Snowflakes, snowflakes everywhere….

So whilst still on Blighty Terra Firma we entered a parallel universe as soon as we queued up for the plane. The expectation and reality was that everyone was masked up. No ifs or buts but everyone for the 11 hour flight had to wear a mask. Apparently in other parts of the world people are still very cautious about COVID.

It was ok wearing it again and really – had no issue with it. However, the following announcement caused quite a high degree of anxiety. We needed to let the flight attendants know if we had a cough, a temperature or felt generally unwell you had to notify them. Problematic as my whole days have been punctuated by steady and relentless hacking coughs. Eyes are said to be the doorway to the soul, or some such thing. Well looking into some people’s soul on the flight uncovered the fact that my incessant racket was not well received and I was the devil incarnate. Trying not to cough was equally hard and just made my lungs hurt more.

By the time we reached Mexico City I felt very loppy. Undeniably this was partly due to the fact that what little I had managed to try to eat at Wagamamas had dropped onto my front as my mouth was numb with the chillies.

i felt dirty and incredibly stinky. So once at the airport I headed to the duty free shops while Pete had a coffee. Scanning the perfumes I settled on Sauvage – the Johnny Depp perfume. I needed something heady and not floral to counteract the stench.

Headed back to Pete feeling pleased with my DIY transformation. ‘,Oh my god’ said Pete and proceeded to say I smelt of the green stuff they put down loos in 1970s schools. Well why have one spray of it when I could have several. Perhaps I had over done it. Pete started to get queasy and probably started to take the colour of the said toilet cleaner. ‘Why do you want to want to smell like bleep Johnny Depp, for bleeps sake?’

So off popped to the loos to wash it off, struggling with the taps and drenching my front. Headed back to the shop and sprayed a floral perfume. But the other one lingered in the background so now I just smelt of Zoflora. Classy!

The airport is massive, the shops impressive and colourful artworks abound. Again everyone wearing masks in the airport and signs everywhere about social distancing and sanitising.

One strange thing was the wide array of Halls cough sweets in the shops. Odd to see these Lancastrian sweets venerated here. A bit like KitKat’s in Japan. I bought a pack, although they didn’t help – great flavour though.

The next leg of the trip to San Jose was relatively incident free until the end. An ear worm was persistent as I hummed ‘Do you know the way to San Jose….’ This flight was a paltry two and a half hours. Managed to fit in a film. Watched Old, an M.Night Shyamalan film. Ridiculous!!! Checked reviews out and the Guardian had given it five stars when it came out – so my trust in their reviews has significantly spiralled.

Started the descent into San Jose airport. Then starting ascending, then started what seemed like going round in circles. Buildings we had passed earlier looked familiar again. Eventually the pilot came on, muffle muffle muffle, nothing to be alarmed about, muffle muffle muffle and all perfectly normal. When someone points out something is normal it feels like it really isn’t. After a few more rounds of circling round he started the descent again and hit the runway with quite some force, felt very bumpy and decidedly not normal. A few half hearted claps reverberated through the plane.

Got everything ready to go through San Jose airport, proof of return flights. For some reason you have to say your job too. So up I went with Pete, showed passport and proof of flights. Then Pete but then he asked Pete his job. Obviously I look like a lady of leisure!

it was all very quick and we reached the exit speedily. There were throngs of men with notices emblazoned with tourist names. This may seem really sad but I have always thought this was the height of sophistication. The idea of being picked up and whisked away. Normally we trudge to this bit, bleary eyed and sleep deprived, figuring out what our next steps will be and how to navigate thins in a foreign country. Not today though, today we were greeted with a sign with our names and whisked off in a rather posh vehicle to the hotel. Phew!!