work.

Turned out I never should've worried. Because my flight to Mexico WAS DELAYED.

For FOUR hours.

Sure, it sucks to have to spend more time at such a crappy airport, but no big deal, right? Instead of arriving in Mexico at 11 pm, I'd now arrive sometime around 2 am (times got iffy, because it was the day Mexico ended Daylight Savings Time).

No, no big deal—except for one thing. Mexico City is not my final destination. At the Mexico City airport, right at the arrivals hall, I take a bus down to Cuernavaca, which is where my mom lives.

And the last bus departs at 12:30 am.

No, there's no other way to get to Cuernavaca. Except by taxi, which is 1) really expensive, and 2) probably not the safest choice.

So I had to spend the night at the airport. There's a Hilton right inside the Arrivals hall, and they did have rooms available. (I called them from Miami.)

Terminal 2 at Mexico City Airport
(2009)

I got a good night's sleep, woke up incredibly late the next morning—damn blackout curtains—and made it home to Mom at around 3 pm.

Mission accomplished. Well, half the mission. I still had to get back to Curaçao. And if I thought I was done with the worst of the traveling, I was really, really wrong.

If you're arriving into Mexico City during the day, this is what you'll see.
Bring your gas masks.

How do these posts get so long so fast? Okay, I'll leave off here and take up the story next week, after BoTB. It'll be a very cool Battle, sort-of synced with Lee's—and if you haven't read that intro/reveal post over at Tossing It Out, please take a hop over now and do so... It was a wonderful experiment, and I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

So. See you Sunday for some musical brawling, and next week—let's say Wednesday?—for Part II of the Traveling Blues :D

Thanks for the visit!

9 comments :

  1. Sounds like a real travel nightmare, for sure! Mexico City looks even smoggier than Los Angeles. Looking forward to part two!
    I enjoyed your guest post and BOTB tie in at Lee's blog the other day. Even though I'm not posting this weekend, I'll come by and see what you two are up to. Cheers!

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    1. We'll miss your BoTB this round, Debbie, but I do understand... And admire you for knowing when to step back :) I so enjoyed being a guest over at your place last Monday! That post was a lot of fun to write, and the conversation with your audience was brilliant. Really, really loved it. Thanks for being such a great friend, Debbie!

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  2. That's a nightmarish travel story-- thank God you got to stay at the hotel and didn't have make do with the airport. Loved your BOTB intro on Lee's blog!

    Sorry to leave a link, Blogger won't allow my wordpress comment:
    Daily (w)rite

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    1. I was so relieved to be able to get a room, Damyanti! That weekend was the return of the Formula One to Mexico City, so everything was packed (and triple the price)... I got lucky :) So glad you liked the post over at Lee's... We had a blast working on that one together, and I'm really looking forward to seeing how the chips fall on the actual voting tomorrow.

      Thanks for the visit! AND for leaving a good link; it's always so much easier to find people that way :)

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  3. Wouldn't it be good if we had teleportation from STAR TREK?
    Who's the hunky hunk from the first photo?

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    1. Dez, you've no idea how often I've wished and wished for a Scotty to beam me up :D It really would make life so much simpler. Hunky hunk (you made him blush, by the way) is my partner Cor, aka "Dushi" (which is Papiamentu for "sweetheart" or "love" or "honey"—and Papiamentu is the language of Curaçao ;) ).

      Thanks for the visit, and happy weekend!

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    2. that is so interesting because in my Serbian language we say DUSHO for SWEETHEART, LOVE or HONEY :) It means SOUL in my language, so it is a very tender nickname.

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  4. Hi Guilie .. how ghastly - but at least you had a room for this part of the trip and it must have been lovely seeing your Ma - once you got there!! Gorgeous Dushi ... love the nickname ... cheers Hilary

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  5. Oh...yuck a doodle! This sounds like a very long trip and the smog!! Ughhh at least the bright spot is you spent time with your mom

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