Hello!!
Yes, we're back -- after a REALLY long day!
Up around 7 to a very fall-like day in Mexico City! People were even wearing winter coats and sweaters! And here we are going to the Airport about 11 am in shorts and t-shirts (with jackets).
We had our last lovely breakfast upstairs; truly, I could get used to those wonderful breakfasts -- they certainly keep me going until dinner at night! Checked out around 10:30 am and then down a couple of blocks to a good place to pick up our Uber. After all the various Zocalo events -- concert on Sunday night and then some sort of political demonstration on Monday night, and we did wake up to people marching and chanting on Tuesday morning ... at any rate, quick and easy ride to the airport, and then fairly quickly through Security. (Although there was an "older" couple ahead of us, who apparently had no idea of how to 1) pack, 2) what NOT to try and bring on an airplane, and 3) no ability whatsoever to understand instructions on how to get through the body scanner.) Fortunately, we had plenty of time to kill, and used our Priority Pass cards to get into a very small lounge in the International Departures area.
They provided food and beverages, although all we had was sparkling water, but had nice private bathrooms as well as comfortable seating and lots of electrical plugs. It was nice and quiet, which was really good, because that was when a migraine decided to hit ... UGH! Took my medication as well as some Advil, and tried to relax a bit -- I'm thinking it was probably as a result of Sunday night's concert!!
We were able to board early and get our carry-on luggage stored. Problem was, that even though the 2-carry-on-rule was announced in the boarding area, folks were bringing 4-5 pieces each! And suddenly the plane was full! Surprise!! My favorite story is that a gal sitting right behind the exit rows, just left her suitcase right there, on the floor in front of the emergency exit -- no problem! When the flight attendant came by, she was fairly short about it -- and the gal got to take her bag back to the front of the plane and have them check it! Truly -- WHAT was she thinking??
The plane took off a bit late (because of having to gate check the suitcases that were brought on board as carry-on) but the flight was only about 3 hours 17 minutes, and before we knew it, we were landing at LAX.
What really blew our minds, though, was going through Global Entry. When we came back from Portugal, the machine took our photos and within seconds we had a print out with our photo as well as all of our information! And we didn't even have to scan our passports! Well, LAX did one better -- walk up to the machine, put your face between the marks, and literally, there was a man at a computer saying: Edward, you're out! Margaret, you're out! Robert -- so not even paper anymore! It took less than a second for the facial recognition to identify us. Absolutely incredible! [And more than a bit scary!]
LAX was its normal zoo-like place, especially at Bradley, the International Terminal. We decided to try UBER BLACK, and quite literally, within 3 minutes, we had our driver in a lovely black Mercedes pulling over to pick us up! It took a while to get to sister Kitty's, but we made it in under an hour and a half (rush hour on the LA freeways), so it was worth it! (You can also take Uber-X, but then you have to take a bus to a location somewhere in the airport and call from there...considering my headache, this was the best alternative!)
Kitty had a wonderful dinner ready for us -- ham, potatoes gratin, asparagus (perfectly cooked, I might add!) and salad -- pumpkin pie (my Dad's very favorite in the entire world!) for dessert. Everything was yummy! I collapsed about 9 pm; not sure when R did, because I was down for the count. However, up at 4 am this morning -- 6 am Mexico City time! -- and on the road by 5 am. We took the Interstate 5 down through San Diego to IS-8, and made absolutely incredible time! NO traffic jams at all (thankfully!) and got home just on 1 pm. And SOOO nice to be here!
So, thank you SO much for coming with us! We're planning Egypt and Jordan in January and February, so ... until then!
Lots and lots and lots of love!
m
xxx
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