Thu 0016 The massive preparation post seems to have sent OK.
0038 I didn't get round to booking return seat. It's fine, I will probably do it at some point over the next week or so. It's perfectly possible from my phone, just a tiny bit faffier as noted before.
I have been charging P7 to 80% and O6 to 85%. I have taken that setting off and am charging both to 100% tonight just to be safe. The O6 battery is not so great and I may also start charging it to 100% routinely during the trip when I'm somewhat depending on it, we'll see how it goes.
I feel reasonably tranquil, I do feel there are a few more things I could have got done in terms of prep but I haven't done too badly. Maybe I'll do better next time, or maybe things like Christmas will trip me up again. :-)
If I didn't already say I put a marker in Organic Maps (OM) on both phones where the Cancun accommodation is. I shouldn't need this given the airport pickup, but better safe than sorry. Haven't done Bacalar yet.
0526 Forced myself to get up 0510 (snoozing 10 mins past "intended" time). Breakfasting on hot bombay mix! In hindsight I maybe should have bought e.g. some sausage rolls or something for breakfast, but it's fine. Bit jittery but not too bad. It's trite but probably true that although right now the idea of leaving my flat (not to mention family etc) for eight weeks feels vaguely distressing, I wouldn't be thinking about it this way if I weren't about to go on holiday - so I am already appreciating what I have a bit more by forcing myself to leave it, even without any of the hoped-for actual direct fun/experiences/growth/whatever from travelling. It will be nice to get back to flat and then family in a way that it wouldn't be if I'd never left.
Perhaps it also helps (probably not a big part) that the flat is neater than it has been for probably weeks since I put all the travel stuff away last night.
0714 On train at London Bridge, due to leave 0715. Just checked my flight *is* from Gatwick! Feeling slightly edgy but there is maybe a hint of excitement in there too. Left flat about 0650, about 20 mins later than planned but not a big deal, there may also be 20 min delays on train due to signalling but again I can live with that.
Writing this on P7 as will be the default I think. Working much better now I am writing in Markor instead of Simple Text Editor as the latter appears to disable the autocorrect of the keyboard somehow; perhaps there is a flag in Android saying what sort of document is being edited in any particular app and changing the keyboard behaviour. Not sure but have noticed this before when playing around.
0721 Am feeling a bit edgy. Stupid stuff like "what if these travel trousers are unbearably uncomfortable, even though they actually seem fine?" And of course in that unlikely case I'd buy some others.
Vague and probably usual nagging doubts I've forgotten something, but I have been over packing list multiple times etc.
Also as I think I've noted before, most worries etc other than forgetting stuff sort of reduce to "OK, that might be shit but being in Mexico for 8 weeks doesn't seriously make it worse, and may actually make it better". If I feel nervous about future in some way it isn't much different, especially when I will be coming back in a relatively short space of time. Fingers crossed touch wood.
This is a fast train, only stops at East Croydon before Gatwick. Barrier wouldn't open but I showed ticket to some staff guy who let me in to platform area. Maybe I mucked up by faffing around trying to put ticket in upside down or something and maybe making machine think it had seen it, as I stopped trying to put it in as it felt stiff and like it might swallow my ticket.
0728 East Croydon.
0736 Just been through longish tunnel, wondering if it was one that was on Southern Belle. I should maybe replay it and see. :-) (I was looking out and knew sky was getting lightish but it seemed very dark.)
0747 Landside at airport, train arrived about 0745 so probably on time, maybe the 20 mins delay is between Gatwick and station after. Half wishing I had a friend I could have left flat keys wcase of emergency, but then again I would have worried they'd lose them or go in and leave gas on or something silly.
0758 continuing to feel a bit edgy. Called mum. I have my passport and some bank cards, i have ny bag which ia heavy enough it clearly has nearly everything even if one or two things have somehow got misplaced (which they probably haven't). I went over my checklist at the flat.
Its just that I just about borderline maybe have time to pop back to flat, though obviously I really don't want to and I would risk missing the flight. Just semi normal jitters I guess.
0808 have wandered up to departures. If not obvious writing this partly as a means of talking to myself. At most optimistic if is 30 mins on train and maybe 15 mins tube back to flat. That is super optimistic. So 1h30m round trip with brilliant luck. I would already not be back until 0940 if I left now - not that I an aware of any reason to go back, of course - and boarding is nominally 0950 and I'd have to clear security. In reality it is probably more like a 2h round trip and that would take me to 1010 and the flight is due to depart 40 mins after that even ignoring the 0950 boarding time.
I think the point is that without some absolutely concretely ruinously devastating reason to do a panicked dash back to the flat, it is already too late. If I had forgotten my passport or something like that I'd have a chance at fixing it but not guaranteed. And I have my passport and some bank cards so we are not in that kind of territory. I went over my leaving flat checklist so I am not aware of any non-worry reason there should be a problem there, let alone one requiring this kind of dash.
So I am going to slowlyish drink my water and maybe call mum again to double check and then go through security.
0835 drunk water, going to maybe go to toilet then go through security.
0859 through security, no fuss, although scanner is a stand sideways spreadeagled job and felt vaguely intrusive but I'm just guessing and going on memories of the naked X ray type scanner thing controversy a while back.
0908 Flight showing as delayed to 1150. Minor pisser but not end of world. This is first time I've seen a flight departure board since arriving, didn't go out of my way to find one before.
0921 in Flying Horse with a pint - actually not too bad at £5.05 for a pint of Flack's New Forest IPA 4.9%. I may have two pints (slowly) given price isn't too insane and selay. At table 18, got departure board behind me and can people watch a bit.
Maybe I'm just out of touch but it seems weird to see LBC news on electronic "posters" reporting as if the president isn't changing in a handful of days - new Russian sanctions, Biden announcing some sort of Gaza ceasefire.
