Nezahualcóyotl Municipality

As far as flights go, my flight from Havana to Mexico City was about as good as a budget airline can be. I was just relieved to be finally on my way after so much time waiting at Havana airport. When I stepped into the plane it was evident that airlines were already shutting down. The plane was less than 50% full and I was pleased to discover that I had three exit row seats to myself. After 40 hours with no sleep, I might finally get a chance to catch a couple of hours sleep..... Or so I thought.

As it turned out, the sleep did not come. Although I was exhausted, there were just too many thoughts crowding in my head. Our world was changing so rapidly that it was impossible to absorb it all. My main fear was that the borders and airlines would shut down completely before I completed my flights to Melbourne. It was a terrifying prospect.

Three and a half hours later we were landing in Mexico city. When I landed I leaned that my ESTA application had been successful. This is a necessary security clearance that evryone who travels through the USA must have. My original plan had been to wait a day in Mexico while the ESTA was processed, but since the ESTA was already granted, I contacted Flight Centre again to bring the next flights forward. I did not want to linger a minute longer than necessary.

After several emails, I was given a space on a flight to Houston, followed by a flight to LA and then home to Melbourne. Since the flight to Houston was not due to leave until 11 am the next morning, that meant another 10 hours of waiting in Mexico airport.

I collected my luggage and then wandered the airport. It was around midnight and things were shutting down. Worried travelers wandered about in a daze, presumably looking for a place to spend the night. I have often wondered why airports make so little provision for comfortable seating and Mexico was a typical example.

I did manage to get some food and a coffee, before looking for a relatively quiet place to rest. Using my luggage as a pillow I settled down on the cold tiles to try to rest. It had now been over 40 hours since I had last slept and I was feeling like I was on the verge of collapse.

Somehow between midnight and sunrise I managed to grab a couple of hours sleep, but was awakened by a security guard who was obviously not happy for me to use her airport as a hotel. When I checked my watch I still had several hours to go before my scheduled flight to Houston.

After what seemed like another eternity, I was finally able to check in for the Houston flight and at least get rid of my large luggage. The normally bustling airport was getting quieter and quieter. When I arrived at the designated departure gate with my boarding pass I could see that there were very few other passengers. It was going to be a quiet flight, or so I thought.

It was only when I presented my boarding pass that things again took a turn for the worse. No one wants to see the dreaded words "UNKNOWN PASSENGER" come up on the computer screen, but that's exactly what happened. My heart started to thump in my chest.

The steward pulled me to one side and started tapping away on the keyboard. She seemed confused at first but finally discovered that the problem was due to the fact that my connecting flight from Houston to LA had already been cancelled ! She started looking for another option and finally found a combination of flights through San Francisco that would get me to LA in time to catch my final flight to Melbourne.

Since my luggage had already been checked onto the Houston flight I began to have serious doubts as to whether I would ever see it again. I could not help but feel like I was in one of those Indiana Jones movies where I was only one small step ahead of the collapsing bridge. The whole system seemed to be shutting down in front of my eyes.

I was eventually given a new boarding pass for a flight to San Francisco. When I looked at the arrival time I could see that there was going to less than 60 minutes between flights. In that time I would have to clear immigration, collect my luggage, go through US Customs, recheck my luggage for the next flight and then find the right departure gate for the flight to LA.

At least my flight from Mexico was still due to take off on time. There was still hope of making the connection, but it was going to be tight.Read more