Travel can be EASY - but why do it that way?

We realize this is supposed to be a travel blog, and so far it’s all Milwaukee and visa applications. This is the last prologue to the real trip, promise!

A Diego Rivera's Mural in a public library we accidentally wander into
during our six hours in Mexico City.

Picture this:  You are in an airport waiting for your flight watching other travelers because there is no free wifi. Suddenly a young man swinging a ukelele charges past you away from any flights. In hot pursuit a young woman in a full length dress runs past with her scarf flipped over her head and a very panicked look. How did we get here?

The fun travel times began in sunny Florida. We started with a 6AM flight out of Connecticut on November 7, and settled in for a 6 hour layover in Orlando. We went on a scavenger hunt for an airline representative for passport control every 15 minutes, but there weren’t any in the terminal (the only AeroMexico gate in Orlando Airport).

About an hour before the flight’s scheduled to depart, someone appears at the gate with sad news for our trip. Essentially, our itinerary is no good. We’d gotten tickets onward from Brazil but apparently the airline has more restrictive guidelines than the relevant governments:

• US State Department: You don’t need a visa to stay in Brazil between connections for less than 12 hours.
• Brazillian Government: You can come through our country as long as you have onward travel via airplane
• AeroMexico: We will let you on the plane without a Brazillian visa ONLY IF YOUR FLIGHT OUT IS ON THE SAME ITINERARY!

Well that was pretty sad. And dumb. And a self-serving monopolistic practice for Aeromexico. But whatever. Wasted tickets aside, we paid a pretty penny to reroute at the last minute with some partner airlines, and we were back in business.

BONUS: We got to see Mexico City! During a 17 hour layover… so we need to go back. We spent about 6 hours of the  in the city, and got to see a few parks, Palacio del Constitucion, the Mercado de San Juan (featuring consequence-free street food - cow’s head tacos) and a surprise Diego Rivera mural. Overall a very fun little day, check out a few pics below.

Enjoying Mexico City!

Anyway, our Orlando airline sadness nearly repeated itself on the way out of Mexico City, leading to the immersive scene where you felt confused about two traveler’s plight. This time the airline wanted to see proof of onward travel (even though Argentina doesn’t require a visa for tourists). From Kateri’s perspective:

She asks me for our exit ticket from Argentina. I start to panic. My vision blurs. I can see our future stuck in airport after airport eating overpriced and slightly nauseating food for the duration of our lives - WE DON’T HAVE EXIT TICKETS FROM ARGENTINA. I listen to their options. (the woman behind the desk turns to the man and says in Spanish “I think Italian and American citizens can go in without a ticket” - I understood her, but she would not negotiate). Andrew shows up and counters - “Can I buy a bus ticket now?” They look at each other and say “yes, you have 10 minutes.”

We ran with ukulele and scarf found Wi-Fi, purchased bus tickets and rushed back to the gate. Thankfully we made it - and were able to complete our ~70 Hour journey to Argentina (oy!). During immigration control, the officer did not ask us about our plans in Argentina at all. We feel vindicated in a small way.

LESSON LEARNED - Get confirmation from your airline that your plan works for them (not the government - for the airline) well before you depart.

Externalizing Blame Note: We are staying with a bunch of people who have had similar experiences. One guy from Ireland was denied entrance to a flight by two flight attendants without an exit ticket, and then a third attendant let him on.