A Quick Trip to Chicago

On Tuesday I took a quick trip to Chicago to visit my friends Tony and Terence.  I had not seen them since before the pandemic, and I wanted to say goodbye before I make the move to Mexico.  

I left Cleveland around 8:00 in the morning.  I was a dreary, gray day, and, as we headed out over Lake Erie, we were soon above the clouds.

It's a quick flight of less than an hour, and by the time we had descended below the clouds we were almost at Chicago's O'Hare Airport.

We spent the day talking and catching up on everything that had been going on for the last several years.  Later, we went out for dinner at one of their favorite restaurants, "Las Mañanitas" which is just a few blocks from their place.  It's a Mexican restaurant, and definitely a cut above the typical restaurant that claims to serve "authentic Mexican cuisine".

Tony had oxtail, which he said was excellent and fall-off-the bone tender.  Terence and I both had Yucatan chicken.

  

Looking out over Lake Michigan from their apartment the next morning

Before noon I took a taxi to head back to the airport, and by late afternoon I had returned to Cleveland.

On to Mexico

I wrote in this morning's entry that all went well on the first leg of my journey, the flight from Cleveland to Chicago.  Even though the plane for my Chicago - Mexico City flight was ready and waiting at the gate, after some unpleasant experiences on my previous two trips, I was still keeping my fingers crossed that there would be no snafus.  I won't keep you in suspense, all went smoothly.

We boarded the plane on time and left a few minutes ahead of schedule.  Unlike the flight from Cleveland to Chicago, this one was packed.  I was in "economy plus" with more legroom, but this time all the seats in my row were occupied.  I sat next to a sweet, older lady from Mexico. She was returning from a visit with her son who lives in Chicago, and this trip had been her first time traveling on a plane.  I have to admit that between the noise of the jet engines and her rapid-fire speech, I really didn't hear everything that she said.  Often, I just nodded my head.  But I did understand that she is a widow from a town in the state of Puebla, that she is 77 years old, that she has 12 children, and that three of them live in the U.S.  She didn't like the food north of the border... "everything was dry," she said.  She has difficulty with her knee, and when I told her that I occasionally have a touch of arthritis in my right knee, she pulled out the bottle of pills she takes.  She insisted that I write down the brand name of the product.

Our conversation helped pass the time.  Obviously, it is a much longer flight from Chicago than when I travel via Houston... almost five hours to Mexico City.  We pulled away from the gate a few minutes early, although we spent much more time waiting our turn for take-off than we did in Cleveland.

Finally, up and away!

You can just make out the Chicago skyline on the horizon.

We flew south across the United States and then out over the Gulf of Mexico.  Finally, we came to the coast of Mexico and headed inland.

The mountains were shrouded in clouds, and I did not see any of the iconic volcanoes.

Very soon we began our descent and were over the vast metropolitan area of Mexico City, home to more than 22 million people.

 

In the center of the photo is the Mexico City World Trade Center, which is just a short walk from my apartment.  

When I am in the apartment, sitting at the desk, working on my blog, I can look out the window and see the constant parade of planes passing as they approach Mexico City International Airport.

The green swath across this photo is Chapultepec Park.  They are building a new amusement park within Chapultepec.  They appear to be making progress, because I could spot a large Ferris Wheel that wasn't there before.

Many of the city's skyscrapers form a row lining the famous boulevard, el Paseo de la Reforma.

Soon the city's Historic Center was visible.

Amid the jumble of buildings, I could make out the Latin American Tower, which was the country's tallest structure when it was built.  Next to it you can see the dome of the Palace of Fine Arts.

A bit to the east, you can see the towers of the Metropolitan Cathedral, and the enormous Mexican flag which flies over the Zócalo, the main plaza.

We were just moments from landing at the airport.

The structure which looks like a flying saucer is TAPO, one of the city's four bus terminals.  This one, the largest of them all, serves all destinations to the east and southeast of the city.  If you wanted to take a bus to Puebla, Veracruz, Oaxaca, Mérida or many other cities, this is the station that you would use.

In the distance, at the far northern limits of the city, is the Basilica of Guadalupe, the holiest shrine in the country.

About twenty-minutes ahead of schedule we landed at Mexico City International Airport.

I did not have to wait in line at all to pass through immigration.  The agent stamped my passport with permission to stay 180 days (the maximum tourists are allowed) even though I will only be here for three weeks.  

The only moment in which I thought I was going to have another flying misadventure was at the luggage carousel.  All the suitcases from the flight had come out, and I had not seen mine.  An airport employee saw me looking bewildered and motioned me over to some pieces of luggage that had been removed from the carousel.  I don't know if I had somehow missed my big black suitcase with a tassel of orange yarn tied to the handle to make it more identifiable.  Or perhaps someone had grabbed it and then realized that it was not theirs.  Anyway, my suitcase was there, thank goodness.  

