In Transit

Ah made it....was alittle bit bumpy but now i'm here.

I finally understand why so many people hate going through customs, i've never had any issues before going through LAX, and was always quite smug with myself having never had a problem trip!.  Before any of you think the worst i wasn't pulled up for doing anything bad, it was just a really long waiting game, over an hour and a half just to get through passport control (being fingerinted & photographed) and then another hours wait to through customs for a very weary traveller, this was a little bit too much to take. Having to clear these obtsacles then had to immediately check into my next flight & had to go through a similar process of bodyscanning, grumpy customs officers ending up in th smallest part of  LAX airport with only a handfll of shops & no internet connection and 3 hours to kill. 

I must have been the most suspicious person in this terminal in an effort to keep myself awake, i decided to go in each of the cafes (burger joints) and drink coffee.  Then as it was a really small terminal kept walking from one end of the terminal to the other pausing for a few mins to sit down at new chair each time. I was so paranoid that after having to go through all those customs/security checks that now i would be pulled up by security for suspicious behaviour!

Arriving in mexico city was just wonderful, the flight got in at 730pm just as the sun was setting & was showed a great view of the whole of mexico city lit up like fairyland (family do you remember fairyland, on the way to the kwinana house?).  Getting my taxi from the airport i was ripped off twice only picking up on one of them.  Here at the airport you buy your taxi ticket inside  from certain authorised companys, you never just hail one on the street.  I had been to one of the counters and got my ticket & when checking my change realised the guy had tried to trick me by handing me a 10peso coin instead of the 100 peso that was my change, i questioned him and he immediately gave me the change plus a cheeky smile that said "i do this all the time & not everyone picks up on it".

The taxi driver had no clue about where i wanted to go, i had all the directions written down, plus a wonderful mexican friend had given me a page long instructions on how to find my hostel, neither of these things helped, and we headed off not knowing if i was going in the right direction! On the way taking me past a very seedy red light district, fueling my fear that i was gonna end up in the middle of nowhere, however as he was driving down the street next to metroplitan cathedral i managed to spot my hostel from the car & had him pull over.

As soon as he saw the hostel, he smiled & said "ah Si!" he knew it all along!