Today we are going to Muse about Travel . If this is your first visit, welcome to Musings. If you have been here before, welcome back. Over time we are going to talk about many things: the past, the present, perhaps the future, travel, art, society and more. Wherever my musing takes me. I hope you will come along with me.
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Off to Mexico
Recently we spent several weeks in Mexico. The experience getting there is one I will remember for some time.
Our itinerary had us fly out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida to Mexico City. There we would be met by a driver who would drive us three and a half hours up to San Miguel de Allende (SMA). Once there, we would meet an agent of the property management company which manages the house we had rented. She would let us in the house and show us the various things we would need to know. That was the plan.
We packed more than we would normally because we planned to be gone for more than a month. We also had our dog, Teddy, with us.
Getting to the Airport Early
As is recommended, we arrived at the airport 2 hours before departure. The terminal was swarming with people and the check-in process was essentially self-serve at a kiosk. That was confusing to me and heightened my stress level.
When we tried to check our luggage, mine was accepted but Jeanette’s was rejected because it was over the weight limit.
We were told to take her luggage to another part of the terminal for processing. The entrance to the counter we were told to go to was roped off! Stress!
We finally got someone to open the pathway and we checked her luggage.
Four Hour Delay
After going through security we went to our gate area to wait to board. Soon we were notified that the departure was delayed an hour. Three times, on the hour, we were notified the departure was delayed another hour.
Finally 4 hours late we flew off to Mexico City. Stress! It was about 8:30 PM when we landed.
More Delay
On our way to collect our luggage I stopped at the office of the official who was responsible for approving entry of pets. I stood at his window for thirty minutes before he came over to process my paperwork. There were three people behind me waiting. As you can imagine people were not happy.
What?!
This task being done, I headed out to baggage claim. Jeanette had gone ahead while I was getting the dog permit. There she stood with my bag and a porter. My bag. Not our bags. Just my bag.
Her bag was not there. Stress!
We made a missing bag report. That is not easy to do when you are dealing with a foreign language. Fortunately the airline employee spoke pretty good English but the process still took several hours. We asked that he send us an email confirmation since there was no printer at his station. He agreed and gave us his name and phone number.
He confirmed that the bag had not been put on the plane. It would be flown in the next day, but it would likely be three or four days before we received it. Since we were not staying in Mexico City it would be shipped to us..
Bummer! All of Jeanette’s clothes, her computer, her makeup . . . everything was in her bag.
On to San Miguel
Next we had to find our driver. He had expected to meet us about 6PM.
With all the delays it was now a little past 11PM.
I would not have been surprised if he was gone, but thankfully he was still waiting.
Into the car and on to the road we went racing up the highway to San Miguel de Allende three and a half hours away.
Our driver said he was heading right back to Mexico City after he dropped us off. Hard to imagine!
We got to the house at 2:30AM. The agent was still there waiting to let us in and show us around. Wow, also hard to imagine!
The Waiting
Then began the waiting for the suitcase.
The next day we tried to call the person who helped us with the report. It was his day off.
We tried the next day and couldn’t reach him.
We waited for the e-mail. It did not come. Later we learned he made a typo in the address so it never came.
All this time Jeanette was dealing with one set of clothes plus some delicates we bought in necessity and she was missing her makeup and other things.
Finally we phoned the main office of the airline in the US. A customer service representative confirmed they had our claim. The suitcase had been located and was in Mexico City. They were going to Fed-Ex it to us.
The next day it was delivered, six days late, but intact.
The airline gave us each a $75 credit for our inconvenience.
The adventure of travel.
More to come
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