I went through customs without any questions, passed through the doors, out into the terminal, and my husband Alejandro was there waiting for me.  I am back in the city which will soon be my permanent home!

Flying with the Moon

After some horrible flight experiences on my previous two trips, yesterday's journey to Mexico went like clockwork.

On Tuesday morning, 24 hours before my departure, I checked in online.  I was flying economy, but while I was looking at the seating chart for the flight from Cleveland to Chicago, I clicked on an "economy plus" (more legroom) seat to see how much the upgrade would cost.  I wasn't charged anything.  I went to the seating chart for the Chicago - Mexico City flight, and once again, there was no charge.  I know that my frequent flyer "Silver Premier" status entitles me to upgrades, but usually those are not given until the day of the flight at the airport.  Well, I was not going to look a gift horse in the mouth!

My flight to Chicago was scheduled to leave at 6:00 A.M.  That meant that I needed to be at the airport at 4:00.  I called for a taxi to pick me up at 3:30.  I would have to get up by at least 2:30, so why bother going to bed at all?  I stayed up all night.

My taxi arrived five minutes early. (I'm always paranoid about the taxi coming on time.)  In ten minutes I was at the airport.  On previous occasions when I had a 6:00 A.M. flight, I have been surprised how crowded Cleveland Airport has been, with a long, long line for security.  This time, the airport was not as busy.

The flight to Chicago boarded right on time,  Looking out my window, as you see, if was still dark, and there was a full moon hanging in the sky.  Can you see it above the tower?

The plane left the gate a few minutes before schedule.  Not only did I have legroom in my "economy plus" seat, but there was no one in the middle seat.  It was a very comfortable flight.

 All the way to Chicago, the moon was outside my window.

It's a very short flight to Chicago, less than an hour.  Before long, we were descending, and the metropolitan area was below us.

The plane went out over Lake Michigan and then circled back, giving my side of the plane a view of downtown Chicago.  And the moon was still there.

Because of the time difference, we arrived in Chicago at the same time that we left Cleveland.  By the time that we had landed, the sun had risen.

When I got off the plane, I checked to see from which gate my flight to Mexico would leave.  It was leaving from the very same gate at which I had arrived.  How convenient!

I had a three-hour layover, so I had some breakfast.  There is a small "torta" restaurant on the concourse operated by Rick Bayless, the well-known chef who does shows about Mexican cuisine on PBS.  I had a tasty "torta" (a type of Mexican sandwich) stuffed with beans, chorizo, cheese and avocado.

I went back to my gate, just a short distance down the concourse.  The plane that would take me to Mexico City was already waiting there, and it was scheduled to leave on time.

Next, on to Mexico!

A Grueling Return

A couple of days have passed since my departure from Mexico, and it was certainly one of my less pleasant travel experiences.  I have been very lucky.  In spite of all the horror stories you hear about air travel, my flights have generally gone smoothly and according to schedule.  My luck ended with this last trip.  You may remember from last month, that my flight itinerary to Mexico was changed at the last minute due to bad weather in Houston.   It was a journey of three flights (Cleveland to Washington Dulles, Dulles to Houston, and Houston to Mexico City), and I didn't arrive in Mexico City until 1:00 A.M.  My bad luck continued on my return to Ohio this week.

My flight from Mexico City to Houston was supposed to leave at 11:35 A.M. on Tuesday.  Alejandro and I left his house around 7:00.  We had plenty of time to enjoy a leisurely breakfast at the airport.  Then we said our farewells, and he went home to fix his dad's breakfast.  I still had plenty of time to kill.  I had purchased my tickets with frequent flyer miles, and then purchased an upgrade to first class.  As a result, I was able to go into the United Club lounge to pass the time more comfortably.  It was then that I noticed on the board, that my flight to Houston was delayed due to bad weather.  As time passed, the delay became longer and longer.  No flights were getting into or out of Houston.  I had a two-hour layover before my flight to Cleveland, but with the lengthening delay, it was obvious that I would miss my connection.  Eventually the 11:35 flight was delayed until 3:30 P.M.! 

I went to the front desk at the United Club to inquire if I would be able to get a later flight to Cleveland.  There was one later flight, but the connection time would be very tight.  I would only have 40 minutes to go through immigration, collect my suitcase, pass through customs, recheck my bag, pass through security and go to the gate.  So, I asked if there was another route I could take, for example, through Chicago.  She said that there was a 2:00 P.M. flight to Chicago, but it was completely full.  She said to come back to the desk at 1:00 to see if any seats should become available.

