Stranded in the Mexico City Airport: My Travel Horror Story

My redeye flight from Buenos Aires arrived at 6am in Mexico City, and after a bumpy ride and little sleep, I was looking forward to a long nap on my next flight to New York. I should have known that the airport on the day before Christmas Eve would be a madhouse, but I had never had problems flying before, and I probably had too much faith in the system. After a fun weekend at the beach and a series of goodbye dinners with friends, my bags were already en route to New York City while I waited patiently for my layover flight in Mexico City.

The Meal

Exhausted, I saw that my flight was delayed on the departure screen. Unfortunately, it didn't indicate an estimated time of departure, so I had no idea how long the flight would be delayed. Since it took a while to deplane and get through customs, I treated myself to a big lunch even though I wasn't sure how much I was actually paying because Mexican pesos. I didn't realize it was such a nice restaurant until I was seated. Men in business suits and women in fur coats stared at me in wonder. There I was, an American girl with puffy red eyes, a ratty sweatshirt, and tennis shoes dining in a fancy restaurant. I wasn't familiar with the menu, and I ordered a three course meal at random. The waiter smiled at me in sympathy, and placed a tiny soup bowl on the table with a bread basket. My mouth was on fire because that was the first spicy food I'd had in half a year. I could hardly take more than a teaspoon of the soup. After looking around, I realized that I was eating the jalapeno salsa as soup instead of as a bread dip. No amount of water or breath mints could erase the burning sensation in my mouth.

Gaucho Santa

The flight ended up being delayed ten hours. Every hour or so, the staff would announce that the flight was delayed another hour. Finally, I took a nap on the floor using my suitcase as a pillow. I thought I was dreaming about Christmas at home, but was awakened by a gaucho Santa, who danced around the airport with a parade of hysterical children in tow. So much for a quick nap. Santa's elves started singing and dancing around with jingle bells. Finally, we were able to board the plane after ten long hours of misery.

Home Sweet Home

Strangely enough, I had a wonderful flight to Buenos Aires six months before, with a layover in the same Mexico City airport. At that time, however, I didn't speak much Spanish, so I found it difficult to communicate to the information desk that none of the gates had flight numbers and I had no idea where to go. Six months later, not only had the airport installed computer screens that display the gate and flight numbers, but I also was able to clearly communicate the fact that I was stranded in Mexico City for ten hours. The staff were polite but couldn't help me. I was even more grateful the moment the plane landed in New York City. After two redeye flights in a row, I was exhausted, but happy to finally spend Christmas with my family.