We may have bagged the only room in the hotel with windows but last night we payed the price because it was hellishly noisy! The traffic belts up the road at breakneck speed over the ancient cobbles, plus there was the noise from all the fiesta revellers. This morning we decide to have breakfast in the hotel as they have a cosy little cafe. Ian orders a vegetarian omelette whilst I stick with the healthy fruit and yoghurt option. When the food arrives I am presented with a whole mango and various other fruits as well as a bowl of yoghurt and some sprinkles. The sprinkles are delicious and turn out to be peanuts and chocolate - not so healthy after all then! Ian’s omelette turns up covered in guacamole - he says it is spicy ... read more

Today we are having an easy day. I am still jet lagged (woke at 3.30am again despite having forced myself not to go to bed before 10pm) and Ian is feeling slightly under the weather. I go out for the morning coffee takeaways whilst Ian sleeps in. First attempt fails as I cannot find the Oxxo shop...everything looks very different in the dark! Back at the hotel, I check it out on google maps and Ian gives more detailed instructions so my second attempt is successful! Today we are completing the remainder of a walking tour up in the historic centre and having a second attempt at visiting the palace (making sure to take our passports with us!). We have decided to give the castle a miss especially as we are having heavy rain showers here ... read more

We are up early this morning, Ian having snored his way through the entire night and me waking at 3am - how does he manage it? As penance I send him out in search of coffee at 7am. He returns with two lattes and a heavy bread based cake thing. This is not good for me but I am rather too hungry to object. Apparently the fresh fruit stalls are not open yet. Today’s plan is to visit Chapultepec Castle and the Bosque de Chapultepec (large park) in which it is situated. In another bid to beat the tour groups we plan to be there by 9am when it opens. Now I know we could easily order an Uber but where’s the fun in that? Instead, we set off for the metro station which is just ... read more

An early start from Birmingham. There are emotional goodbyes and I don’t think I will ever erase the image of my mum and dad sadly waving goodbye from their lounge window. It doesn’t matter that mum will soon have forgotten I was ever there - I just hope she will remember who I am when we FaceTime dad tomorrow! Were’s that pack of travel tissues? We take an Uber. It’s a first for us. It arrives on time and delivers us to Birmingham Airport in good time. We will definitely be using Uber in future. A leisurely breakfast had been planned but thanks to O2 this doesn’t happen. Instead I am on the phone to customer service as soon as it opens at 8am for the zillionth time to ask why they have not sorted out ... read more