Since we were scheduled to leave within a couple of hours, and the flight was going to be long, we tried to keep Lorena from falling asleep in the airport. We managed, and she was soon asleep after takeoff. Oh, and I must say that she finds it most amusing when the airplanes “walk”, it is quite silly to her. Back to the flight; she watched the wings and said, “But look, the wings are not moving, they are not flapping!” Come to think of it, one really would expect the wings to flap, and that very thought guided many a failed attempt to device a flying machine. Later on, it might have been on that flight or a subsequent one, Lorena covered her ears and said, “I am covering my ears because I don’t want to hear: BOOM, BANG, PASSS, or, the plane is crashing!!!” Again an example of thoughts little kids have, sometimes they say them aloud, allowing you a quick glimpse into their heads, but many others they remain quiet thoughts,.
She was sitting with dad, and Arantxa was sitting next to me. With experience, we have figured that the best set up is to be seated on the same side of the plane, example seats 10A, 10B, 11A, and 11B. Lorena has to get a window seat so she can seat in her car seat. Then, Arantxa sits right in front of her, thus keeping Lorena’s kicks in the family. We can then all easily share books, toys, etc. and help each other out.
Arantxa and I were reading Pippi Longstocking among other things, so she laughed aloud frequently. When they came to offer us food, they asked her: “Would you like waffles or omelet?” She looked perplexed and asked them to repeat the choices. “Waffles or omelet?” repeated the attendant. Arantxa turned around, opened the window blind (it was pitch dark outside), and she told me, “but mom, it is nighttime!”
I had to explain that since we would have left in the morning, the food they had prepared was breakfast items. She took the waffles and managed to empty the syrup on her clothes. The flight attendants gave us a bunch of wet towels, and we cleaned as best we could, and it got all stiff but not sticky after it dried.
When we finally landed, it was quite late; and even more so after we cleared customs and immigration. We saw Palo and Vane (Pablo’s dad and sister) with the traditional red balloons, Yeya had stayed home sick. We went to the car rental booth, and found that calling Alamo to explain that the flight was delayed, and hearing from them that a note had been tagged to our reservation, was a waste of time. Why? Simply because we called Alamo, not Alamo Mexico. ARGH!!!!
We installed the car seats in Yeya’s car, and Pablo wanted to take a taxi; but it was really late and it had been a very long day. I ended sitting between the car seats (not an easy feat), Pablo drove, and his dad and sister sat on the passenger’s side.
Aeromexico is now exclusively using the new Terminal 2, we’d never been there. We followed the sign that said “Circuito Interior”, basically ignoring a Mexican driving rule of thumb: signs are randomly put in the city with no logic behind them. In this case, as in many others, it was worse to follow them. Side story. Once some friends and I were driving back to the city, and we followed a sign to the new highway. We followed the exit and ended up in a dirt patch of road right away. We thought we had made a wrong turn, so we backed up and tried again. We had followed the sign correctly. Then we understood: the highway was not yet built, but the sign was already installed.
All 4 adults kept trying to figure out where we were and how to get home. Arantxa fell asleep right away, she’d been awake many hours. Lorena was awake for the most part. The city was very difficult to navigate because they had had the brilliant idea to repave several of the main arterial streets at once (all to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the independence and 100th of the revolution next year). Many areas looked as if they had been bombed. After much driving, we pulled over to ask a policeman. Funny how we could do that with 3 passengers in the front seats; they guy did not blink, perhaps because everybody was wearing a seat belt.
Finally, we arrived home at about 3:30 am. Both girls transferred easily to the mattress that was set for them.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Airport Stories and Adventures
If anybody had been wondering why Alaska/Horizon had cancelled all their flights, here is the answer. Can you see the guy with the little red shovel, under the wing? he had a lot of work to do....
Well, yes, that was a joke, but seriously, while we saw those little trucks that shove snow around, this guy cleaned all of that, on his own, just with the shovel!!
It is impossible to retell all of our airport adventures. Here are a few, from us, or people we met, on the way to Mexico.
You know you have been at the airport too long when:
- you have already used half of your SD card, and you still haven’t even formally left for vacation.
- you know all the names, basic stories, and information on the passengers that are stranded next to you.
- you feel extremely lucky to have been there sitting at the gate for only 10 hours.
