Yucatan Trip Day 1

This was one of the worst travel days in the history of mankind. We had to get up at 3 am so we could be early enough to register our dog for the flight. At first, all went smoothly. We grabbed a bite to eat, then checked in. The agent was wonderful, happily accepting our VIP. He referred to VIP as Very Important Passenger, but the acronym can also mean Very Important Person, or Visually Impaired Person. We were the first people to board the plane and were all settled in before the cabin began to fill up. The flight was on time. They served lunch. Everything seemed great, and this was at the Toronto Airport.

Arriving in Mexico City, however, didn't go so smoothly. We were last off of the plane as expected, but we did not find someone to meet us and to help with our next connection (to Mérida). We had asked for help because we knew we had to find a place for Vera to relieve herself. We had to clear customs. We had to have Vera inspected and approved for entry into Mexico. We only had two hours to make our connecting Flight (oops).

Finding the lady to register our dog was easy, but she was not very helpful. She was just too busy and we were a nuisance. She got it done though. We were waved through customs, but the lady at the door told us we had to go to a second inspection station with our dog. The lineup was huge and didn't seem to be moving, so we grabbed a bite to eat and came back. This time there was very little lineup. A man in the line helped translate for us, so we found out that we didn't need to be in this line at all. We just needed to get to our gate. Deb took Vera outside on the departures level and Vera had a pee on the pavement. Deb was accosted by the police and she thought she was going to be arrested (Oops).

When we eventually got to the gates we were concerned that we would be too late, but we were informed that we were actually much too early. Our intended flight (a Boeing with doors that fall off) had been cancelled and we were on another flight six hours later. They could not find an earlier flight for us, so a supervisor offered us a food voucher by way of apology. We settled down to wait.

Finally, we sat in a restaurant and had a small (and not very good) dinner. Of course, the restaurant we chose did not accept our voucher, so we headed for our gate with about an hour to spare. Here we were told that we needed a stamp on our boarding pass before Vera could be allowed aboard. Of course we had to stand in a different line where we found a very helpful attendant who checked our papers and stamped Deb's boarding pass.

Finally, we got to our gate and were allowed in. We had to go through security again, but we were not allowed early seating so we had to board with the crowd, and this plane was late.

Eventually, we did get to Mérida, but it was after midnight and the terminal was almost completely closed. The fellow at the "approved taxi" booth told us that it would cost 400 pesos and would involve a two-hour wait. We decided to go outside and flag someone down, but out here the taxi drivers said that we needed a ticket. Back inside, the taxi stall was closed and the only other option was a bus. The last bus had just left, but the lady at the bus stall was able to arrange a van ride.

At one-ish in the morning we arrived at our accommodation. The door was locked and nobody was answering our knock. The van driver hung around with us and was eventually able to contact the property manager. He gave us the code to the door and we were in. The driver of the van got a good tip.

We ended up travelling for almost 23 hours. Neither of us woke up the next day until after eleven.

CD Means Ciudad (City)

CDMX Mean Ciudad de Mexico