A weekend South of the Border (Part 3 of 3)

(Apologies in advance for lack of photos in this instalment!)

Upon awaking that last morning before heading to the flight we came across the only disappointing aspect to the trip, when checking upgrade status on AA.com we discovered that while mine had cleared, Michelle’s hadn't  Unable to call into customer service we figured we’d take our chances at the airport and head over a bit early to try to figure out what had happened. But first we took our last hot showers for quite a while and enjoyed the view, space and multiple shower heads that the W's huge shower afforded.

There was just enough time for last stroll through Polanco to grab breakfast, normally we love the breakfasts at international Starwoods but this spread was awfully weak appearing in both quality and selection. A couple blocks up the road near where we had dinner the first night were 2 very European bakeries with a wide selection of macaroons, breads, croissants, and even Brezel!

The W Mexico City offers a car service anywhere including the airport, it was 400 pesos if charged to the room and 350 if paying cash. While maybe convenient and an additional way to earn some Starpoints it’s definitely not economical, a taxi is only about 200 pesos.

AA #105 (737-8) Seats: 4A & 7C

Depart: MEX 6:40 AM

Arrive: MIA 7:05 AM

At check in we were informed the reason only one upgrade had cleared while the other didn't is because the phone agent we spoke with before the trip had failed to merge the PNRs as she had indicated, hence when I requested the upgrade it only requested for me and not Michelle. There was one seat left available but 2 Platinums on the wait list ahead of us, which did not bode well. Due to the early check in we had plenty of time to kill after clearing security, was awfully nice to just have a metal detector, before we boarded so a visit to the Admirals Club was in order. The Club in Mexico City was quite large with nice views of both the tarmac and an indoor courtyard at the hotel, not to mention a decent library and a few hot and cold food selections. Thankfully they had a shuttle when boarding was called as it was a good 10-15 minute walk to the gate, as we found out when first looking for the AC.

I offered Michelle the business class seat many times but she refused and instead took refuge in her empty bulkhead row to stretch out and sleep for the flight, was probably a fair choice! Breakfast was served and I went with chicken enchiladas which while a bit cheesy were good and did the job. The flight was smooth and uneventful except for an incident in which I tried to give Michelle my blanket, after she’d had it for about half an hour one of the other passengers, a very wealthy looking lady with her family, decided to complain to the crew that I’d given up my blanket and that it’s not fair for one coach passenger to have a blanket while her family member who was sitting in coach didn't have one. She thought it worthwhile to complain loud enough and frequently enough about how it’s not right for me to share my blanket with my wife, even though I wasn't using it, that the crew ended up taking the blanket back from Michelle! I still can’t believe how inconsiderate some people are, just because you can’t share your blanket what’s wrong with me sharing mine? The crew even said that it was her that was complaining and not her family member! Sometimes I wish you could tell someone off on a plane, unfortunately as we see from time to time any disagreement usually leads to police involvement and crazy accusations. 

AA #2230 (757-2) Seats 17E & 17F

Depart: MIA 5:30 PM

Arrive: STT 8:20 PM

Dinner was a trusty toasted panini in the MIA Admirals club that would not have been possible without our flight to STT being delayed by nearly an hour, that also gave us time to check with the AAngels about some better seats and they were able to grab us 2 exit rows, making the late flight somewhat bearable, they really are lifesavers sometimes!

We took advantage of Priority AAcess and boarded early which proved to be a smart decision as Pressure was going back to STT with his entourage who ended up filling probably 1/3 of the plane plus all the VI shoppers coming back from States with their arms full of shopping bags and all fighting over overhead bins.

Despite a short nap on the plane the flight without food passed slowly so I was very happy to see the lights of St. Thomas glittering ahead as we made our approach.\, I was surprised at how small and empty the island looks when coming in from the West! Bouncing awkwardly down the short runway it was somewhat surprising the pilot was able to get it reigned in and slowed down just at the end of the runway to take the last exit to the taxiway.

We grabbed our bag which despite being priority tagged was the 3^rd to last out, come to think of it all the priority bags came in a group and the end…We really need to get our act together in the VI when it comes to airports and customer experiences! That’s when we realized we had VI taxi dramas again, being short on cash we hit the only ATM at the airport only to find it was broken (see comment above!) and taxis here take cash alone. We were able to convince the dispatcher that we could get cash at the hotel and were herded into the next group of 15 that was headed in the direction of our hotel, yep no private taxis and rarely a direct taxi here. We got to spend the next 40 minutes making a 15 minute drive due to all the stops to drop passengers off but finally reached our destination, the newly renovated Marriott Frenchman’s Reef. Having heard so much about the supposed Marriott jewel of the Caribbean we took advantage of a discount rate available to Marriott Rewards Silver members and got in for about $100.

