New Flight Option for Mexico City
I hope everyone in this forum, as well as across ISG, is doing well. For the record, I've continued to travel, but haven't done any mongering since Paraguay earlier this year (read my meager report in that forum).
Anyway, I've continued to keep tabs on my previous mongering destinations. And earlier in this forum, I said:
[QUOTE=Quagmire1974;2791070]The airline that I used for Mexico City, Monterrey, and Oaxaca has gone belly-up:
[URL]https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/lacking-lifeline-mexican-carrier-aeromar-shutters-2023-02-15/[/URL]
Hopefully, Nella Airlines (Brazil) will acquire Aeromar and resume operations in the near future.[/QUOTE]Well, thankfully, a brand-spanking-new airline option has been added from McAllen, Texas to Mexico City:
[URL]https://www.mcallen.net/news/item/2023/10/31/mcallen-international-airport-s-new-international-nonstop-service-to-mexico-city[/URL]
It looks like it's going to be a codeshare with Delta Airlines. The only thing that I don't like is that the airport in Mexico City will be the new Felipe Angeles International Airport. Previous stories that I've read online is that taxi drivers HATE this airport because it's quite a distance from Mexico City and not nearly as centrally located as Benito Juarez International.
Anyway, if any of you use that new route once it gets going, please let us all know your experience.
Whet goes wrong it goes wrong
Apologies for the late report. I made my first trip to CDMX a couple of weeks ago. As this was a business trip, I had done plenty of research to make use of my limited free time. Thank you, JC and others on this board, and a couple of others. In short, I was not able to make anything work in the end. For the help of others, let me tell you how this trip went sideways for me.
The most important one, and something I had never experienced before, was with WhatsApp. My account was blocked right after I sent my first message after landing in MCDX. It took 24 hours to unlock but would lock again after the first few messages. It was not until the last day of my trip that I could get it all resolved when I finally talked with a live person in support. They believed that since I was using the airplane's WiFi, my account was sending messages using its last geotag, and then I suddenly showed up a thousand miles away in about 5 minutes. Lesson learned: don't use WhatsApp on the plane anymore; they Geotag your location. Not being able to message anyone and the constant lack of response made me look incredibly flaky.
With all of the issues with WhatsApp, I broke down and bought a cheap local phone and SIM card. Starting over, I found a few new sites (to me, at least) and contacts. Less useful but good entertainment; I slipped in a small amount of gathered water on a sidewalk and went down hard, messing up my ankle. Finally, in the hotel lobby, by chance, I ran into one of our primary vendors who was in town with his team. I guess they had a company-wide gathering, and I was "invited" to several of their events, swallowing all the free time I had planned to use for personal activities. But it got worse; an hour after getting home, I found that my company card number had been stolen and several thousands of dollars had already been spent. As a cherry on top, a few days after returning, I came down with a massive bug that kept me out for a week.
Okay, with all that to the side, let me share what I learned. I know this is old news to most of you, but I wanted to share it with anyone who is new. The love hotels mostly seem to speak Spanish, and their online booking tools don't work. Many, though, have a regular hotel attached, and you can book and stay there through sites like Expedia. For me, it seemed to boil down to the suites as a show-up or call to book for that day or the next kind of thing. Also, there is a bit of a catch-22 here as it seemed most local girls wanted either 1 day's notice or, at most, a 2-hour notice and a picture of the room key or the ability to call you in the room. So you have to get the room (6 hours), then call the girl and wait for her. I would love feedback and counter experiences here. While this was not my first rodeo, it was my first time in MCDX.
On the topic of the strip clubs up north, I ran into a local magistrate at one of the business events I attended by chance, and we were talking about how CDMX has improved in the last few years. I had asked if pushing out the crime had just moved it out of the city and north. He told me mostly no and that despite bad pockets, even Tlalnepantla was mostly safe "for locals. " Translation is what I already know from decades of international travel. Get too far from where tourists and cultural foreigners are; you will likely be a target for petty crime or run afoul of the locals at worst (which could easily lead to your compilation or worse). Add any language barriers and alcohol to the mix. Bring a trusted local with you, and it should be okay.
Okay, on to the fun part. As I said, I could not meet anyone, but I talked a bit with some. Here are the sites and links for the ones I liked best:
[URL]https://appsexyescorts.com/bunny[/URL]
[URL]https://www.sexoservidoras.com/escorts/ciudad-de-mexico/cuauhtemoc/la-diosa-del-sexo-lista-para-complacerte-id-9fw2s[/URL]
[URL]https://www.sexoservidoras.com/escorts/puebla/escort-para-disfrutar-rico-y-probar-tetas-grandes-id-8tn24[/URL]