November 12, 2016 Travel day to Puerto Vallarta
Well...this trip started out as the trip from hades. Nothing has gone well. This also includes the fact that I wrote and saved day one on my laptop only to start to find it was not to be found after turning my IPad on today (which is Sunday November 13th). So I have to try to remember all the crazy things that went on.
On Friday night, as work was concluding, Denise decided to go list herself on the United for our flight the next morning. I had already listed myself on the 5:30 AM flight which was wide open through Denver putting us into PV around 1 PM. As Denise started to list herself, she noticed her profile on the United site looked differently. In fact, she could not list herself. I was tired and said I would do it later...in my nice tired fashion. She and Karlie then headed off to the monthly Hunter craft night. I soon became hungry and thought I'd go get some food...Panda Express was on the radar. :-) But when I went to get my wallet, it was not in any of the places it would normally be. After calling Denise to check the car, since that was the last place I used it, and determining it was not there...I started to get a bit panicked. I really started to re-trace my steps. Denise suggested I call Maverik Gas Station since that was the last place I had pulled it out. So I did...from my bedroom. While I was on the phone with the lady at Maverik, I walked around my bed just looking around. I looked between the bed's foot board and mattress...and there it was! I can't believe I found it. I have no idea how it ended up there. I had to tell the gal at Maverik thanks much for her time. I told her she was my lucky charm and I would call her in the future if I needed more luck!
At that point, I still was hungry, so I headed to my truck. I got in, started it up and then thought...I'm not up to going out. So I turned it off. Went in and had a Costco microwave night. I like their oriental rice bowls and a good pot pie. Odd combination....I know.
After dinner, I decided to look into Denise's problem. It was very apparent that it was not going to work. I was not going to be able list her via United Pass Rider. The only way to get someone to possibly look at this was to engage Kami, who Denise flies under. She is the employee. So I sent out texts. I called and left voice messages. I also sent an email. I figured she was travelling...doing one of her long trips. Turns out she was vacationing in Hawaii. Around 9 PM....Kami came online and started texting. She said she would look into it when she arrived back to her condo in 30 minutes. Which she did. She called the Pass Rider help desk. They merely told her...yes...Denise cannot be listed because it is a 'system' problem. Duh...no kidding. But they said there was nothing they could do. That is what Kami reported back to me. Kami gave me her info and said...why don't you try calling them. So I did. I had to pretend I was Kami...to some degree. And funny enough, at the end of my conversation, the gal said she had just looked into this with someone else. She was ok with that...but it made me smile as I should not be calling them. Anyway, she found out this time that the'technical' group that she would forward this to is in only 8 AM to 8 PM each working day. She told me to call back in the morning. It was obvious that Denise would not be flying stand by...no unless we wanted to wait. So we started looking for one-way fares for her. Let the adventure begin.
Naturally, Frontier Airlines was the most cheap fare out there. There is good reason for that. Once they have your money, they then start tacking on other costs. You want a seat...that will be $10 more. You want a carry on...that will be $30 more. And so it goes. Denise said later that anything but water had a price on it. They are an airline that nickel dimes you after they have your basic fare. Now we were all dealing with this at 11 PM at night before a morning when we were going to be up at 3 AM to make a 5:30 AM flight...which I was booked on. Denise's Frontier flight left at at 6:30 AM. I remember that there was a flight to PV via LAX that left at 6:20 AM. So off I went to cancel my listing and list me on this flight to LAX. Fortunately that went well. We saved ourselves a whopping 45 minutes of sleep. But we were going in different directions. And Denise's flight was not coming in until 5 PM. I now arrived at 2 PM. So she waited 3 hours in Denver....I waited 3 hours in PV. And we are grateful to Karlie, who pretended we were a Lorenzo nursing moment, got up at 4:45 AM to take us to the airport. I figure it cost us about $100 more than we would have paid if we travelled stand by. And, it is unfortunate that Denise was not with me as they gave me a first class seat to LAX and then to PV...a full empty row. Very comfortable. Denise was on crowded planes.
One scary moment for me was in LAX, before you board, they ask to see and verify your passport. Upon reviewing my passport, the gate agent said, "I hope they let you in the country.". I said, "What?!'. He went on to tell me that my passport should have 6 months remaining as a minimum to get into Mexico. I had heard other countries required that...but not Mexico. So now my mind is going overtime on what to do. I called Denise and told her that she might get told the same. We decided to just give it a roll. We had a room bought down there. Excursions planned and paid for.
The PV airport, well, it could use an uplift. They could not accommodate all the planes at a gate. So they would run ramps to the planes and then bus passengers to the terminal. As I approached the Mexico entry point, I wondered what was going to happen with my passport. But this guy, he was just flying, trying to process all the passengers through. It was not even a problem. I was so pleased how easy it was. I then collected all our luggage...and when I say all...it was all. Denise did not take a bag with her due to the cost Frontier would have applied. So I checked two bags at United since we get two bags free. Anyway, I had two bags plus a backpack getting through customs. No problem there. It is the strangest thing though...you give an agent a customs form. They look at it, then ask YOU to hit a button. If it is green...you just go through. If it is red...you have to run your stuff through a machine and have a guy go through it. I'd like to know the algorithm for determine red versus green. And why can't the agent hit the button? All questions of life that I hope to have answered someday on the other side! :-)
I waited for Denise at a Subway for 3 hours. it was kind of fun. As people came and went...I visited with them. I learned bits and pieces about things to do. I learned that our Zip Line tour is going to be a lot of fun. I learned about taxis and how inexpensive they are. And so on.... Eventually Denise arrived and off we went. We were so glad to be back together. As you come out of customs...you go through the 'Shark Tank'...people hounding you for taxis and tours. It is craziness. And then you go outside to taxi craziness. I read however, if you will go off the airport, crossing over the highway close by, you can get a taxi for much cheaper. So I told Denise...let's try it. Sure enough. We crossed the bridge that took us to the other side of the highway and hailed a taxi there. A taxi coming off the airport would be 360 pesos. We paid 200 pesos. Much better. :-). This is what makes traveling fun...for me.
The ride to our AIRBNB room was about 20 minutes. And...this taxi driver...I've never, EVER, been in a car driven so crazily. This guy was amazing. So fast. Weaving in and out, in and out. No laws here! Upon arriving, we waited a minute or two and our host, Aaron, came walking up. The condo is small...but very beautiful. It is a 7 story building in the middle of old town PV. Unfortunately, we are on the first floor looking at a construction site. Great view. But who cares. We won't be here much. The beach is two small blocks to the west. It is a very popular area. There are restaurants galore around us. Food will not be a problem. Bus stops and taxis nearby. It appears as it will be great location. After settling in, we were kind of hungry. So we decided to just go to the restaurant below our building. It is called 'The Fajita Restaurant'. So cheap....So good! We took half of it home for lunch or dinner tomorrow. After eating, we strolled down to an ONNX store (kind of like a 7/11 in the states) to get some basic items (bottled water, milk, etc..). On the way back, we hit a small bakery for morning breakfast goods. So darn good. I'm going to put all my weight back on in 5 days!
Finally, it was time to go to bed. We were so tired. But we are thrilled to be here and excited about our location to begin our trip. Last comment...my mind is going. I forgot sun glasses. I misplaced head phones. I forgot dark socks to wear for church. The list goes on. Brain is not doing well.
Hasta la mañana....
Pictures:
Street vendors outside our apartment complex....
Chips and Salsa.....
The roof top of our building....very nice.
Old city view from roof top....
Two happy to be together campers....
