![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerLos Cabos Travelog #2
San Jose del Cabo airport - Sat, 4 May 2024, 1:15pm
Our flight to Mexico this morning was uneventful. It even went by faster than expected. The nonstop from SFO to SJD is scheduled at 3:15; we arrived in just 2 hours 45 minutes. Flights arriving early is no bonus, though, in modern times. Getting in early means the airport operation, which is running at full tilt because of how operations experts have optimized all the slack out of it, means you just have to wait until they're ready for you.
In our case, arriving 30 minutes early means they didn't even have a proper, modern gate for us. We parked 1/2 mile out from the terminal building and had to wait for buses to pick us up at the bottom of the stairs. I've joked before that boarding/exiting a plane via stairs makes me feel special. The Beatles and the Queen of England always waved from the top of the stairs. But I bet the queen never had to wait on a bus.
Once in the terminal the next round of waiting began. Though this was no idle waiting, like waiting for a bus. We had to walk about half a mile, zig-zagging through the tapes to get to passport control.
Mexico, or at least San Jose del Cabo airport, still has old-fashion human passport inspectors. Not computerized scanners like i Australia, New Zealand, and even the US.
Oh, but they do have automated passport scanners. They're all powered up but switched into "Do not use" mode.
Running the gantlet at passport control was repeated at baggage claim. ...Except there it was more of a 250 person scrum instead of hundreds of people walking through the tapes. But there were tapes again at customs. Yes, after waiting at the airport, waiting at passport control, and waiting at baggage claim, there was more waiting to go through customs.
Oh, but there's one last wait.
Now we have to wait for our ride to the hotel! For as many touts and shills hawking rides as we had to ignore just to physically exit the airport terminal, once we got outside and found the right transportation coordinator it's been another wait for our driver to arrive. I was hoping we'd get to the hotel by 1:30 even with an on-time flight.... It turns out even with arriving 30 minutes early we're not going to be at the hotel until 2. Well, at least the weather is clear and warm, with temps in the mid 80s, unlike the Bay Area, where today the weather has turned cool and rainy!
San Jose del Cabo airport - Sat, 4 May 2024, 1:15pm
Our flight to Mexico this morning was uneventful. It even went by faster than expected. The nonstop from SFO to SJD is scheduled at 3:15; we arrived in just 2 hours 45 minutes. Flights arriving early is no bonus, though, in modern times. Getting in early means the airport operation, which is running at full tilt because of how operations experts have optimized all the slack out of it, means you just have to wait until they're ready for you.
In our case, arriving 30 minutes early means they didn't even have a proper, modern gate for us. We parked 1/2 mile out from the terminal building and had to wait for buses to pick us up at the bottom of the stairs. I've joked before that boarding/exiting a plane via stairs makes me feel special. The Beatles and the Queen of England always waved from the top of the stairs. But I bet the queen never had to wait on a bus.
Once in the terminal the next round of waiting began. Though this was no idle waiting, like waiting for a bus. We had to walk about half a mile, zig-zagging through the tapes to get to passport control.
Mexico, or at least San Jose del Cabo airport, still has old-fashion human passport inspectors. Not computerized scanners like i Australia, New Zealand, and even the US.
Oh, but they do have automated passport scanners. They're all powered up but switched into "Do not use" mode.
Running the gantlet at passport control was repeated at baggage claim. ...Except there it was more of a 250 person scrum instead of hundreds of people walking through the tapes. But there were tapes again at customs. Yes, after waiting at the airport, waiting at passport control, and waiting at baggage claim, there was more waiting to go through customs.
Oh, but there's one last wait.
Now we have to wait for our ride to the hotel! For as many touts and shills hawking rides as we had to ignore just to physically exit the airport terminal, once we got outside and found the right transportation coordinator it's been another wait for our driver to arrive. I was hoping we'd get to the hotel by 1:30 even with an on-time flight.... It turns out even with arriving 30 minutes early we're not going to be at the hotel until 2. Well, at least the weather is clear and warm, with temps in the mid 80s, unlike the Bay Area, where today the weather has turned cool and rainy!
