Didn't want to get up and kept half dozing in the taxi. Check in a bit of a pisser as there were all these luggage allowance and departure tax notices which made me suspect I was going to be gouged, though it turned out the tax had been pre-paid and although I suspect my luggage was technically overweight no one said anything.
I got told to move 'over there' by some random security guard so ended up out of the queue yet not being checked in. It was OK in the end but I had to wait while several people were waved on ahead of me before I managed to get a member of staff to route me to a desk.
Security was a bit rushed - they wouldn't let me unload all my stuff off to one side - and frankly just a touch brusque. I had my can of insect repellent confiscated, which I had forgotten was in my pocket. I guess this is strictly within their dumb rules but I evidently flew from Buenos Aires to Panama City with it in my pocket and no one said anything.
I then realised I had no exit stamp in my passport. I asked a security guard type chap and he said I didn't need one. I just hope he's right. (When entering security some guy examined my passport and waved me on. There was a desk a few metres on where I stopped, someone else already being 'processed' there. Then some other guys got blocked by me standing in the way and the first guy told us to move on. Just possibly he didn't mean me - the other guys may have been locals - but it didn't look like a typical immigration desk somehow - so I suspect he did. That was the only place I can possibly see where I could have got an exit stamp but missed it.)
I had a frankly somewhat overpriced ham and cheese 'sub' at a Subway near the gate. At least I shouldn't get too hungry.
Am not really looking forward to arriving in Mexico City but I guess it will be OK and there's not much I can do about it anyway.
Oh, I haven't printed the e-mail re the hotel booking for Mexico City despite sort of being advised to do so. It just wasn't convenient. If push comes to shove I guess I can leave my bags at reception while I go out to print it, and I suspect they won't insist on me having it. I have the reservation number on my phone anyway.
Oh, I hoped to buy a copy of The Economist, but as far as I can tell there is not a single bookshop or newsagent (not even a little kiosk) in the airport (at least air-side) at all. I bought a bottle of perfume and a Lacoste jumper to read instead.
09:25. I am getting sick of random announcements re other flights, they never seem to shut up. And the gate has this oddly bear pit-like atmosphere. Some people are boarding my flight now but I managed to miss the announcement in the storm of other shit so I have no idea if this is priority boarding or based on row number.
09:30. Had some vague idea it was row number so joined the queue and now on plane.
WTF though? Just after they checked my boarding pass and waved me through some other guy stood just beyond the other staff wanted to hold my hand luggage. I suspected he was weighing it. He said something incomprehensible in Spanish, I said I didn't understand and he switched to English. Good job as I found it a struggle even in English. He wanted to know where I was from. London. Where was I going? Mexico. (I mean, I'm just boarding a flight to, err, Mexico City. I suppose I could be connecting, though why it would matter I don't know.) Where was I coming from? Panama, oh, he must know that, I'll say Buenos Aires. (That was two weeks ago so why the hell it's relevant now I don't know.) So he says OK and gives me the bag back. WTF? Why does anyone need to know any of this information in order to let me take my hand baggage onto the plane? What if I'd arrived in Panama from Timbuktu? Would he have had to do something to my hand luggage then? I don't see how even that catch-all explana
tion of "security" can be applied here. Well, of course it can, since "security" doesn't have to make sense. But I have no idea what that was all about.
You have to imagine the questions being asked with no context so as to make it hard to know what to answer. Where I am coming from? Panama? London? Buenos Aires? Oh well.
Flight time is apparently about 2.5h. Sigh. I almost hoped it would be longer, it's 9:51 to 13:40 on paper. I had naively assumed Mexico City would share a time zone with here but I guess it's plausible it's an hour further west. (Hang on, that would shorten the apparent flight time. Maybe it's an hour east? I have no idea any more.)
I hope we still get food.
12:00. Filled in the usual ridiculous customs forms and looking forward to the joy of declaring my coffee (at least I have the Panamanian stuff now to make it vaguely worthwhile). The woman next to me, who appears to speak fluent Spanish, asked me to confirm which was the passport number on her passport and what 'nacionalidad' means (nationality). Maybe she isn't fluent in Spanish and I'm assuming she is, but surely these are among the easier, less language-dependent parts of the forms?
We did get food although the main dish was spaghetti so I left it alone. At least I got a bread roll and a few biscuits.
I slept for maybe an hour at the start of the flight almost without realising it.
Have had a look at my guide book and it appears if I get a prepaid taxi at the 'Sitio 300' desks in the airport and fend off touts who might try to take the ticket or my bags before I get to the cab and hand them to the driver, I am OK. At least it is broad daylight, which although I know doesn't stop anyone robbing you in Mexico City, at least makes things that little bit less intimidating.
I will try to use the first cash machine I see, ideally before clearing immigration or customs. That should reduce the chances of anyone observing me and noting I have a wodge on me. It may also give me a chance to slip my debit card and some of the cash into my hidden belt.
13:05. Still in the air and my phone reckons Panama City and Mexico City are on the same time. So I maybe misheard the 2.5h thing and I suspect we will be landing in about 40 mins. Not looking forward to it but I guess the sooner we land the sooner it's over.
Yeah, we just got an announcement to similar effect.
15:20. Just got to hotel. Slightly hacked off.
Withdrew MXN4000 at airport then went to toilet to stash most of it away. The bog in the cubicle was blocked and had the biggest turd I have ever seen in my life trailing up the side of the pan.
I then tried to buy something at a 7-11 in the terminal to break a bill, following my Panama City experience. Three inconsiderate fuckwitted women effectively barricaded the entrance with three baggage trolleys while they puttered around getting cash from an adjacent machine. I could have asked them to move but I wondered just how long they could blatantly block the way. Pretty long as it turned out.
The 7-11 then refused to change an MXN200 note for an MXN60 purchase. Seems a fair ratio to me, and FFS the note is not much bigger than a tenner.
I have some MXN500 notes from the cash machine which I know from experience are a bugger to get changed.
I then went to the authorised taxi desk and paid MXN240 with two 200 notes (I should have used a 500 in hindsight, but I had stashed those away and it only occurs to me now anyway). The guy 'forgot' to give me the 100 and just gave me 60 change. Fortunately I noticed.
Some guy took my bag to the taxi (about 5m) - I let him as he had a shirt on with the company name and I thought he was the driver - and put it in the back of the car. He then kept saying 'tip tip tip tip' in English over and over again. So I gave him the MXN10 I had in coins.
I then felt obliged to tip the driver (I have him USD2).
Checked in. They wanted a credit card as a deposit and the electronic machine wanted a 'password'. I tried my PIN (twice), no joy. Maybe the card company have decided to fuck me over or maybe the hotel can't cope with my UK card. So I've had to give a MXN550 deposit in cash and now have to remember to collect it when I leave. (I did at least dredge out a 500 note for that.)
The porter then showed me my room so I had to tip him. I only had a single one dollar bill left so I gave him that, I don't think he was super chuffed but fuck it.
The suite is quite nice if not obviously equipped with air conditioning, though the temperature is at least bearable right now. Not tried the wifi yet.
I guess I will redistribute my valuables between the safe and various parts of my person then go out for a brief wander in the local area. I am not starving but it would be nice to get something to eat, although I have a suspicion it's that awkward time of day when places shut between lunch and dinner.
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