0941 need to be as relaxed as possible during trip. For example first norning in Bacalar I do not want to be thinking "fuck fuck fuck got to dash off and see the lagoon and maybe look at zocalo so I can decide about new accom etc" I need to be "let's go have a wander, I'm supposed to be enjoying myself and I can and will extend my stay here if I am liking it so while I may well so all those things there is no need to turn then into a chore".
1026 been for piss and got another pint, perhaps foolish but probably not insanely so.
1048 maybe it's the best but I am feeling surprisingly cheerful. Maybe it shouldn't be surprising - I am off for an 8 week jolly - but still, compared to my mild edginess and slight apprehensiveness earlier this is a pleasant change. Maybe my thoughts have helped, but maybe it is the beer.
Futo keyboard makes writing this on touch screen bordetline tolerable, though I am mainly writing to pass time and don't intend to be on phone all the time (same idea as usual, just normally enforced by k1 being left at hostel during say). I suspect there will be some distinctive quirks and rough edges from all the different input methods but the main thing is to get stuff down for future me to read, not to write perfect error free text.
1041 gate was due to come up 1038 and indeed gate 25 is now being advertised. I think I can afford 10-15 mins to finish this beer, which is about 1/3 gone.
1046 just sent message to pickup about delay, I'm sure they would check the arrival time anyway but this feels polite and nay head off problems.
1102 screen showed "boarding" so necked about last third of pint and hoofed it over here but it (of course) doesn't look like we really are boarding. When got here and saw not actually boarding popped off for piss.
Not a big deal but wish I had been more confident about them not really boarding and had lingered another 5-10 mins with rest of pint. But then I'd not have been able to relax (I suppose I can wish I could as part of being more confident, but there is a lot at stake with a long haul expensive flight) so not too big a deal.
Did experimentally shove my bag in a Ryanair cabin bag gauge just now. A smidge fat but did mostly fit and I could have tweaked it if necessary. Also tries a Norwegian (?) On arrival at airport and iirc it was similar there.
If I didn't say I refilled (albeit not chock full) my water bottles after security so I have a fair bit of water for flight if I need it. I am sure you can ask for water even as a pleb class traveller but it is nice not to have to, or to save that for emergencies.
For some reason I have amateur transplants song with lyric "I can see that your arse has its own gravitational pull" in my head. Such a shame Adam Kay nicked my expensive beer at that show, I was quite a big fan but that was a piastake.
Feeling fairly cheerful.
1145 on plane. Lots of FAFF at passport scan, the system did not seem to like it, nice enough woman at deak asked at one point if I didn't have a return ticket and I showed her my printout (intended to make Mexican immigration happy) though she didn't seem that interested. In the end she took a photo of my passport and let me on. Vaguely worrying, she kept swiping it through the reqder gadget and it said it couldn't read. I hope I'm not going to have trouble at the far end but I guess it ought to be OK and I do have travel insurance and since they let me on I guess at least part of responsiblity is with them.
Do have aisle seat as per plan and at least so far no one is sitting in either of the other two seats in my block of three.
I just stood there reasonably patiently while she was faffing with my passport, I didn't argue or anything.
1153 delay was due to drains at back being clogged or blocked (can't remember what they said)when it came in from mauritius. Apparently we will gain some time on the flight so we may not be that late in.
Woman in aisle seat now but middle seat still free and is likely to remain so. Safety card says boeing 777.
1223 what does "menudas piezas" mean? Film title but menudas is not in my dictionary. I assume piezas is pieces.
Feel a bit yawny and tires, probably beer and lack of sleep. Half decent range of films despite my reluctance to watch most modern stuff. Probably will watch Coco.
1259 having not bad brewdog transatlantic IPA, wtf, am on
holiday :-) coco is weird. I am watching in English (first viewing) and the mixed in Spanish is probably standard (cf Richard herring doing his routine where some French speaking character uses French words like pomme de Terre for the easiest things to an English speaker not the hardest things to a French speaker, I know this spanish is just flavour) but it feels odd. And the film so far is both oddly touching and yet kind of cringey. And while I despise this style of thinking, I can't help wondering if it it a weird stereotype of Mexican culture. Tbf it is probably not an unaffectionate one and I have a vague idea a Mexican friend loved the film but this is against my will - I hate this style of thinking as I say - it adds an extra layer of weirdness.
Also like the kids family seem nice but the anti music thing after n generations (4) is just odd and his parents seem spineless against the Abuelita and is that supposed to be normal or are they really generally spineless? As I say weird. But also oddly touching and while it would be weird it does make me think, having akreadyvheard it is cool even as a foreigner, tempt me to visit Mexico for day of dead. Istr being in Guatemala for it and it wasn't a huge deal but maybe it is different or maybe I hid away.
Making a small effort to be outgoing and break pattern I gave my unwanted sour cream and chive
pretzels to woman in window seat.
I did notice alebrijes early in film in town marketing scene and that did remind me of Z and the IS days.
1309 bit silly but if the dead really can't cross into the world of living without being on someone's ofrenda, yet they are effectively immortal (or permanently morted, so to speak), that has to suck after you've been dead a couple of hundred years, maybe kess. Or for that matter if you died before photography was invented.
I do wonder if this is "real lore" or something made up for the film which is kind of practically consistent with day of dead tradition but not part of the "folk rules" of it.
1313 just shoved unused napkin that came with beer into my fleece pocket. I really feel like I'm in travel mode now. :-) this sort of came out of nowhere, it just felt right.
It isn't maybe that strong a resemblance but I also can't help thinking the kid's mom reminds me of Valeria. Maybe it's just the voice. Not sure it's even that, but rationally or otherwise something did remind me of her.
Dinner is roast chicken or Thai vegetable curry. I might go for the Thai, roast chicken sounds good but would it have sauce, whereas I'd be more confident I could eat the Thai. But as I write this the roast chicken does sound tempting.