I went back to the desk at 1:00, and, yes, there was a seat.  And after a two-hour layover in Chicago, I could take a late flight to Cleveland.  I wouldn't have first class seats, but that didn't matter to me.  So, she booked the flights, and I immediately left the United Club to go to the gate for my Chicago flight which would be boarding soon. 

I got on the plane bound for Chicago.  Although I didn't have a first-class seat, I was in one of the emergency rows, so I had more legroom than other economy seats.  My suitcase was still checked to go on the Houston flight, but an attendant asked to see my luggage claim ticket.  She took a photo of it and said that hopefully my suitcase would make it onto this plane before takeoff.   We were delayed a little before we pulled away from the great, and I thought, "Good. That will give them more time to load my bag." 

We pulled away from the gate about ten or fifteen minutes late.  But then, for some reason, we were on the runway for more than an hour.  I don't know if we were waiting for our turn to take off, but my two-hour layover was evaporating.  By the time we landed in Chicago, I only had forty minutes before the doors would close on my Cleveland flight.

Usually on my return to the United States, be it in Houston or Chicago, going through immigration has been a snap.  There hasn't a line at all.  Of course, my bad luck was continuing; there was a long, long line.  Nope, unless my Cleveland flight was delayed, I wasn't going to make it through in time.  The one good thing was that my suitcase did make it onto the flight, and I retrieved it to pass through the formality of customs.  I went to the desk where I would have normally rechecked my bag, and I was rescheduled for the first flight to Cleveland the next morning.  I was also given a voucher to spend the night at a hotel near the airport.  While waiting for the shuttle to take me to the hotel, I called my friend Frank, who house sits for me, about the change of plans.  He would spend another night at the house and be at the airport to pick me up.  I also called Alejandro to let him know that I was spending the night in Chicago.

I didn't get much sleep at the hotel.  I needed to be at the airport around 5:00 A.M.  There was a shuttle leaving the hotel at 4:30. So, I asked the front desk for a wake-up call at 3:30.

Next morning, I boarded the plane for my fiight to Ohio.  I wasn't in first class (hopefully I will be reimbursed for the downgrade), but I did have a window seat.

We finally took off and were flying over the suburbs of Chicago and then out over Lake Michigan.

It's a quick hop from Chicago to Cleveland.  After less than forty minutes in the air, we were crossing Lake Erie, and coming to the coast of Ohio near the city of Lorain, about thirty miles to the west of Cleveland.

Through the morning mist you can make out the skyline of downtown Cleveland.

At long last, after a grueling 24 hours, we landed at Cleveland Hopkins Airport, and the journey was over!

Back Home

Yesterday I flew home from Mexico City.

My flight from Mexico City to Chicago pulled out from the gate exactly on time at 8:10 A.M.

As is usually the case at this busy airport, we waited for about twenty minutes on the runway for our turn to take off.  The day was overcast, and there was no chance of seeing the volcanoes to the east.

After take-off we could look down on Mexico City before ascending above the clouds.

About four hours later we were over the farmlands of Illinois as we began our descent to Chicago's O'Hare Airport.

We actually passed within sight of O'Hare, flew out over Lake Michigan, and circled back to approach the airport from the east.

After landing, passing through immigration and customs was quick and painless, and even going through security was not too bad.  My layover in Chicago was supposed to be about two and a half hours, but my flight to Cleveland was delayed due to mechanical problems.  We waited for another plane to arrive and take us to Cleveland.  In spite of everything that you read about all the airport chaos, this was the only glitch in my flight schedule, both flying to Mexico and returning home.  My flight ended up leaving the gate one hour behind schedule.

It is just a quick one-hour flight from Chicago to Cleveland.  Once again, we flew out over Lake Michigan.

After crossing the lake, we could see the coast of Michigan.  In this photo you can make out one of the sand dunes which are found along the state's western coast.

We crossed over Michigan and came to the western end of Lake Erie just to the south of Detroit.  The town in the lower left is probably Monroe, Michigan.  Toward the upper right, at the corner of the lake, just over the state line, is the urban area of Toledo, Ohio.  

Below us are the Lake Erie islands.  You can just barely make out the white pillar which is the monument commemorating Commodore Perry's victory in the Battle of Lake Erie during the War of 1812.  The 352-foot-high monument is the largest Doric column in the world.  It is located at Put-In-Bay on South Bass Island.

The largest of the Lake Erie islands is Pelee Island which is just across the border in Canadian waters.

We crossed over the shore of Ohio at the city of Lorain.

We circled around and approached Cleveland Hopkins Airport from the southwest...

And passed over my hometown of Olmsted Falls before landing.

I am now at home for five weeks until I return to Mexico in October.  In the meantime, I have several more posts to write about the trip that I just concluded.