Getting to Sofia

I’ve arrived in Sofia. Right now I’m hanging out in the lobby of what seems to be a lovely hotel. It’s too early to get into my room, so I’m chilling and charging my phone. I’ll head out to explore the neighborhood in a bit, but I thought I’d share the fun I’ve had over the last two days.

Drive to the airport

Normally the drive to the airport is nothing to write about, but since we narrowly avoided a serious accident, it was an eventful start to my journey.

There wasn’t too much traffic, but there were a few construction areas and some police presence on the highway. At one point we were passing a big assembly of police vehicles on the other side, and the car in front of us decided to stop for no discernable reason other than to rubberneck.

My driver had to brake hard to avoid crashing, and there was a panel truck behind us that had to swerve to avoid crashing into us. He must have had a high center of gravity, because as he braked and changed lanes, he toppled over onto his side and slid onto the median. I think this turned out much worse for him than if he’d rear-ended us. But we lucked out. A policeman from the other side of the highway came running over immediately, so we continued and got to the airport with no further incidents.

Flight to Mexico City

Flying to AICM (Aeropuerto Internacionál Ciudad de Mexico) is also normally nothing to write about. But let’s just say this was not the best flight I’ve ever taken. It was, mercifully, short.

I don’t remember the seats on Viva being so uncomfortable. It was like sitting on a park bench. I had an aisle seat, and during boarding the middle seat remained empty, so I became hopeful. Alas, it was not to be. And my seatmate was, how shall I put it delicately, large. My already narrow and uncomfortable seat became narrower and more uncomfortable as I squished myself to the side so I wouldn’t be cuddling with him.

Then a woman in the row in front of us got on her phone, about as loud and whiny as it is possible to speak. She sounded like Cecilia Suárez playing Paulina on La Casa de las Flores:

Then, just before we landed, the woman sitting directly across the aisle from me asked the flight attendant for a motion sickness bag, and promptly put it to use. And right after we landed, Paulina started whining into her phone again.

Yes, it was a lovely start to my trip.

Mexico City

In the past I have stayed at the Courtyard by Marriott, right at the airport, when I had an overnight layover. But I discovered a different hotel, the Camino Real, with good reviews and a lot cheaper. It’s across the street from the airport, accessible via a sky bridge. So I decided to give it a try.

The airport, however, is undergoing major construction. I guess they are rushing to complete much-needed improvements before the World Cup. In the interim, the airport is a mess. When I got off the plane, there was no signage pointing to baggage claim or the exit. If I weren’t already familiar with the airport, I wouldn’t have known which way to go.

It was much worse after I got into the land-side area. The entire check-in area is a war zone. Fortunately, workers in red vests are stationed throughout the terminal to help travelers find their way. I started by going outside to see if I could find the hotel and the sky bridge. They were easy to spot. So I went back inside and asked a red-vest how to get upstairs to the sky bridge. I ended up walking far down one way and couldn’t find any stairs. So I asked another red-vest, and he escorted me to the stairway, and then I had to walk all the way back in the opposite direction. Finally, I found my way to the sky bridge and the hotel.

The Camino Real turned out to be very nice, and I saved over a hundred US dollars compared with the Marriott.

Yesterday morning I had to find my way to the international departure area, which has moved from its previous location. But it seems to be a much more efficient process, and I got through security in no time.

Will they finish all this construction before the World Cup starts in June? I’m skeptical, but I’ll find out, because I will be back there a few days before the first match.

Flight to Istanbul

My flight to Istanbul on Turkish Airlines was uneventful, thank goodness, although there was a woman seated nearby who seemed to be dying of strep throat, violently coughing on and off. I hope she was far enough away that I won’t end up catching whatever she had.

Unfortunately, I barely managed to get any sleep at all. I’m going to have to finish this later, because if I don’t get outside and do some walking, I’m going to fall asleep in the middle of typing.

I’m back. I explored a bit, and when I got back, my room was ready. I took a shower and decided to lie down for just a quick nap. Two hours later…

Anyway, we arrived in Istanbul right on schedule. I had only about two hours before my flight to Sofia. And if you know IST, you know that’s not a lot of time. It’s a huge airport. And I’ve never seen it so crowded. Even the Fast Track line was long to go through security for connecting flights. But within a half hour I was through security, which gave me enough time to hit the Business Class lounge and grab something to drink. Like the rest of the airport, the lounge was packed. There was even a line in the men’s room.

Flight to Sofia

I didn’t realize how short the flight from Istanbul to Sofia was. I think flying time was about 50 minutes. And yet, they managed to do a complete breakfast service.

SOF did a great job of handling passport control, except that it took place in a different terminal from the one we arrived at. So even though we deplaned through a jetway, we still had to get on a bus for a ride to the other terminal. I thought this would mean long lines, with a big busload all arriving at once, but they had a lot of agents, and they had an ePassport line for EU people. So I was through in just five minutes. My ride was waiting, and it wasn’t a long drive. 

So despite the ominous start to my journey from Ajijic to Sofia, it ended up going smoothly. Let’s hope the rest of the trip follows suit.