I'm Back

So I finally made it back to Puerto Vallarta. When I made the return flight reservation without having a definite plan about coming back, I was nervous. I remembered how hard it was to get here and I was afraid something might get in my way of getting back. But it all seemed to work out pretty smoothly...kind of.

My mom agreed to come back with me and bring both of the cats. She recently got fired from her job (don't get me started on that; her boss and firing gets me more upset than my ex-boss and firing) and was on the fence about coming down. But she seems to be handling the changes in her life really well (my brother is finally getting married and leaving the house at age 34) and seemed to be up for little adventure.

Our trip down here was an adventure in and of itself. Our taxi driver showed up 20-30 minutes late and took the slowest route ever to the airport. It turned out it was his 2nd day on the job and he didn't know where he was going. We checked in with difficulty because Ana Maria Cupido was either new to the job or hadn't slept the night before. She tried to charge me $100 per cat (that's the "cargo" price; it's $80 to take them on board), thought we couldn't sit next to each other if we had cats (wrong), told me I needed to pay extra for overweight baggage yet forgot to charge me (yay!), and let my mom through using my brother's passport. Yes, that's right! Ah, I love tightened security in the post-9/11 world -- as useless as ever yet more annoying!

We got to security when it was pointed out that the passport my mom thought was hers, was indeed my brother's that she had grabbed by mistake. Somehow we still got through security (including the need to remove the poor cats from their carriers and walk with them through the metal detector) and up to the gate. But personnel there refused to let us on the plane and told us we needed to go back to ticketing.

Ana Maria was even less helpful the second time around and told us that my mother could go with a birth certificate, voter registration card or notarized affidavit (in addition to her driver's license). I asked to speak to her manager and asked if a notary was in the airport. She was hesitant to call her manager and said the notary wasn't in today. She definitely had a stellar "can't-do" attitude that would take her far at Duane Reade (a NYC chain drug store that I frequently use as an example of poor customer service). Finally after my repeated demands to see a supervisor, she called him over. I was irate, I don't know what I said but Senor Macho interrupted me with "Don't you disrespect me!" Somehow I convinced him that I wasn't disrespecting him and he managed to locate a notary, Ana Maria booked us on the next flight (through Dallas) and we went back through security.



The flight to Dallas was delayed over an hour so of course, we missed our connecting flight. We figured we'd just get on the next one. It was true but it was the next day! So the airline put us all up at a Holiday Inn in Bedford Texas -- my mom, me, and 2 cats. It actually turned out to be a great thing. The cats loved the room and we liked it too. We called my aunt and uncle and cousin who live in the area and they came to the hotel along with my cousin's 3 kids. It was pretty cool because although I'd been to Texas twice in the past few years to see my family, my mom hadn't seen them since the 70s. It was a really nice evening. I just wish we all lived closer.

The next day (yesterday) went fine and we arrived her in the afternoon. We got the cats settled in and went out to lunch at Amy and Ben's cafe.

It's getting late so I'd better end here. I'm really happy to be back. I feel like this is Round 2 and I will do even better. I still have fears but I have to push them aside and bask in what I've done so far and move forward.

Hasta luego.