PV #1

Well, the great Mexican adventure started at 3:15 a.m. driving down to the airport to catch an early Mexicana flight out of O'Hare. I arrived a little before 5 a.m. with very little traffic and amazingly several people at the international terminal. Getting into the terminal, I realized that I had left my cell phone in my mom's car. After fretting about that for a little bit, I realized that it wouldn't have helped me much to have it since I don't have international service. But, that's the worry wart in me.

Getting through security wasn't an issue, and before going through it, I contemplated getting some coffee while I waited to board the plane. Turns out I should have taken advantage of it, since on the other side of security, it's completely void of any meaningful concessions, which NONE of them even served coffee. I was not a very happy camper, since I had no intention of having to go through security again.

About 15 minutes prior to the start of the boarding process, I was approached by a guy in his late 70's, rail-thin, gaunt-faced, and a bad yellowish blonde hair dye job, and immediately I thought it was the male version of the Empress from my previous adventures. It was very bad deja vu. He came up to me with his 4 pieces of carry-on luggage (and I thought you could only take one, but like the Empress, he probably didn't think that it applied to him), set it next to me, and asked if I would watch his stuff while he went to the other side of security to get coffee. Mind you, we're now 10 minutes away from boarding, and knowing security, I don't think he had any concept of time. The other thing was that he didn't want to have to have them re-check his carry on baggage again.

Being the good, responsible Samaritan, I respectfully declined. After all, I had no idea what was packed in his bag, and for all I knew it could have been an incendiary device only to be used later when we landed in Mexico City to hold everyone hostage....just like what happened the day before. He wasn't too pleased with my response, and said "so, I'm just going to have to have all of this re-scanned again." I said, "yep." After all, I am no one's lackey, servant, or bag sitter, and furthermore, I wanted to go on vacation, and not to have to deal with a potential international incident.

Anyhow, the service on Mexicana was fantastic. And, after having tamales for breakfast and whatever I wanted to drink, I couldn't help but think that U.S. air carriers could certainly learn a thing or two about service. It never ceases to amaze me, however, that I always seem to get stuck behind a person that constantly flops backward into his seat so that his face is practically looking up at me. Of course, unlike my flight to Beijing, this person was a short guy with a cheesy moustache, and a bad case of halitosis and sleep apnea.

I will say that the Bimbo cookies (I laughed at this), bun, coffee and other accoutrement were a nice change, and certainly far better than the ramen noodle fish soup that an airline attempted to serve me coming home from Hong Kong. I spent most of the time wondering how I was going to catch my next flight to Puerto Vallarta once I landed in Mexico City, since I had to clear immigration. That turned out to be a non-event, and took only about 5 minutes. Then it was just a matter of finding out where gate B was when all of the gates in the terminal were marked "1-36." After asking a couple of people (and mind you, they were ALL friendly) I got to this big lobby area (my Gate B) to wait for the regional jet gate assignment, since apparently in Mexico, it is a first come first serve basis.

Well, after about 40 minutes, I was able to get to the right gate and was off on the short flight to Puerto Vallarta. The only unsettling thing was that there was a woman sitting two rows in front of me that spent the whole time hacking, coughing, and gagging. I was pretty sure I was going to get swine flu.

I landed in Puerto Vallarta, and as my plane was taxiing down the runway, there was an immediate landing of an Alaska Airlines plane almost landing on top of our plane. And of course, that Alaska Airlines plane contained my friend Monette, and her two friends, Kat and Janet.

Customs was a breeze, but the swarms of hawking taxi drivers outside the terminal was a bit annoying. I just waited for the three of them to go through immigration and customs, and after spending 20 minutes with a guy offering free shuttle service to our hotel (in exchange for sitting in on a time share meeting the next day) we were off on our way.

The hotel is very nice, and the rooms are spacious and modern. So modern that I really didn't know how to turn any of the lights on, or how to make the air conditioning work. It has a jacuzzi tub out on the balcony, and it's got a beautiful view of the bay and Pacific Ocean. Upon arrival, we received hot herbal towels to refresh with, and were immediately served drinks. Now THAT's my kind of welcome.

We then went to the bar, and after eating a mahi mahi dish with bay scallop, octopus, and shrimp (which was very good), we spent most of the time at the table sitting, talking, drinking, and drinking, and drinking. 3 and a half hours later, we then went up to the rooftop bar to hear a decent band play, before retiring for the evening. Kat and Janet are super fun, and we enjoyed each other's company last night.

After getting back to the room, and trying to figure out how to turn the lights off, I ended up sleeping with all of the lights on, the ceiling fans at full blast (a la Hurricane Jimena) and the TV on. Oh well... they did say it was all inclusive. I figured the electricity was included.