We all made our way to Pearson International Airport Terminal 3 to meet at 7am. The weather was rather gruesome – some of us actually made the trip the night before, sleeping in the airport or nearby hotels or staying with friends. We were quite worried about the weather and whether we would actually be able to leave today as many flights were cancelled in previous days and the forecast for Sunday was rather grim with increased snowfall coincident with our projected departure time at 10:01 AM. We did proceed through security and boarded the plane on time – but were in the tarmac for some time – long waits for the de-icing procedure. We eventually departed at 11:30 AM – but we made it into the air!
We arrived in Mexico City (having decided to eschew US airlines and airports) late afternoon, and while rather hectic, we did make our connecting flight to Guadalajara, arriving 7:30 PM local time, met by Javier (local professor), and two of his students: David and Alexi.
We made our way to a local airport hotel, checked in, and then had food in the local hotel restaurant. A long day but we made it!
En español
Acordamos reunirnos en la Terminal 3 del Aeropuerto Internacional Pearson en Toronto a las 7 am. El clima estaba bastante feo: algunos hicimos el viaje desde la noche anterior, algunos durmiendo en el aeropuerto o en un hotel cercano o bien quedándonos con amigos. Estábamos bastante preocupados por el clima y por si realmente tendríamos oportunidad de salir hoy ya que se cancelaron muchos vuelos en días anteriores por la tormenta y el pronóstico para el domingo era bastante sombrío con un aumento de nevadas coincidente con nuestra hora de salida proyectada a las 10:01 a.m. Sin embargo, pasamos por el filtro de seguridad y abordamos el avión a tiempo, pero estuvimos en la pista durante un buen rato, con largas esperas para el procedimiento de deshielo del avión. Finalmente salimos a las 11:30 a. m., ¡logramos volar!
Llegamos a la Ciudad de México (habiendo decidido evitar las aerolíneas y los aeropuertos estadounidenses) al final de la tarde y, aunque bastante ajetreados, hicimos nuestro vuelo de conexión a Guadalajara, llegando a las 7:30 p.m., hora local, donde fuimos recibidos por Javier (profesor local) y dos de sus estudiantes: David y Alexia.
Nos dirigimos a un hotel cercano al aeropuerto, nos registramos y luego cenamos en el restaurante del hotel. ¡Un día largo pero lo logramos!
Deicing station at Pearson Airport
Deicing station at Pearson Airport
Clouds – en route to Mexico City
Mexico City
Aeromexico planes – bound for Guadalajara
boarding flight for Guadalajara
boarding flight for Guadalajara
Lake Chapala outside Guadalajara
Guadalajara
We are so happy to hear that all of you made it to your destination! You had quite the day to travel and it is nothing short of incredible that you ended up with only slight delay! We are excited to see what each new day brings for you all and appreciate being able to follow along in this blog! We love pictures <3!
Glad you made it safely… looking forward to seeing your adventures over the next few weeks 😊