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Published: September 24th 2018
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That’s it, today we are leaving Mexico for good.
We woke up really early, brushed up and packed our toothbrushes. The taxi arrived a few minutes early. We loaded up and were on our way. The taxi driver practiced his broken English on me and we had a chat about the differences between Israel and Mexico (I think it would be much easier to list the similarities – there are none!)
We got to the airport with time to spare. The check-in was quick and efficient, we got our boarding passes and through security quickly, as there were few people there so early in the morning. What Mexican in his right mind would wake up early enough to be at the airport at 7AM?!
We wandered the duty-free, used the rest rooms and got a large coffee while waiting for our gate to be declared. In Mexico they usually declare your boarding gate no more than an hour before the flight, and usually less. The plane parks at the gate, the previous passengers disembark while the plane is refueled, the plane is quickly cleaned and passengers are boarded. Turnaround is as fast as they can make it.
So we boarded the flight to Mexico City, where we’d change to a flight to Tijuana. The flight was ok, I guess, except for a couple of kids who were very noisy and seated close to us. Lucky it’s a short flight.
We disembarked at Mexico City just an hour before our next flight, only to find they hadn’t declared a gate yet. So, no rush.
When they did finally call the gate, it was for our flight number and destination, but a half-hour after the schedule, but the board still said ‘On time’. See, the way they do it is planes are never ‘late’. They just change the time!
Anyway, this flight was longer, about three hours. And an Israeli family sat directly behind us with some badly behaved kids.
Note to parents: get your kids to burn off excess energy before the flight! Then plug them into the in-flight entertainment.
We reached Tijuana at around 2:30 local time. We found our suitcases and went to the CBX entrance – Noah had arranged tickets for us to cross the border into the US from the Tijuana airport (that’s the CBX), and had a driver
waiting for us there to take us back to his house! First class service!
So we went through the CBX desk, showed our tickets and boarding passes, and followed the hallways to US customs.
We got through customs easily, the guy there was friendly enough and cleared us. Went outside and Miguel, the driver Noah sent, collected us in a giant SUV.
Less than an hour later we were at Noah’s house.
First we said hello to Joker, who was ecstatic! Then coffee – much needed. We did our laundry and rested while we waited for Noah.
Noah arrived and we went out to do a little shopping for supper. While at the supermarket we saw Jicama! Remember, that sliced vegetable we tasted in San Cristobal with lime and chili? Well, that! So we got one. Then home and a barbecue. Noah knows how to cook a good steak, let me tell you! We forgot the jicama!
We had a very nice evening, telling stories about our trip and finally collapsed into bed.
Tomorrow we’ll spend the day in San Diego before embarking on our road trip around California.
Tamar and I
had quite an adventure there together and I kind of miss it already. Our first days in Cancun with the rain and the funny car, our friend the traffic cone, the cenotes. Chiapas, the wonderful San Cristobal, the troubles we had getting to Palenque, the long, hard drive down to Comitan, the tour to Sumidero canyon and the friends we made there, and even Playa Del Carmen. The good, the not-so-good, t was all an amazing adventure and an experience I think we’ll both remember forever.
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