I do feel a smidge chilly even with fleece but lots of people have blankets on so probably not just me or that the fleece is massively inadequate. Fleece did feel okish on walk to station this morning.
1401 OK, had quite decent if small Thai veg curry. And so apparently the dead do die if not remembered. Again, wobder to what extent any of this is "believed" in reality or whether anyone eve thinks about or and it's just a vague rememberance thing in reality. (I have loosely participated in at least one DoD thing in UK, but not obvious and certainly wouldn't have wanted to be a boor and ask.)
Has glass merlot with food. But wtf, on holiday as I say. My general aspiration for trip wrt booze is that I'd like to *on average* not drink at all half of days, have a couple (maybe a few) most saya eg sundowner kind of thing and then perhaps a handful of days (ideally in own hostel with no travel or safety issues) maybe drink quite a lot but not tot the point of being off my face.
I suspect I see a plot twist coming in film and Hector is actually the kid (Manuel?) 's relative not the big star Ernesto after all, but maybe I am wrong. Hector was big star's mentor and gave him his guitar etc.
1440 jeez it is both deeply touching and amazingly cheesy. Also I can't help thinking Hector should have been fucked anyway if Coco, as the only living person to remember him when he was alive, died before next DoD. Didn't we already establish Miguel meeting him in land of dead didn't count? And presumably Coco's family didn't remember him as he died while she was still a kid? Meh, obviously it's more satisfying this way and I'm not complaining as such. But if "mere" respect or having met or remembering in general counts, why couldn't Miguel have just have remembered the old guy who gave them the guitar to stop him dying dying? But we were told explicitly that didn't count.
Embarrassingly touching all the same. Though I'm probably more sensitive to such things of late than I might otherwise have been. And going away, even for only two months, probably also feesa into it.
1450 I suspect I'm supposed to feel uplifted after the enotional rollercoaster of the film. Despite as I say being embarrassingly touched during the film, I feel kind of hacked off instead of elated. Maybe I just feel emotionally manipulated by a master of the game. Maybe something about the message doesn't quite sit right. Maybe it's the alcohol.
I am also fractionally watching (over the seat row in front on screen of person in middle of that row) a film about an annoying blue haired alcoholic young woman who has some connection with Orkney and soneone talks to her about corncrakes and who was earlier jogging down a canal with a bridge that said "Joker" on it which (probably incorrectly) I wonder if was Regent's Canal.
But also shouldn't hector have been fucked whenever Coco died? Never mind DoD. If she was the only person qualified to remember him and (as he explicitly said -
though maybe he believed it but was wrong?) the instant she died he would not longer be remember and die die, that's that isn't it? If Miguel doesn't qualify to remember him, no one else does either. The entire living family can venerate him and show his photo next DoD but even if they did and Coco lived that long, as soon as she dies he's toast.
Probably trying to ameliorate emotion with pointless excess rationality but at the same time once they start trying to make all these rules up it just invites rules lawyering/pedantry. Maybe I missed something anyway.
I dunno. Definitely over thinking it but maybe if Ernestos fans who never met him qualify, it's fine. It does feel like the rules don't make sense though.
1506 Wouldn't mind a piss but major queue. Not big deal. Watching "inside out" but I suspect it's going to be a bit fucking annoying. Did go earlier in flight.
Yawning quite a bit. Not sure if I ought to try to stay awake or not.
1518 toilet queue died down so went. Charging o6 from powerbank in pocket with short cable, which seems to be working. It was down to 52%ish which isn't great but isn't terrible.
1810 I'm fairly sure I drifted off to sleep to some extent. It said 5hxx remaining of flight on someone elaes monitor when I've coming round. I had pauaed inside out and just finished it. I'm clearly a bit susceptible at the moment and found it slightly sad but not as much as Coco. I did unexpectedly "quietly laugh out loud" at the pseudo jump scare of joy and sadness suddenly entering the dream in the dog costume.
Person in middle seat ahead of me watching an interesting seeming film (with english subtitles) about a Count and a hotel after the Russian revolution.
Throat a bit dry since I slept, did have a bit of water from my stash and may have a bit more. May be films or alcohol or situation but feeling a bit down and that sense of almost weird joy I had earlier has dissipates. Of course I realise I am going to feel very different soon enough etc etc.
Just skimming films it is possible blue haired woman film is The Outrun.
1842 cannot find this hotel film. Will probably watch Rear Window, I don't think I've seen it despite how old it is.
Screen says 3h59 remaining.
1942 RW is quite good but it is also a bit claustrophobic. And I keep getting distracted by Inside Out 2 and some probably Chinese film about a teenage kid (called Chris Wang?) whose Dad is in Taiwan and his num is an artist and some mildly unpleasant story about a squirrel on energy drink (the latter being middle seat person in row in front of me).
Yawning.
2005 "Chinese" film is Didi.
2007 continues to feel slightly chilly. Anticipating feeling too hot in Mexico. Thinking of that Pog lyric "when the rain falls it feels like purgatory, when the sun beats down something" - badly mangled that. It will be fine of course. Just looking for-problems kind of mindset at the moment.
2012 aha, hotel "film" is actually a TV series "A gentleman in Moscow" (Paramount) - seen as middle seat browsing.
2202 due to land in about 45 mins, about 50 mins late I think. 29C in Cancun!
Almost finished first episode of gentleman in Moscow but keep getting interrupted, literally a minute or two away. Now mandatory charity video.
Mild dread about arrival and will I feel in the way at accom and can I go out for food or what but am sure it will be fine.
2209 a water bottle has leaked in day-pack, I suspect I didn't put cap on properly. Probably mostly got away with it. I should keep power bank and cable in a plastic bag just to be safe though.
Major queues for toilet. I can probably hold on until we land. I did get up to stretch my legs (esp left leg) maybe 15-30 mins ago and there was already a queue.
