Home!

 

Whew!  Why are travel days so hard???  In our case, we were up about 6 am for a leaving-the-apartment time of 11 am.  Definitely more than enough time to get repacked and ready to go.  The problem, though, was that when we had originally made the Volaris reservations, we were booked on their early afternoon flight. However, about 2 months ago, we were informed that our flight had been changed, and we were now going to be leaving at 5:31 pm … and we still had to be out of our apartment at 11 (which is the usual time for vacating most rentals or hotels).  This really complicated things, as this put us back in Tijuana and the CBX around 8 pm, meaning there was absolutely no way we could even start the drive back to Tucson, which had been the original idea.  So … book another hotel night in San Diego. 

 

We debated going somewhere for lunch to kill some of the time, but as none of us was really hungry, so when we finished loading up the car, we just decided to head to the airport.  Rather than go through town, which we had done on the way in, Robert (and Emmy, our GPS) found us a great road around town completely, and we were at Mazatlan Airport in just about half an hour!  It was absolutely brilliant!  Not much traffic; lovely drive, but that did leave us hours and hours (6 actually!) to kill before our flight was scheduled.  UGH!  

 

We went up to the Volaris desk only to find out that we were SOOOOO early, they didn’t even want to see us – come back about 2 pm.  Additionally, there was so much eclipse traffic, that there were definitely not enough seats in the airport available for everybody who was there.  I did manage to snag a table with chairs outside a small restaurant with a nice young man who didn’t mind sharing, so we really were luckier than many.  We just sat and read our books/ipads/phones for a few hours, which, truthfully, seemed to pass REALLY slowly!  

 

Finally, 2 pm approached, and we again made it to the Volaris line.  However, slight complication.  The plane for the earlier Mazatlan-Tijuana flight, which had been supposed to leave around 10:30 am hadn’t even arrived yet … so all the Volaris people working the check-in desk actually left the area unattended to, we assume, try and board the finally incoming airplane for the late flight.  We never did find out for sure – because the earlier flight just finally disappeared from the schedule entirely at about 3:00! – but in about 45 minutes or so, people started returning, and the line actually began to move!

 

So!  We got checked in, dropped the luggage, cleared TSA and headed to the gate – even though “they” hadn’t really decided if we were gate 6 or 8 – but what the heck, right?!  Crowded boarding area, but our plane from Tijuana did arrive (thankfully!) on time, and we boarded fairly promptly!   Pushed back precisely on time, and a very smooth flight back to Tijuana!

 

Thanks to our Apple Air Tags, we knew our bags had also made it to Tijuana, (which is such a relief these days, not having to watch each bag come off the carousel!)  Ours were actually some of the first pieces off, which was nice.  Then, came the walk across the bridge and into the U.S.!  

 

But what a process!  First you scan your CBX crossing ticket, then you scan your boarding pass, and you were through onto the bridge!  Walk … walk … walk!  Then you entered the U.S. and had to go through Passport Control.  Fortunately, we are all Global Entry, so that didn’t take too long, except for the fact that for the first time in all the years that we’ve been Global Entry, we needed the Global Entry cards.  Fortunately, I always carry them with us – have done so for years, but have never, ever needed them … so strange!  Then, you get your luggage scanned, and once that happens, you exit and you’re back in the United States!  

 

Out the doors and right into the parking lot where our car was waiting patiently for us!  Again, you have to scan your original reservation to get out of the parking lot, but I did happen to have that handy.  And, within minutes, we were heading for the freeway and downtown San Diego!  I think, all in all, it took about an hour to land the plane, collect our luggage, get across the bridge, to the car, and to the San Diego airport, as we were at the hotel (right next to the airport) before 9 pm!  A truly incredibly efficient system!  I’m thinking that this will be very handy the next time we want to go to Mexico City!

 

We were all starving by the time we got to the hotel, but somehow, there’s not a lot open after 9 pm in San Diego.  So, decided to opt for easy – Domino’s Pizza!  One just a few miles away, so we were able to drop the luggage and Debby at the hotel, pick up the pizza and be back in something like 15 minutes…it was excellent … or maybe we were just hungry!  (Which we were!)

 

Up again this morning about 6:30 am – which for us is really late, but definitely needed the rest!  Showered and down to breakfast about 7, and out the door about 8 am.  Really good drive all the way across, only stopping for gas and Date and Chocolate milk shakes at Dateland once we’d reach Arizona!  Dropped Debby off at 2:30 and we were home less than 15 minutes later!  Laundry going now, and I’m getting ready for bed … and yes, I know, it’s only 7 pm … but we’ve had such a fabulous adventure, and this is one adventuress that is definitely ready to hit the hay!!

 

Thank you all for coming with us on our eclipse trip!  More later!

m

xxx