While in all fairness we only went to the gift shop to buy toothpaste, our room and the lobby I can confidently say we won’t be back…especially at the $300+ rates they charge during season. We were told at check in that we had been upgraded, which wasn't important as we were due to leave at 6:00 the next morning, but upon reaching our room we had a low level connecting room facing the parking lot. I'm fine with no upgrade; especially from a chain we've stayed 0 nights with this year but don’t lie about being “upgraded”. Anyhow the bed was lumpy and far too soft to get a good sleep, and for a Caribbean hotel that is heavily marketed to tourists the rooms were very boring; white walls, tile floors, a kitschy painting on one wall and a TV  desk, chair and bed. The only thing with some colour was the chair but it seems like they neutered the hotel during their big renovation and now it could be any Marriott or Motel 6 anywhere in the world. All in all I was just surprised and disappointed that this is, apparently, some of the “best” the VI has to offer.

Another overpriced cab ride that I had to sit on the floor for this time (not enough seats) and we were at the seaplane terminal for our flight home. No photo of this one but same stunning view, only this time because the flight path for St. Thomas to St. Croix is higher than St. Croix to St. Thomas we were able to see the other seaplane heading in the opposite direction. A cool sight any time but especially as the bright red sun rose over the beautiful turquoise and sapphire Caribbean Sea.

A Weekend South of the Border (Part 2 of 3)

Upon arriving in Mexico City and settling into our hotel, our first stop: finding some authentic, local food. We didnt have to venture far to find the first of the taco stands, enchilada carts and bebida "drink" vendors. 

So many choices, only so much room in our tummies! This place looked great:

the locals, everything from business men in their slick suits and ties, to groups of children to the elderly were swarming around this family-run cart just outside one of the subway stations. We observed, decided we had try one or three ("When in Rome", right?) and spent the next twenty mintutes wondering whether there was some sort of  a line, or whether you just had to yell out your order when there was a rare quiet moment. 

I guess the process was to wait your turn, the 'mama' of the family would then get to you and hand you a plate. Then she would ask you what you wanted (our first order was 'pollo' (chicken), the second 'carnita'(pork) and I ordered the third one - 'queso' (cheese), although somehow I ended up with spinach. Hmm.)

The girl above in the photo would scoop out corn tortilla mix and put a blob in this machine and flatten it, only to throw it immediately on the hot flat grill to cook. Then, they would  put on top  your choice of meat and the condiments would be left up to you: lime, cilantro, onions, habanero, red salsa, green salsa, jalepenos... you name it. 

Fold the whole thing in half and pop it in your mouth...voila! Hot, spicy (or not) deliciousness!

Our bellies full and we continued our walk to Bosque de Chapultepec (Chapultepec Forest, or really, it was more of a huge park, complete with Zoo, market, water paddles and Aztec statues). So many cute squirrels ran across our path!

And did I mention yet how beautiful the flowers were?

In fact, this park ended up being so big (686 ha to be exact!) that we spent the rest of the afternoon here: exploring, meeting some locals and looking at the many commemorative sculptures.

Below is one of these sculptures, that was erected in recognition of the ancient Aztec rulers, who would use this park as a 'retreat' in pre-Hispanic time.

We had explored our local area and had had a fabulous dinner thatevening at a lively, colorful and extremely busy locals restaurant. With my throat hurting and nose running, I was thankful that soup was not only popular, but a staple in the Mexican diet.

Day 2

The next morning, after a little sleep in, we set on our way to head downtown to the historical district. Little did we know that the 30th International Mexico City marathon was taking place, so no buses were running... well, we thought, lets just take the Metro.

We were greeted with sunshine and blue skies when we left the hotel, and for the first time since arriving a little warmth tickled our noses. As we headed in the direction of Chapultepec Forest, beautiful, wealthy residential houses lined the street on both sides. 

We did not have to walk far to see and hear the marathon on in full force! People of all ages, shapes, sizes...some with their dogs and babies in strollers in tow - Geoff and I grabbed a tamale from a couple of children with a street van for breakfast and people-watched for a little while. (A tamale is a Mexican dish of seasoned meat wrapped in cornmeal dough and steamed  in corn husks. We had a 'verde'  - chicken with green sauce made with tomatillos and a 'mole' - chicken with red chilli sauce)

Upon finishing our tamales, we decided we would walk alongside the marathon for a little while, as there seemed to be a lot of activities going on...plus, the sights were beautiful!