2225 sneaked in a piss just as aeatbelt sign went on. Bit edgy but not too bad.
0149uk/2049 local everything going well but feeling a bit discombobulated. Going to have a shower and move towards bed and maybe write the rest of tonight up tomorrow.
Before I forget "rapidos" at Bacalar are apparently nearby and good and cheap accom as not well known - tip from owner
2119 Okay, I just did Duolingo because I'm a complete addict and idiot. I'm not too knackered but I would like to go to bed so I'm just going to see if I can bash something out on the voice typing and see how it goes.
Immigration was no big deal, there was quite a long queue but it went really quickly and I was probably through in 15-20 minutes, no forms to fill in. They asked me how long I was going to stay and I said mid-March and I think they've written 180 days on the stamp in the passport.
Customs was just nothing. We'd just all walk through some nothing to declare area and no one really seemed to get pulled aside. There were some cash machines outside. I tried one and it wanted to charge me like ten pounds in a fee on like a 5,000 Mexican peso withdrawal, which was the max it would allow. I cancelled that and tried the one next to it, which I can't remember exactly, but I think it charged about a £4 fee on a 7,000 withdrawal. I felt a bit rushed because I didn't know if someone would be waiting to pick me up so I didn't faff around too much on that one trying to get small bills so I got all 500s.I think it'll be fine.
The airport-free Wi-Fi needs you to watch an ad or something. It's a bit weird, but it did more or less work. I went outside and there's no indoor waiting area at the airport. You can't go back inside once you go out as far as I can tell, at least at Terminal 3, which seems to be the main one. I absolutely remembered waiting out there when we were being picked up by the rep in 2013. Also, Air Margaritaville, where I remember going with J and V at the end of the trip, I guess, before we went into the airport. Maybe there's more than one, but I don't think so.
So I managed to get the 06 WhatsApp working and got in touch with the pickup and although there was some delay because there was some heavy rain it did rain quite heavily while we were waiting outside but it's all mostly undercover it's just outdoors. Anyway, in the end I managed to get picked up and the owner seems really nice and a guy who apparently is also another long-term guest or something, she was waiting at the side of the road with me while he drove up and picked us up.
Traffic was horrendous. I really didn't think it was very far from the airport at all, looking at the map and I'm sure 15 minutes have been mentioned. I mean, you can probably work it out from the blog entries, timestamps, but it might have been an hour. I don't really know what it was quite bad traffic. I was speaking with the owner in Spanish. I was sat in the back and she was in the front next to the other guy who was driving, obviously, and he had a nice little dog on his lap. It turns out it's only got three legs which I didn't notice until we got to the accom. It was born with three legs, but really nice little sort of dog. I don't know what style. No. Tiny bit like the one in Spaced.
I think I did fairly well speaking in Spanish with the owner while we were driving and when we got back she showed me around, I accidentally knocked a picture of Frida Kahlo off the wall with my backpack but luckily it didn't break, she's been to Frida's house in, is it Coyoacan? We talked a tiny bit about Frida and she showed me around and we talked a bit more in the kitchen. She was saying something about the charging taxes at Tulum to get in now on top of the other price which makes it really expensive. She said something about if I came back at the end of the trip you know we could tell her where I've been and she might take us to some sort of beach 40 minutes away from here so that might be nice.
She offered me a banana, which I accepted as sort of dinner, not that anything's supposed to be included. And I had a little chat with Andre, who's the Canadian guy who drove us down, who's retired, and he's been here a couple of months, I think, and he's here, kind of longish term. And I said, hi briefly to a Panamanian woman, who's another guest. I also saw her cat, which is really nice, little sort of white, splodgy one, although it's the dog apparently hunts it, and after I sais goodnight there was some really loud yapping on the stairs and the cat ran down but at least I got to see it and stroke it.
So I was sort of fiddling around in my room staring at my bag on the bed and not quite feeling able to do anything and I realised I was obviously a bit discombobulated as I said earlier so I sort of grabbed my bathroom stuff and went and had a shower and cleaned my teeth and now I'm back in the room sitting on the bed.
I haven't re-packed or shifted stuff out of travel mode or attempted to divide up the money I got from the cash machine or anything yet. I'm gonna do that tomorrow. I think it'll be fine. I'm not absolutely knackered but it would be nice to go to bed and I think I've basically written everything up now. The voice typing actually seems to be working pretty well. I had to tweak it a little bit and so there's some on-screen keyboard stuff mixed in. I really don't want to be faffing with the Bluetooth keyboard tonight.
As we were driving back from the airport, the owner said, there's public buses that will go to the ADO terminal. I don't know exactly where the stop is. I might talk to her tomorrow about that. I can probably get an Uber. I'm not too worried about it. I think the main thing for tomorrow is, don't get up too late, but, you know, have a reasonable sleep. And then I want to go out and look for a local sim, practice my Spanish in the phone shops a bit and buy something. And maybe get a few beers and bring them back because Andre did let me pay 500 for the trip from the airport instead of the 600 it was advertised as and he said something about oh you can get the beers and I didn't quite twig what he meant but I think I might buy a six pack or something and bring it back and if anyone wants a beer with me tomorrow night that's cool and if not I can just leave them here or take a couple with me.
Yeah, I think that's about it. Like I say, I'm going to sort of reorganise my clothes and money and stuff tomorrow before I go out and decide what I'm doing about the phones in terms of which I leave here and which I take out and where I hide them or whether I hide them and everything. Do all that tomorrow.
2135 OK, so let me send this and then go to bed. I feel fairly good TBH, I had expected to be feeling a bit lonely and awkward here tonight and it hasn't been like that, though TBH I also got here late enough with the delay in pickup and the slow traffic getting back and the nearly hour delay on flight that it was just natural to go to bed as soon as I finished the chat with owner here.
