Stuart and Frieda's Mexican Adventure Part 3

Ah the trip home. Not as exciting as the trip to Mexico but still it was fun. Stu booked his tickets to go home the way we came. Mazatlan to Mexico City to Montreal to Toronto. I on the other hand am still able to fly through the United States so I planned to use the tickets that were originally booked for us and fly to Pheonix then Toronto and get home in one day. How can you tell that Stuart and Frieda are first time international flyers? Neither of us thought to tell the airline that even though we hadn't used the tickets to go down to Mexico we still wanted to use one set of them to get home.

When you think about it, its pretty obvious that that's what has to happen but we didn't think of it. Stupid us. So we arrive at the United Airlines desk and are informed of this and are told that we have to pay $500 if I still want to use those tickets. Well forget that I can go home with Stu for the same amount of money.

However, we also found out that the little pieces of paper that we were given when we first entered Mexico were supposed to come with us to the airport. (They are tourist visas) I didn't know that we were supposed to keep them but I held onto them just to be safe. However, when Stu was cleaning out the safe the night before he decided to throw mine out. Not his, he kept his and through out mine. I needed it to leave the country.

So we ran over to Mexicana and booked me on the same flight as Stu to Mexico City and we were able to sit together and then we had to run over to customs to get a new toursit visa for me. The agent there informed me that I needed my ticket stub that showed I had flown into Mexico City. If I couldn't find it then I had to go to the downtown office and who knows how long that would take. Luckily I found it after emptying out both backpacks and yelling at Stu for a while.

It seemed like everything was under control finally all we had to do was get me on a flight to Montreal and then home to Toronto. Air Canada told me they would charge me $700 to fly me home on the same flights as Stu. After begging an airport employee to let us use their laptop I was able to get on the same flight as Stu to Montreal but have to take a later flight to Toronto. It was half as expensive and we were both beyond caring.

We made it to Mexico City with nothing exciting happening. Stu insisted that we stay somewhere in the city and not in the Hilton. We paid for a round-trip taxi ride and drove 45 minutes into Mexico City to stay at a Best Western with rediculously thin walls, employees who spoke almost no English (the only Spanish I know comes from Dora the Explorer) and cop cars that drove past about every 30 seconds.

I flat out refused to leave the hotel. There was no way I was going to walk around Mexico City when I spoke no spanish and no cash. Stu braved the outside though and bought us food from across the street. It took quit the cherades game to explain to them what he wanted.

The rest of the trip home was uneventful. Other than the taxi we paid for not showing up and having to take a hotel taxi to the airport. However, we did get a refund back at the airport.

I was so happy to see my girls after a week away. Laura was huge and had learned to smile. Grace was not happy to see me. She was resentful of us being gone so long but she did eventually get over it. It was a wonderful holiday and we definately learned a lot about air travel.