5 am seems early to be pushing a roller bag down an airport, but the line up to get through US security was building by the time we arrived. Mary’s Nexus pass proved invaluable at getting us through in a fraction of the time. All went smoothly as we waited for our flight to Dallas to begin the first leg of our journey.
Flying business class is an absolute pleasure. A comfortable seat, ample legroom and excellent cuisine – very much appreciated by middle aged bodies. I had downloaded the new season of The Crown before we took off, so my inflight entertainment was first class. The production and acting in the new season is outstanding and well worth the time. Our flights chased the sun today. The dawn departure from Vancouver took us over the Colorado Rocky Mountains and then on over New Mexico
to our first stop Dallas – where we enjoyed the perks of the first class lounge at the airport.
The connecting flight to Mexico City brought us over the immense metropolis of 25 million people at sunset. A long but enjoyable day. The customs line up went quickly and was populated by the usual entertaining cross section of humanity as passengers from our flight and a flight from Amsterdam ended up at immigration at the same time. Partying (and its sometimes unfortunate aftermath) was still going on in a group ahead of us, resulting in one young man’s interesting relationship with a trash can…. As the line built, time was spent chatting to a lovely young Norwegian man from a city close to where our mother was born. He was headed to Puerto Vallarta to help a friend start a tattoo parlour. We do live in interesting times…..
Our driver Christian met us at the airport and transported us to the Art Deco Gran Hotel – a 30 minute ride through heavy traffic which looked like absolute chaos to the uninitiated but must have made some sense, as there were no accidents and nobody died on our trip from the airport.
The Gran Hotel Mexico City was originally built in the 1890s and was considered a great retail Plaza/mall until the 1960s when it was converted into a hotel. It’s right on the main plaza across from the palace and the cathedral and is an extraordinary work of art all on its own. We were met by our concierge Daniel and taken to the front desk of this amazing hotel where we were greeted at the front desk with flutes of champagne before being transported up to our room. And yes, we are pretty tired after a 12ish hour day 😀
Looking forward to spending more time photographing the art deco stained glass and amazing wrought iron of the structure tomorrow when the light is better.
Tomorrow we spend the morning on a photographic exploration of the historic district around the hotel before heading to the airport for the final leg of our journey to Oaxaca.
Travels with Anne 