0038 I didn't get round to booking return seat. It's fine, I will probably do it at some point over the next week or so. It's perfectly possible from my phone, just a tiny bit faffier as noted before.
I have been charging P7 to 80% and O6 to 85%. I have taken that setting off and am charging both to 100% tonight just to be safe. The O6 battery is not so great and I may also start charging it to 100% routinely during the trip when I'm somewhat depending on it, we'll see how it goes.
I feel reasonably tranquil, I do feel there are a few more things I could have got done in terms of prep but I haven't done too badly. Maybe I'll do better next time, or maybe things like Christmas will trip me up again. :-)
If I didn't already say I put a marker in Organic Maps (OM) on both phones where the Cancun accommodation is. I shouldn't need this given the airport pickup, but better safe than sorry. Haven't done Bacalar yet.
0526 Forced myself to get up 0510 (snoozing 10 mins past "intended" time). Breakfasting on hot bombay mix! In hindsight I maybe should have bought e.g. some sausage rolls or something for breakfast, but it's fine. Bit jittery but not too bad. It's trite but probably true that although right now the idea of leaving my flat (not to mention family etc) for eight weeks feels vaguely distressing, I wouldn't be thinking about it this way if I weren't about to go on holiday - so I am already appreciating what I have a bit more by forcing myself to leave it, even without any of the hoped-for actual direct fun/experiences/growth/whatever from travelling. It will be nice to get back to flat and then family in a way that it wouldn't be if I'd never left.
Perhaps it also helps (probably not a big part) that the flat is neater than it has been for probably weeks since I put all the travel stuff away last night.
0714 On train at London Bridge, due to leave 0715. Just checked my flight *is* from Gatwick! Feeling slightly edgy but there is maybe a hint of excitement in there too. Left flat about 0650, about 20 mins later than planned but not a big deal, there may also be 20 min delays on train due to signalling but again I can live with that.
Writing this on P7 as will be the default I think. Working much better now I am writing in Markor instead of Simple Text Editor as the latter appears to disable the autocorrect of the keyboard somehow; perhaps there is a flag in Android saying what sort of document is being edited in any particular app and changing the keyboard behaviour. Not sure but have noticed this before when playing around.
0721 Am feeling a bit edgy. Stupid stuff like "what if these travel trousers are unbearably uncomfortable, even though they actually seem fine?" And of course in that unlikely case I'd buy some others.
Vague and probably usual nagging doubts I've forgotten something, but I have been over packing list multiple times etc.
Also as I think I've noted before, most worries etc other than forgetting stuff sort of reduce to "OK, that might be shit but being in Mexico for 8 weeks doesn't seriously make it worse, and may actually make it better". If I feel nervous about future in some way it isn't much different, especially when I will be coming back in a relatively short space of time. Fingers crossed touch wood.
This is a fast train, only stops at East Croydon before Gatwick. Barrier wouldn't open but I showed ticket to some staff guy who let me in to platform area. Maybe I mucked up by faffing around trying to put ticket in upside down or something and maybe making machine think it had seen it, as I stopped trying to put it in as it felt stiff and like it might swallow my ticket.
0728 East Croydon.
0736 Just been through longish tunnel, wondering if it was one that was on Southern Belle. I should maybe replay it and see. :-) (I was looking out and knew sky was getting lightish but it seemed very dark.)
0747 Landside at airport, train arrived about 0745 so probably on time, maybe the 20 mins delay is between Gatwick and station after. Half wishing I had a friend I could have left flat keys wcase of emergency, but then again I would have worried they'd lose them or go in and leave gas on or something silly.
0758 continuing to feel a bit edgy. Called mum. I have my passport and some bank cards, i have ny bag which ia heavy enough it clearly has nearly everything even if one or two things have somehow got misplaced (which they probably haven't). I went over my checklist at the flat.
Its just that I just about borderline maybe have time to pop back to flat, though obviously I really don't want to and I would risk missing the flight. Just semi normal jitters I guess.
0808 have wandered up to departures. If not obvious writing this partly as a means of talking to myself. At most optimistic if is 30 mins on train and maybe 15 mins tube back to flat. That is super optimistic. So 1h30m round trip with brilliant luck. I would already not be back until 0940 if I left now - not that I an aware of any reason to go back, of course - and boarding is nominally 0950 and I'd have to clear security. In reality it is probably more like a 2h round trip and that would take me to 1010 and the flight is due to depart 40 mins after that even ignoring the 0950 boarding time.
I think the point is that without some absolutely concretely ruinously devastating reason to do a panicked dash back to the flat, it is already too late. If I had forgotten my passport or something like that I'd have a chance at fixing it but not guaranteed. And I have my passport and some bank cards so we are not in that kind of territory. I went over my leaving flat checklist so I am not aware of any non-worry reason there should be a problem there, let alone one requiring this kind of dash.
So I am going to slowlyish drink my water and maybe call mum again to double check and then go through security.
0835 drunk water, going to maybe go to toilet then go through security.
0859 through security, no fuss, although scanner is a stand sideways spreadeagled job and felt vaguely intrusive but I'm just guessing and going on memories of the naked X ray type scanner thing controversy a while back.
0908 Flight showing as delayed to 1150. Minor pisser but not end of world. This is first time I've seen a flight departure board since arriving, didn't go out of my way to find one before.
0921 in Flying Horse with a pint - actually not too bad at £5.05 for a pint of Flack's New Forest IPA 4.9%. I may have two pints (slowly) given price isn't too insane and selay. At table 18, got departure board behind me and can people watch a bit.
Maybe I'm just out of touch but it seems weird to see LBC news on electronic "posters" reporting as if the president isn't changing in a handful of days - new Russian sanctions, Biden announcing some sort of Gaza ceasefire.
