In the Mexico City Airport

Well, here I go again. What would be nice would be if I could remember how to get into my old blog to continue posting from there, but sadly enough I can´t. Oh well. Life goes on and I just created a new one.

So, the trip to Mexico was definitely easier than the one to Iquique, Chile. Instead of driving to Columbus and then flying to Washington to Buenos Aires to Santiago to Iquique, it was just Pittsburgh to Dallas to Mexico City to Villahermosa. There wasn´t any long flight delays or problems going through customs, and thank god I didn´t freak out and forget how to speak Spanish. So, either I´m a more experienced traveler or my Spanish skills are actually improving or both. It did feel different flying during the day and not spending 6 to 8 hours sleeping in the airport or on the plane but it was nice not loosing 27 hours traveling. And, it was cool being able to look out the window on the plane and just reflect on life and this trip and whatever else came to my mind.

Oh, and in the airport there were 2 Mexicans listening to 8O's music. I swear, I hear more American 8O's music when I'm abroad than when I'm in the 8O's room @ Bent Willy's. But, the funniest part of this tangent was the third Mexican not associated with the first two who started playing reggeaton (mind you he was definitely an adult) music off his phone in competition to the other guy's cell phone. It took every bit I had to keep from laughing at them.

So, here is my "advice" for those of you who are traveling into Mexico City (or at least my dad because I know he's coming to visit me soon). First of all, when the pilot comes on and announces that you are close to the city start looking out the window. The city is HUGE and just sprawls for what seems like forever. It was so smoggy when we flew over the downtown, but it was still cool to see. When you get into the airport you will have 2 options, 1 Mexico City is your final destination. In which case you will go through customs (just follow the signs to customs) and get your luggage. The other is that you have a connection (which I did). So, in that case you will have to do the following:

1. Wait in the customs line, my wait was like 35 minutes or so just depends on how many international flights land at the same time I guess
2. Don't get your luggage, you should have a luggage ticket that says it has been checked all the way to your final destination, in my case it said VILLAHERMOSA. You do NOT have to get your baggage at this time
3. You will go up an escalator that is on the left as you walk out of customs & past the duty free shop that is on the right. I believe it says something about national flights (viajes nacionales or something like that).
4. After you go up the escalator you will need to find where your airline is that your flying on for your connection. In my case it was Mexicana, so I had to go to gate 15 where they have a designated station. It is to the right of the escalator, I just kept asking people where to go. I had to go to the right, get checked by a security guy who said to go down the hall way, then I got checked by another security point where they X-Rayed my carry on luggage. Eventually I found my way to gate 15 where the Mexicana "help desk" was. But, when you see gate 15 you have to look to the left and there is a desk. It's a little difficult to explain, but when you stand there you'll know what I'm trying to say. It's not actually "gate 15" where you board, that's just the area where the help desk is.
5. Talk to the person working at the Mexicana desk who will print out your boarding pass. In my case, I had to go up a flight of stairs to area "B" and wait until they posted my departure gate. They said to check with the Mexicana desk up there at 3:5O, but my gate was posted around 3:2O.
6. Once you know your departure gate, go wait there and then you will get on your flight and go!!!
7. Most everyone will speak English if you need them too, I used my Spanish until I got confused at step 5. I couldn't figure out why I had to wait in the random area of B, but then I realized they didn't have a gate assigned for the flight. Then, it all made sense.

Okay, I'm going to go for now. *Miss youuuuu all*