Next stop: local market for a second breakfast and a cup of Atole. Everywhere we went, corner vendors were ladling this hot chocolate looking drink out of a huge pot sitting on a gas burner into Styrofoam cups. We were curious as to what exactly it was, so once again, Geoff and I got one of each - the champurrado (chocolate Atole) and a Horchata (hot rice milk drink with cinnamon). Sweet, thick and oh so good! :-)

We continued to venture on, stopping at multiple market stalls, sampling some local fruits and soaking up the scenery of the crumbling ruins and beautiful architecture.

Mexico City is renowned for its many statues, monuments and symbolic structures. Perhaps the most popular street to capture as many of these as possible is Avenida Reforma. 

This sculpture and fountain, Diana the Huntress, was erected in 1942, and was the very of the city's many symbols created to 'beautify' the city.

El Angel  de la Independencia (The Angel of Independence) was built to commemorate the centennial of the beginning of Mexico's War of Independence, celebrated in 1810.

It has now become a focal point for both celebration and protest.

After 6 long hours of walking, we finally reached our destination: downtown Mexico City. 

Plaza de la Constitución or  'Zócalo' to the locals is the main square and heart of downtown Mexico City. Since Aztex times, this area has been a gathering place for Mexicans, having been the site for many protests, royal proclamations, military parades, ceremonies and many religious events. At 57,600 square meters, this is one of the largest city squares in the entire world.

So what makes up the Square? We have the Cathedral, National Palace, Federal District building, Templo Mayor (more on that later) and Old Portal de Mercaderes (historic market). In other words, a feast of sights waiting to be explored!

Hm, this scene is a little reminiscent of China... 'Hey, look! A blonde person!!!' The moment Geoff and I walked up to this buskers show in Zócalo, I was immediately pulled into his circle and became the main attraction. What I did understand of him saying to me was something along the lines of whether I like tequila and which penthouse suite he was staying in! 

(Maybe I really should start charging people to take photos of me, the blondie)

Here are a few shots from the impressive Metropolitan Cathedral, the largest and oldest Cathedral in all of Latin America. The building of this beautiful gothic structure began in the 16th Century and has been partially torn down, rebuilt and added to multiple time. Today, is a blend of baroque, neoclassic, and Mexican churrigueresque architecture.

The sights of historical Mexico City did not stop in the popular tourist areas. Despite aching feet/knees/backs, we just couldn't help ourselves, we needed to keep exploring. Our further venturing took us to the back streets and 'less travelled' roads of Mexico City...now this was where the authentic culture of today's Mexico could be found. 

A scoop of 7 peso (53 U.S c) Helado (icecream) keep us going as we explored, tested our Spanish speaking to the max and worked our way through old city blocks. Groups of children would surround and enjoy the sounds street musicians, elderly men could be seen sitting in squares and playing board games whilst smoking cigars whilst women, dressed in their bright colored, hand made sweaters were complaining to each-other about the price of vegetables at road side stalls.

Just one more thing to check off our Mexico City list... and that was Templo Mayor. This temple used to be one of the main temples of the Aztects in their capital city of Tenochtitlan, which is now Mexico City. Construction of this temple began in 1325, and has since been rebuilt 6 times. In 1521, the temple was destroyed by the Spanish, however the ruins can still be visited today.

Here is the link to the official site: http://www.templomayor.inah.gob.mx/

However, it is in Spanish. The English version just gives a very brief overview of their museum. As much as I do not like to recommend Wiki, their write up on Templo Mayor is actually quite comprehensive and as far as I learnt, accurate also.

View of the Cathedral from Templo Mayor

One last look at the inside of the Cathedral before we left downtown

A well-deserved Sopa Azteca (Aztec Soup) and Sangria after 10 hours of straight walking/standing! Salud!!

A weekend south of the border (Part 1 of 3)

With a busy August having come and gone, I thought it to be a good time to take Michelle away from the quiet life here and head off for some relaxation, food and cerveza in Mexico City. Strange choice? Probably but AA had some deals I just couldn’t resist, couple that with some Amex MR points burning a hole in my pocket and enough SPG points to supply a place to lay our heads it was off we went.