0941 need to be as relaxed as possible during trip. For example first norning in Bacalar I do not want to be thinking "fuck fuck fuck got to dash off and see the lagoon and maybe look at zocalo so I can decide about new accom etc" I need to be "let's go have a wander, I'm supposed to be enjoying myself and I can and will extend my stay here if I am liking it so while I may well so all those things there is no need to turn then into a chore".
1026 been for piss and got another pint, perhaps foolish but probably not insanely so.
1048 maybe it's the best but I am feeling surprisingly cheerful. Maybe it shouldn't be surprising - I am off for an 8 week jolly - but still, compared to my mild edginess and slight apprehensiveness earlier this is a pleasant change. Maybe my thoughts have helped, but maybe it is the beer.
Futo keyboard makes writing this on touch screen bordetline tolerable, though I am mainly writing to pass time and don't intend to be on phone all the time (same idea as usual, just normally enforced by k1 being left at hostel during say). I suspect there will be some distinctive quirks and rough edges from all the different input methods but the main thing is to get stuff down for future me to read, not to write perfect error free text.
1041 gate was due to come up 1038 and indeed gate 25 is now being advertised. I think I can afford 10-15 mins to finish this beer, which is about 1/3 gone.
1046 just sent message to pickup about delay, I'm sure they would check the arrival time anyway but this feels polite and nay head off problems.
1102 screen showed "boarding" so necked about last third of pint and hoofed it over here but it (of course) doesn't look like we really are boarding. When got here and saw not actually boarding popped off for piss.
Not a big deal but wish I had been more confident about them not really boarding and had lingered another 5-10 mins with rest of pint. But then I'd not have been able to relax (I suppose I can wish I could as part of being more confident, but there is a lot at stake with a long haul expensive flight) so not too big a deal.
Did experimentally shove my bag in a Ryanair cabin bag gauge just now. A smidge fat but did mostly fit and I could have tweaked it if necessary. Also tries a Norwegian (?) On arrival at airport and iirc it was similar there.
If I didn't say I refilled (albeit not chock full) my water bottles after security so I have a fair bit of water for flight if I need it. I am sure you can ask for water even as a pleb class traveller but it is nice not to have to, or to save that for emergencies.
For some reason I have amateur transplants song with lyric "I can see that your arse has its own gravitational pull" in my head. Such a shame Adam Kay nicked my expensive beer at that show, I was quite a big fan but that was a piastake.
Feeling fairly cheerful.
1145 on plane. Lots of FAFF at passport scan, the system did not seem to like it, nice enough woman at deak asked at one point if I didn't have a return ticket and I showed her my printout (intended to make Mexican immigration happy) though she didn't seem that interested. In the end she took a photo of my passport and let me on. Vaguely worrying, she kept swiping it through the reqder gadget and it said it couldn't read. I hope I'm not going to have trouble at the far end but I guess it ought to be OK and I do have travel insurance and since they let me on I guess at least part of responsiblity is with them.
Do have aisle seat as per plan and at least so far no one is sitting in either of the other two seats in my block of three.
I just stood there reasonably patiently while she was faffing with my passport, I didn't argue or anything.
1153 delay was due to drains at back being clogged or blocked (can't remember what they said)when it came in from mauritius. Apparently we will gain some time on the flight so we may not be that late in.
Woman in aisle seat now but middle seat still free and is likely to remain so. Safety card says boeing 777.
1223 what does "menudas piezas" mean? Film title but menudas is not in my dictionary. I assume piezas is pieces.
Feel a bit yawny and tires, probably beer and lack of sleep. Half decent range of films despite my reluctance to watch most modern stuff. Probably will watch Coco.
1259 having not bad brewdog transatlantic IPA, wtf, am on
holiday :-) coco is weird. I am watching in English (first viewing) and the mixed in Spanish is probably standard (cf Richard herring doing his routine where some French speaking character uses French words like pomme de Terre for the easiest things to an English speaker not the hardest things to a French speaker, I know this spanish is just flavour) but it feels odd. And the film so far is both oddly touching and yet kind of cringey. And while I despise this style of thinking, I can't help wondering if it it a weird stereotype of Mexican culture. Tbf it is probably not an unaffectionate one and I have a vague idea a Mexican friend loved the film but this is against my will - I hate this style of thinking as I say - it adds an extra layer of weirdness.
Also like the kids family seem nice but the anti music thing after n generations (4) is just odd and his parents seem spineless against the Abuelita and is that supposed to be normal or are they really generally spineless? As I say weird. But also oddly touching and while it would be weird it does make me think, having akreadyvheard it is cool even as a foreigner, tempt me to visit Mexico for day of dead. Istr being in Guatemala for it and it wasn't a huge deal but maybe it is different or maybe I hid away.
Making a small effort to be outgoing and break pattern I gave my unwanted sour cream and chive
pretzels to woman in window seat.
I did notice alebrijes early in film in town marketing scene and that did remind me of Z and the IS days.
1309 bit silly but if the dead really can't cross into the world of living without being on someone's ofrenda, yet they are effectively immortal (or permanently morted, so to speak), that has to suck after you've been dead a couple of hundred years, maybe kess. Or for that matter if you died before photography was invented.
I do wonder if this is "real lore" or something made up for the film which is kind of practically consistent with day of dead tradition but not part of the "folk rules" of it.
1313 just shoved unused napkin that came with beer into my fleece pocket. I really feel like I'm in travel mode now. :-) this sort of came out of nowhere, it just felt right.
It isn't maybe that strong a resemblance but I also can't help thinking the kid's mom reminds me of Valeria. Maybe it's just the voice. Not sure it's even that, but rationally or otherwise something did remind me of her.
Dinner is roast chicken or Thai vegetable curry. I might go for the Thai, roast chicken sounds good but would it have sauce, whereas I'd be more confident I could eat the Thai. But as I write this the roast chicken does sound tempting.
