Ok, I got home but it was not easy and it was not all that far. There were several of us and 2 of the guys had good connections from Houston directly to Villahermosa… so going home they left at about 7am and were home shortly after noon… Me… I opted for another carrier and had to fly through Dallas then Mexico City then Villahermosa. So going home it was the same way… my journey was not easy… The driver was to be at my hotel at 7 to get me to the airport about 1.5 hours before my 8:50 flight… at 7:11 I called for a cab. The cab drove like is tail was on fire but we made it and I got checked in. Not a lot of wait time but maybe 30 minutes before we started the loading process.
We made it to Mexico City in about 2plus hours and at 10:45 I was jogging through Terminal 2 (National terminal for there) to get to the cross airport train. The Train is not a fast one either as well as it is maybe 2 or 3 miles across to the other terminal (International)… The train lets you out at the upper level, in the middle of the terminal. Not bad except that terminal is maybe a mile or two long. The counter I needed to check in at (because the airline in Villahermosa could not issue my on-going boarding pass) was at the far end. Although at that time I had no clue which end. I had met up with another traveller going to the same counter so we were asking people where to go… after several wrong turns we found the check-in and I got my boarding pass.
Now to get in we had to go through security again, then up another level then back to the middle then out into the terminal and then back to the far end to find my gate… at the point I had another 1/4 mile hall to get to the end and actually find the gate I was leaving from… Even with all that I did make it about 20 minutes before boarding and had a chance to get a sandwich and drink…
Seen at one of the stores in the Mexico City airport?
The flight from there to Dallas was not anything to write about… except the guy in front of me was about twice my weight and about my height… promptly after takeoff… he hit the button to lean back and poof I could count the hairs on the top of his head it was that close… The seats are not supposed to go that far but he was able to get another full 3 inches out of it due to his weight and that 3 inches put it almost in my lap… so I leaned back a little and just put up with it.
In Dallas I got off the plane and made it to “passport control” and having gotten the “known traveller” addition to my passport I stepped to the Kiosk and enter my passport, answered the few questions, it took my picture and I was off to get my checked luggage… when I got to the collection point (at the far end of the area) they were coming off – the “priority ones” then poof it stopped? then the belts stopped… and nothing… the people were all gathering now. Then there were people at all the luggage claims? after about 30 minutes I went to the front desk and asked and the answer was “the whole airport is shut down due to lightening”… out the window t looked clear to me but what do I know. We waited another 30 minutes before the “all-clear” and then the bags started coming off… I grabbed mine and made it to the “known-traveller” turn out and off I went with out the hassle of 10 questions again… out and re-check the bag… up a level and back through security (strip level) then off to the tram and around to another terminal to wait…
The gate of my departure was 10B… got there and they were waiting on a flight that should of left over an hour before? and the estimated time was about 15 minutes after the time of my flight? well that is not good. then they came on and said our flight had change gates to 7…, so off to another gate and the now estimated time was 7:24 (original time had been 5:50pm…) ok so we sat down then about that time they came on and said the gate change was to gate 15? huh… but off we all went and once at gat 15 the time was not estimated at 7:00PM… (never had seen it get shorter)… and we did load at about 6:55 and everyone was in a hurry so it loaded pretty fast… the flight was a bit rough but not horrible and I got into OKC at 8PM, grabbed the box, out to the waiting car and off for dinner and home… I was tired and wore out but happy that I made it on one day… although I did have multiple severe leg cramps from all the jogging, hassle, standing, setting on hard seats and cramped planes, etc. but they are loosing up ok now.
Getting really close to home here….
Today, was a slow day… did a little work, separated some work papers out of the junk and generally sat around … This morning we took off for breakfast and I happened to capture this:
The McD’s truck delivery driver has a preference and it was not McD’s…. We didn’t go to McD’s either.
Just thought that was funny.
WD0AJG