Day 1 off to SMA

I'm actually writing this after the fact - took tons of pics & notes, per usual, so should be fairly accurate . . ..

It all started Thursday Feb 29, when I called up to Peter on the 2nd floor saying I was checking into our flights. He replied, "We have to chat." I said, "Fine just let me check in first. " He quickly came downstairs and said "I'm not going." YIKES I was dumbfounded.

True, Feb 15 - 25 Daina & family had been here, little Reeve & Van were hacking & sneezing, and Peter had said he wasn't feeling 100% . But still . . . I was shocked to hear he wasn't coming. . . . I gave him a COVID test - wasn't that, so I tried to convince him to come and recoup there, but no luck. OK on to plan B. This would be the first time in 52 year I was off on a major trip on my own . . . ..

Flight left at 8:00 am, and I was there in plenty of time. As we'd paid for 2 seats, I asked if I could take Peter’s aisle seat rather than my middle seat. The "unfriendly" AC agent said NO someone else was in that seat. I asked if he'd paid for it, and she said, NO, he'd been assigned it. This wasn't going to fly with me, so I asked to speak to the manager and finally they let me take the aisle seat. Weirdly, when I got on there was no one in the middle seat. Go figure . . .

Flight was smooth, arrived in Mexico City at noon and I had to wait at Real Camino Hotel until 6:00pm to catch the ETN bus. The problem was that this bus took the super slow route so I didn't get in to the local bus station in SMA until after midnight. Needless to say, I was concerned about not finding a taxi, but fortunately, one was there so I got to my air BnB about 1:00am. Reading the code on the lock box, was the next challenge. The box was really high and the numbers were silver on a silver plate. With my phone flashlight I was finally able to lock in the right numbers.

It was 3:00am before I settled in - had to do a major unclutter of tiny ornaments and carpets everywhere. Fortunately, Diago had changed his small double bed for 2 twin beds - actually at my request last year, which was really sweet of him - and the new beds were super comfortable.

OK, let the solo trip begin . . ..Baca selengkapnya