Holy moly am I knackered. Travelling to and from the UK doesn’t take this long!

I landed at Pearson at 2AM local time. Of course, everything was shut down tight. I couldn’t even recheck my bags so I wouldn’t have to worry about them. So much for any real sleep, then. I wandered around a bit until I found an almost quiet spot with, unbelievably, a soft horizontal surface. I made a fort with my belongings, slipped off my shoes, slid on an eye mask, and dozed for about two hours, getting up at 4:40, exactly four hours before my flight was due to take off.

I tidied myself as best I could and went off in search of check-in. At the domestic check-in, I found a very agitated Mexican man trying to get help from very dismissive Air Canada staff. Even when they finally found him someone who spoke Spanish, they weren’t doing much for him. I finally understood that security had sent him to check a bag with too many liquids. I had him follow me to the internationals departures and, since we were on the same flight, I went up to the check-in desk with him to make sure they understood what he wanted. Once he was sorted, he stuck around to load my heavy bags onto the conveyor belt for me!

Next stop was Starbucks for a ginormous coffee, going with an Americano ($$$) rather than a regular drip coffee ($$). I actually found their prices very reasonable — what I’d expect to pay outside of the airport! I was allowed to add my own almondmilk, too, so I got a really perfect cup of joe to trick me that it really was morning and not the middle of the night. I was very annoyed that I could not get the airport WiFi to work so I could do online stuff while I drank. Pearson is such an appalling airport.

I then wandered around looking at food options. I really wanted a sit down treat breakfast, but could only find bacon and egg type deals. I finally found a bar that had a kid’s menu with exactly what I wanted — half a waffle and two sausage links, for only $6! The kind staff let me order that and I added a café cortado, my order of choice in Spain, so that I’d be over the voucher limit (normal coffee would have put me at exactly $10, the voucher limit) and have to put some money on my debit card, letting me add a tip. Unfortunately, that plan failed — the way they process the vouchers, there was no tip option on the debit machine. I felt bad, but the staff went out of their way to make it clear that just the intention meant a lot.

My breakfast was unbelievably good and immense value.  I’m very grateful to Air Canada for starting my day off on the right foot like that. It was a kid’s portion and it lasted me all day — I just needed my snacks after!

We took off for Mexico City on time and I managed to get in some sleep since the flight was bare and I had tons of room to spread out. We actually got two beverages on this trip and I went for tea the first time and apple juice the second. We arrived about 20 minutes early. I only had a two-hour layover to planned boarding time, so every minute was appreciated. Little did I know what awaited me…

I got off the plane and followed the signs to the first stop, immigration. The line was long, but moved very quickly — the complete opposite of the chaos at Pearson last week. When I got to the head of the queue, a man looked at my documents so that he could funnel me to the right desk and warmly said, “Welcome home!”

The actual immigration interview itself was a non-event. She just stamped everything and also welcomed me back warmly.

Next stop was baggage pickup so that luggage could clear customs. I had no sooner found a luggage cart that a uniformed man was commandeering it and asking me what were my bags. He collected them and off we went to customs, where I was waved off!!!! I really did have nothing to declare, but that was unexpected. The man then transited my bags for me by putting them on a conveyor belt. So my fear of having to make my way from terminal one to two with them did not materialise, meaning that I could travel on the overground train I used last week. Otherwise, I would have had to take a ground shuttle. The man deposited a very shocked me inside terminal one and pointed in the direction I had to go. I only had check-in and security left to do after the train!

I didn’t even have to look hard for the train this time — another uniformed man spotted what I assume was a confused looked on my face and came to my rescue, grabbing my carry on items and taking me right to the train platform. There, he explained what I had to do at the next terminal. Sure, both men were helping me to get a tip, but even so, what service!

At terminal two, I followed the instructions to the check-in desk and then to security, which I again got through quickly. That was it — I was at an hour to departure and maybe 40 minutes to boarding! I had to ride a bus to the plane. What a journey!

The trip to Mérida was very quick, just enough time for a brief snooze and a drink (I went with a very hydrating coconut water and kept the peanuts — yes, Aeromexico gives a snack! — for later). We arrived right on time, into crushing humidity. Yaaaay. 🙂

Luggage wasn’t coming in yet when I got to the baggage claim area, so I had time to reserve myself a strong man to deal with my bags. 🙂 He got them to the taxi stand for me and loaded them while I paid a whopping $270 for the trip home (the taxi mafia still has firm control over airport departures, although it has lost the war for the city and Uber is finally legal and offering quality taxi services).

I explained to my driver how to get home and he suggested an alternative route, which I knew was just as good so I told him to go ahead. We had a nice chat and as we got close to home, he tried to pick out some landmarks for me. I laughed and said I knew exactly where I was — we were coming up to an Oxxo where we’d do a jiggedy-jig and then shoot straight up to Calle 21, from which we’d be three or four blocks from home.

Soon as I was out of the car, Ms. B started calling for me so I dropped everything to greet her. She then, just barely, let me get the luggage in the house. A massive cuddle-thon ensued before she’d let me put in an order for tacos. I started to unpack as I waited for dinner. Everything appears to have gotten here (someone even zip-tied my bags shut), but I think they broke my new suitcase — I can’t get the telescoping handle to work. 🙁 Small loss, in the grand scheme of the bags’ big adventure!

The last week has been positively surreal. I have tomorrow to recover and then it’s back to the grindstone on Monday. The big difference now is that I’m finally caught up on the big expenses. I have some work to do on the truck and I want to start saving for a new computer, but neither is super pressing and if I want to priortise things for the house or toys or just working fewer hours for a bit and keep delaying those, I can. I’m starting this second year in the house with a fresh slate and my mind truly here and no longer split between Mexico and Saskatchewan. Much as I love Haven and will always consider it home, both Canada and Mexico have made it very clear to me this week where I truly belong and which country feels I have anything to offer it, making it Home.