I do feel a smidge chilly even with fleece but lots of people have blankets on so probably not just me or that the fleece is massively inadequate. Fleece did feel okish on walk to station this morning.
1401 OK, had quite decent if small Thai veg curry. And so apparently the dead do die if not remembered. Again, wobder to what extent any of this is "believed" in reality or whether anyone eve thinks about or and it's just a vague rememberance thing in reality. (I have loosely participated in at least one DoD thing in UK, but not obvious and certainly wouldn't have wanted to be a boor and ask.)
Has glass merlot with food. But wtf, on holiday as I say. My general aspiration for trip wrt booze is that I'd like to *on average* not drink at all half of days, have a couple (maybe a few) most saya eg sundowner kind of thing and then perhaps a handful of days (ideally in own hostel with no travel or safety issues) maybe drink quite a lot but not tot the point of being off my face.
I suspect I see a plot twist coming in film and Hector is actually the kid (Manuel?) 's relative not the big star Ernesto after all, but maybe I am wrong. Hector was big star's mentor and gave him his guitar etc.
1440 jeez it is both deeply touching and amazingly cheesy. Also I can't help thinking Hector should have been fucked anyway if Coco, as the only living person to remember him when he was alive, died before next DoD. Didn't we already establish Miguel meeting him in land of dead didn't count? And presumably Coco's family didn't remember him as he died while she was still a kid? Meh, obviously it's more satisfying this way and I'm not complaining as such. But if "mere" respect or having met or remembering in general counts, why couldn't Miguel have just have remembered the old guy who gave them the guitar to stop him dying dying? But we were told explicitly that didn't count.
Embarrassingly touching all the same. Though I'm probably more sensitive to such things of late than I might otherwise have been. And going away, even for only two months, probably also feesa into it.
1450 I suspect I'm supposed to feel uplifted after the enotional rollercoaster of the film. Despite as I say being embarrassingly touched during the film, I feel kind of hacked off instead of elated. Maybe I just feel emotionally manipulated by a master of the game. Maybe something about the message doesn't quite sit right. Maybe it's the alcohol.
I am also fractionally watching (over the seat row in front on screen of person in middle of that row) a film about an annoying blue haired alcoholic young woman who has some connection with Orkney and soneone talks to her about corncrakes and who was earlier jogging down a canal with a bridge that said "Joker" on it which (probably incorrectly) I wonder if was Regent's Canal.
But also shouldn't hector have been fucked whenever Coco died? Never mind DoD. If she was the only person qualified to remember him and (as he explicitly said -
though maybe he believed it but was wrong?) the instant she died he would not longer be remember and die die, that's that isn't it? If Miguel doesn't qualify to remember him, no one else does either. The entire living family can venerate him and show his photo next DoD but even if they did and Coco lived that long, as soon as she dies he's toast.
Probably trying to ameliorate emotion with pointless excess rationality but at the same time once they start trying to make all these rules up it just invites rules lawyering/pedantry. Maybe I missed something anyway.
I dunno. Definitely over thinking it but maybe if Ernestos fans who never met him qualify, it's fine. It does feel like the rules don't make sense though.
1506 Wouldn't mind a piss but major queue. Not big deal. Watching "inside out" but I suspect it's going to be a bit fucking annoying. Did go earlier in flight.
Yawning quite a bit. Not sure if I ought to try to stay awake or not.
1518 toilet queue died down so went. Charging o6 from powerbank in pocket with short cable, which seems to be working. It was down to 52%ish which isn't great but isn't terrible.
1810 I'm fairly sure I drifted off to sleep to some extent. It said 5hxx remaining of flight on someone elaes monitor when I've coming round. I had pauaed inside out and just finished it. I'm clearly a bit susceptible at the moment and found it slightly sad but not as much as Coco. I did unexpectedly "quietly laugh out loud" at the pseudo jump scare of joy and sadness suddenly entering the dream in the dog costume.
Person in middle seat ahead of me watching an interesting seeming film (with english subtitles) about a Count and a hotel after the Russian revolution.
Throat a bit dry since I slept, did have a bit of water from my stash and may have a bit more. May be films or alcohol or situation but feeling a bit down and that sense of almost weird joy I had earlier has dissipates. Of course I realise I am going to feel very different soon enough etc etc.
Just skimming films it is possible blue haired woman film is The Outrun.
1842 cannot find this hotel film. Will probably watch Rear Window, I don't think I've seen it despite how old it is.
Screen says 3h59 remaining.
1942 RW is quite good but it is also a bit claustrophobic. And I keep getting distracted by Inside Out 2 and some probably Chinese film about a teenage kid (called Chris Wang?) whose Dad is in Taiwan and his num is an artist and some mildly unpleasant story about a squirrel on energy drink (the latter being middle seat person in row in front of me).
Yawning.
2005 "Chinese" film is Didi.
2007 continues to feel slightly chilly. Anticipating feeling too hot in Mexico. Thinking of that Pog lyric "when the rain falls it feels like purgatory, when the sun beats down something" - badly mangled that. It will be fine of course. Just looking for-problems kind of mindset at the moment.
2012 aha, hotel "film" is actually a TV series "A gentleman in Moscow" (Paramount) - seen as middle seat browsing.
2202 due to land in about 45 mins, about 50 mins late I think. 29C in Cancun!
Almost finished first episode of gentleman in Moscow but keep getting interrupted, literally a minute or two away. Now mandatory charity video.
Mild dread about arrival and will I feel in the way at accom and can I go out for food or what but am sure it will be fine.
2209 a water bottle has leaked in day-pack, I suspect I didn't put cap on properly. Probably mostly got away with it. I should keep power bank and cable in a plastic bag just to be safe though.
Major queues for toilet. I can probably hold on until we land. I did get up to stretch my legs (esp left leg) maybe 15-30 mins ago and there was already a queue.