- you know that since you are in a direct flight, you will make it to your destination, at some point....
- you feel extremely lucky to have been there sitting at the gate for only 10 hours.
- the kids’ backpacks and snacks are shared freely among several kids.
you hear a big cheer and applause coming from a neighboring gate. The reason? A single flight attendant had shown up, thus increasing the chances of them actually leaving.
Our situation in a nutshell.
Some of you followed along with us, via Facebook, as we were at the airport. Some of you have no idea, so here is the short story (can I really make it short????) of our travel to Mexico.
Seattle had had a TON of snow during the days prior to our trip. Much more than usual. We were really worried Sunday night, thinking we wouldn't make it to the airport. We had several plans, but we went with our first option. A taxi service was going to pick us up at 7 am (they couldn't come any earlier), they'd come in an SUV, and our flight was scheduled for 9:30. We left the house, all nice and clean, even beds were made. We managed to get our luggage and the girls
into the SUV, I had to wear my rainboots, and Pablo took them back to the house. We had several inches of snow, but not close to 1 foot.
The ride to the airport was super long and tricky. Aeromexico had reassured us over and over, that there'd be no problem. While Alaska Airlines had cancelled ALL their flights the previous 2 days, they had left on time. Even the interstate had not yet been cleaned that morning. Once we got to the airport at 8, we thought we'd be fine.
We knew things were crazy at the airport, with thousands of passengers still stranded there. However, we better understood the reality of the mess when we heard the following announcement, "To those passengers that arrived in last night’s flight from Hawaiian Airlines, please pick up your baggage at carousel number 3".
We checked in with no problem and proceeded to our gate. We soon realized that Aeromexico's prior direct flight to Mexico had not yet departed. We sat close to their counter, so we were able to hear some of what was happening.
While Alaska had cancelled their flights because they did not have anti-freeze, and their Canadian supplier was on strike; Aeromexico had the precious liquid, but, the de-icing machine was broken. Eventually, they would be able to use another airline's machine, when they were done using it.
Every hour or so, they made an announcement: Passengers on flights X and Y, please stay in this area, your flight will be leaving within a few hours. The other flight left, and some time later, our finally did. I think it might have been close to 6 pm. We made it past bureaucracy sometime in the early AM; and we got to PAblo's parents house, at around 3:30 am.
Some random stories
A family with 4 kids, maybe ages 3-10, were camping out next to the gate; they had been ON the plane for 7 hours the previous day, before letting them out. By the time we saw them, they had been out of the plane for 15+ hours.
Another family, with a not yet 2.5 year old boy, we met had spent 2 days at the airport. Their flight from Bellingham to Seattle had been cancelled so they drove down to Sea-Tac. At that point, ALL of Alaska Airlines flights were cancelled. The airline offered to get them to Playa del Carmen (final destination), 2 days after the end of their scheduled family vacation with extended family. They found spots in Aeromexico’s flight to Mexico City. That was our flight, Aeromexico had been departing with no problems the previous days. They spent a couple of hours in a hotel, the second night. They finally arrived in Mexico City, 2.5 days later, had to spend the night there, and hopefully made it to Playa the following day.
It took people 7 hours to get their checked luggage back (and they hadn’t even traveled).
A picture is worth a thousand words (or dollars???).
To be expected, right? Tens of thousands of people have been at the airport for over 2 days. However...
Are those drinks that bad NOBODY wants them? Not even under those circumstances. I think the marketing/product development of that company would pay money for that picture.
This was our preschool section of the gate. Eowyn (pink) was almost 2.5, she and her Mexican mom were flying to Mexico. Jackson, was the 2.5 year old on his way to Playa del Carmen (probably took them 3.5 days to get there). he was so sweet, after everything he'd been through. He had recently turned 2.5. We all shared parental duties, shared toys, snacks, had story time, etc.
Arantxa spent a good chunk of the time reading. Lorena was read from her princesses stories book, over and over. We all knew the stories pretty well, it was a good gift from Santa!
Finally, on the plane!!!!
Well, yes, that was a joke, but seriously, while we saw those little trucks that shove snow around, this guy cleaned all of that, on his own, just with the shovel!!
It is impossible to retell all of our airport adventures. Here are a few, from us, or people we met, on the way to Mexico.