Seaborne Airlines #105 Seats: 2B & 2C

DHC-6 Seaplane

Depart: SSB 6:40 AM

Arrive: SPB 7:05 AM

Firstly the biggest hurdle, AA has taken away our morning flight here in STX so the only way to get to Miami is now in the afternoon / evening or in the morning from STT, which meant waking before dawn to catch the first seaplane for the short jaunt over the channel. A relaxing flight in itself aided by the thought of breakfast on our way to MIA and a couple shots of espresso before leaving the house.

AA #2230 Seats 4E & 4F

757-200

Depart: STT 8:30 AM

Arrive: MIA 11:20 AM

After one of the VIs ridiculously expensive cab rides, $20 for about 5 minutes and 2.2 miles

We reached STT to check in and it sure is different from our little airport at home – big (relatively) queues for both AA and JetBlue and porters running around everywhere as bag drop is not at check in counter but rather after customs, a short couple minute walk. Lines for both customs and security weren’t too bad though why airports in the Caribbean insist on running jumbo, high speed fans in already air conditioned terminals still baffles me. With the short connection time and running from the seaplane we only had a couple minutes to wait before they called business class boarding. Aside from the usual gate rushers boarding was smooth and once seated in AA’s old brown seats with a glass of orange juice boarding finished quickly thanks to using stairs at the front and back of our 757. 2 doors is always something I love about travelling in Asia as they seem to use 2 doors to board more often than not and it’s the one thing we have here at STT and STX that is miles ahead of the states!

Unfortunately our catering service is miles behind, actually we don’t have catering service…breakfast always consists of cereal, fruit cup and the microwaved AA croissant. One thing that really jumped out though was Michelle’s blanket was unwrapped and covered in crusties, though as unfortunately seems to be the rule more so than the exception the MIA based flight attendants were utterly unhelpful. The rest of the flight was smooth and uneventful and soon we were on the ground in MIA and heading for the D15 Admiral’s Club to catch up on some emails and have a drink before our flight to MEX. Though we have access to the AC due to our Amex Platinum card we entered with our business class boarding passes instead for the free drink certs.

AA #2185 Seats 5E & 5F

737-800

Depart: MIA 1:00 PM

Arrive: MEX 3:15 PM

Within the hour it was time to head to gate for boarding but first a stop at the shops for socks, not knowing what the blanket situation would be this time around Michelle was worried about getting cold. You have to love how airport shops market their products, we had the choice between 2 pairs of “travel socks” for $15 or 1 pair of “socks” for $5, naturally they appeared to be the same socks! Boarding was relatively quick and painless though I keep forgetting how many AA elites are based in MIA so the Priority Access line was again longer than the general boarding line. Being a 738 this flight had the new blue seats with the feature I find among best in the sky, the small tables for holding a drink or snack. Not sure why no other airlines I’ve seen have these but they beat resting a glass on the armrest or having the full table out, plus they keep things nicely out of the way of a clumsy people like me so we don’t spill our coffees on ourselves. Lunch was served with the choice of Prawn Salad or Chicken Parmigiana, both sounded good so we did one of each along with a glass of wine and of course an after meal baileys and coffee or two!

Michelle's

Mine

Both meals were pretty good, mine had good flavour but wasn't crispy enough and Michelle's prawns were nice but too much salad! I do love the pita chips that AA provides though, it's a great snack with the hummus and a big benefit for us who can't eat the nuts.

Service on this flight was much better than the previous and that is always the thing that bothers me most with AA, the service is far too hit and miss sometimes you’ll have a great flight and it feels like they really have their act together, then you’ll get one with dirty blankets and blank stares.

Shortly after immigration forms were distributed and we were on our descent before we knew it, the approach to Mexico City was much prettier than I expected and after a descending past the surrounding mountain ranges we made a big loop over the city followed by a smooth touchdown and parked next to an AA MD80 after a short taxi. Immigration was smooth an uneventful and after grabbing our bag we presented the customs official with our declaration and that’s where it really hit us, even though we had an English declaration card, his response was “fila diecisiete”…guess that meant time for Spanish!

Knowing the potential issues with cabs we elected to go the safe route and get an official airport taxi, prices all seemed pretty similar with maybe a 10 peso variation to our destination in Polanco. We bought our 250 peso ticket and were ushered to our nice white cab, a new VW “classic” (aka Jetta). The ride to the W wasn’t bad considering the late afternoon and weekend timing and we were there in 20 minutes or so.

Courtesy of CondeNaste