2225 sneaked in a piss just as aeatbelt sign went on. Bit edgy but not too bad.
0149uk/2049 local everything going well but feeling a bit discombobulated. Going to have a shower and move towards bed and maybe write the rest of tonight up tomorrow.
Before I forget "rapidos" at Bacalar are apparently nearby and good and cheap accom as not well known - tip from owner
2119 Okay, I just did Duolingo because I'm a complete addict and idiot. I'm not too knackered but I would like to go to bed so I'm just going to see if I can bash something out on the voice typing and see how it goes.
Immigration was no big deal, there was quite a long queue but it went really quickly and I was probably through in 15-20 minutes, no forms to fill in. They asked me how long I was going to stay and I said mid-March and I think they've written 180 days on the stamp in the passport.
Customs was just nothing. We'd just all walk through some nothing to declare area and no one really seemed to get pulled aside. There were some cash machines outside. I tried one and it wanted to charge me like ten pounds in a fee on like a 5,000 Mexican peso withdrawal, which was the max it would allow. I cancelled that and tried the one next to it, which I can't remember exactly, but I think it charged about a £4 fee on a 7,000 withdrawal. I felt a bit rushed because I didn't know if someone would be waiting to pick me up so I didn't faff around too much on that one trying to get small bills so I got all 500s.I think it'll be fine.
The airport-free Wi-Fi needs you to watch an ad or something. It's a bit weird, but it did more or less work. I went outside and there's no indoor waiting area at the airport. You can't go back inside once you go out as far as I can tell, at least at Terminal 3, which seems to be the main one. I absolutely remembered waiting out there when we were being picked up by the rep in 2013. Also, Air Margaritaville, where I remember going with J and V at the end of the trip, I guess, before we went into the airport. Maybe there's more than one, but I don't think so.
So I managed to get the 06 WhatsApp working and got in touch with the pickup and although there was some delay because there was some heavy rain it did rain quite heavily while we were waiting outside but it's all mostly undercover it's just outdoors. Anyway, in the end I managed to get picked up and the owner seems really nice and a guy who apparently is also another long-term guest or something, she was waiting at the side of the road with me while he drove up and picked us up.
Traffic was horrendous. I really didn't think it was very far from the airport at all, looking at the map and I'm sure 15 minutes have been mentioned. I mean, you can probably work it out from the blog entries, timestamps, but it might have been an hour. I don't really know what it was quite bad traffic. I was speaking with the owner in Spanish. I was sat in the back and she was in the front next to the other guy who was driving, obviously, and he had a nice little dog on his lap. It turns out it's only got three legs which I didn't notice until we got to the accom. It was born with three legs, but really nice little sort of dog. I don't know what style. No. Tiny bit like the one in Spaced.
I think I did fairly well speaking in Spanish with the owner while we were driving and when we got back she showed me around, I accidentally knocked a picture of Frida Kahlo off the wall with my backpack but luckily it didn't break, she's been to Frida's house in, is it Coyoacan? We talked a tiny bit about Frida and she showed me around and we talked a bit more in the kitchen. She was saying something about the charging taxes at Tulum to get in now on top of the other price which makes it really expensive. She said something about if I came back at the end of the trip you know we could tell her where I've been and she might take us to some sort of beach 40 minutes away from here so that might be nice.
She offered me a banana, which I accepted as sort of dinner, not that anything's supposed to be included. And I had a little chat with Andre, who's the Canadian guy who drove us down, who's retired, and he's been here a couple of months, I think, and he's here, kind of longish term. And I said, hi briefly to a Panamanian woman, who's another guest. I also saw her cat, which is really nice, little sort of white, splodgy one, although it's the dog apparently hunts it, and after I sais goodnight there was some really loud yapping on the stairs and the cat ran down but at least I got to see it and stroke it.
So I was sort of fiddling around in my room staring at my bag on the bed and not quite feeling able to do anything and I realised I was obviously a bit discombobulated as I said earlier so I sort of grabbed my bathroom stuff and went and had a shower and cleaned my teeth and now I'm back in the room sitting on the bed.
I haven't re-packed or shifted stuff out of travel mode or attempted to divide up the money I got from the cash machine or anything yet. I'm gonna do that tomorrow. I think it'll be fine. I'm not absolutely knackered but it would be nice to go to bed and I think I've basically written everything up now. The voice typing actually seems to be working pretty well. I had to tweak it a little bit and so there's some on-screen keyboard stuff mixed in. I really don't want to be faffing with the Bluetooth keyboard tonight.
As we were driving back from the airport, the owner said, there's public buses that will go to the ADO terminal. I don't know exactly where the stop is. I might talk to her tomorrow about that. I can probably get an Uber. I'm not too worried about it. I think the main thing for tomorrow is, don't get up too late, but, you know, have a reasonable sleep. And then I want to go out and look for a local sim, practice my Spanish in the phone shops a bit and buy something. And maybe get a few beers and bring them back because Andre did let me pay 500 for the trip from the airport instead of the 600 it was advertised as and he said something about oh you can get the beers and I didn't quite twig what he meant but I think I might buy a six pack or something and bring it back and if anyone wants a beer with me tomorrow night that's cool and if not I can just leave them here or take a couple with me.
Yeah, I think that's about it. Like I say, I'm going to sort of reorganise my clothes and money and stuff tomorrow before I go out and decide what I'm doing about the phones in terms of which I leave here and which I take out and where I hide them or whether I hide them and everything. Do all that tomorrow.
2135 OK, so let me send this and then go to bed. I feel fairly good TBH, I had expected to be feeling a bit lonely and awkward here tonight and it hasn't been like that, though TBH I also got here late enough with the delay in pickup and the slow traffic getting back and the nearly hour delay on flight that it was just natural to go to bed as soon as I finished the chat with owner here.
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