You know you have been at the airport too long when:
- you have already used half of your SD card, and you still haven’t even formally left for vacation.
- you know all the names, basic stories, and information on the passengers that are stranded next to you.
- you feel extremely lucky to have been there sitting at the gate for only 10 hours.
- you know that since you are in a direct flight, you will make it to your destination, at some point....
- you feel extremely lucky to have been there sitting at the gate for only 10 hours.
- the kids’ backpacks and snacks are shared freely among several kids.
you hear a big cheer and applause coming from a neighboring gate. The reason? A single flight attendant had shown up, thus increasing the chances of them actually leaving.
Our situation in a nutshell.
Some of you followed along with us, via Facebook, as we were at the airport. Some of you have no idea, so here is the short story (can I really make it short????) of our travel to Mexico.
Seattle had had a TON of snow during the days prior to our trip. Much more than usual. We were really worried Sunday night, thinking we wouldn't make it to the airport. We had several plans, but we went with our first option. A taxi service was going to pick us up at 7 am (they couldn't come any earlier), they'd come in an SUV, and our flight was scheduled for 9:30. We left the house, all nice and clean, even beds were made. We managed to get our luggage and the girls
into the SUV, I had to wear my rainboots, and Pablo took them back to the house. We had several inches of snow, but not close to 1 foot.
The ride to the airport was super long and tricky. Aeromexico had reassured us over and over, that there'd be no problem. While Alaska Airlines had cancelled ALL their flights the previous 2 days, they had left on time. Even the interstate had not yet been cleaned that morning. Once we got to the airport at 8, we thought we'd be fine.
We knew things were crazy at the airport, with thousands of passengers still stranded there. However, we better understood the reality of the mess when we heard the following announcement, "To those passengers that arrived in last night’s flight from Hawaiian Airlines, please pick up your baggage at carousel number 3".
We checked in with no problem and proceeded to our gate. We soon realized that Aeromexico's prior direct flight to Mexico had not yet departed. We sat close to their counter, so we were able to hear some of what was happening.
While Alaska had cancelled their flights because they did not have anti-freeze, and their Canadian supplier was on strike; Aeromexico had the precious liquid, but, the de-icing machine was broken. Eventually, they would be able to use another airline's machine, when they were done using it.
Every hour or so, they made an announcement: Passengers on flights X and Y, please stay in this area, your flight will be leaving within a few hours. The other flight left, and some time later, our finally did. I think it might have been close to 6 pm. We made it past bureaucracy sometime in the early AM; and we got to PAblo's parents house, at around 3:30 am.
Some random stories
A family with 4 kids, maybe ages 3-10, were camping out next to the gate; they had been ON the plane for 7 hours the previous day, before letting them out. By the time we saw them, they had been out of the plane for 15+ hours.
Another family, with a not yet 2.5 year old boy, we met had spent 2 days at the airport. Their flight from Bellingham to Seattle had been cancelled so they drove down to Sea-Tac. At that point, ALL of Alaska Airlines flights were cancelled. The airline offered to get them to Playa del Carmen (final destination), 2 days after the end of their scheduled family vacation with extended family. They found spots in Aeromexico’s flight to Mexico City. That was our flight, Aeromexico had been departing with no problems the previous days. They spent a couple of hours in a hotel, the second night. They finally arrived in Mexico City, 2.5 days later, had to spend the night there, and hopefully made it to Playa the following day.
It took people 7 hours to get their checked luggage back (and they hadn’t even traveled).
A picture is worth a thousand words (or dollars???).
To be expected, right? Tens of thousands of people have been at the airport for over 2 days. However...
Are those drinks that bad NOBODY wants them? Not even under those circumstances. I think the marketing/product development of that company would pay money for that picture.
This was our preschool section of the gate. Eowyn (pink) was almost 2.5, she and her Mexican mom were flying to Mexico. Jackson, was the 2.5 year old on his way to Playa del Carmen (probably took them 3.5 days to get there). he was so sweet, after everything he'd been through. He had recently turned 2.5. We all shared parental duties, shared toys, snacks, had story time, etc.
Arantxa spent a good chunk of the time reading. Lorena was read from her princesses stories book, over and over. We all knew the stories pretty well, it was a good gift from Santa!
Finally, on the plane!!!!
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