It has been a tumultuous 48 hours in and around LAX. Since I last posted on here, I have been flying actual aircraft once again and not just simulators. I had vacation days awarded in the middle of this month, but the airline did not hesitate to bookend them with reserve shifts. In the past, I could count on getting some extra days off on both sides, but not the case this October. That put some time constraints on what we would be able to do. We did not think it was enough time to pursue our original plan of Patagonia, so we focused on the Pacific and places like Palau and Saipan with a recently-opened Japan added on the tail end.
With those plans in mind, we tried to get out on the evening of my last reserve day on a Delta flight to Honolulu. It was oversold with about a dozen standbys. Only two people got seats. The following morning we attempted a flight to Lihue. It had plenty of seats, but they closed the door and said it was weight restricted, and that no standbys could be boarded. We then hustled over to a Kona flight, where we would have gotten seats, but we were too late, then we tried for an Alaska flight to Honolulu, where we missed out by about three seats, and another one to Maui, where we were next in line, but just missed out. We were looking at airport departure boards just trying to see where we could feasibly go (at least with suitcases filled with bathing suits and shorts). We were out of ideas.
For whatever reason, mid-October is now apparently the time to go on vacation. Crowds were at levels I haven’t seen . . .ever. It was like pre-pandemic Thanksgiving travel crowds, but somehow worse. On many flights, there were 30-40 standbys on top of the already nonexistent seats. I don’t know what was happening. In any event, we surrendered and walked back to the Rideshare lot to go home. To console ourselves after spending five hours in crowded airport terminals for no reason, we got Chick-Fil-A. There are a handful of times when we have had to return home empty-handed after going to the airport to catch a flight, but never have we been denied on five separate flights. It was a record, and not one we wanted.
The following day (the third day if anyone is keeping track), we went back to LAX again. Our flight was scheduled for 930am, but we saw it was delayed to 11, and we arrived a little after 10am accordingly. We had already checked in, but American doesn’t like to mark our tickets with TSA Pre-Check, so we went to a ticket agent to sort it out. That might seem unnecessary, but we were basically harassed last time in regular TSA, so we felt it was worth the extra effort. That being said, the ticket agent gave us a lot of sass about showing up to the airport only an hour before the flight because we “still had to go through security!” We checked in last night, so that near as makes no difference, and I can’t help it that we chose not to wait for an extra 90 minutes in a crowded Terminal 4 for a plane that wasn’t even there. Sigh.
We went through security in about two minutes, about 88 minutes faster than our American Airlines ticket agent allotted. The gate area was crowded despite there being 75 open seats on the plane. The employee website for standby listings has a feature that allows you to put in your airport and it will tell you where you can go with the greatest odds. It was London, Los Cabos, Cancun, and San José Costa Rica. So here we are, on a flight to Los Cabos in México. It is a much shorter flight, fairly low impact, and most importantly after the last couple days — easy. Perhaps it will be good to just sit back and relax for a spell with taco in hand and cerveza in the other.
We touched down smoothly at Los Cabos International Airport. Our flight arrived at the same time as a few others, but customs went relatively fast for the volume of passengers. We were then shuttled to the National car rental center where we underwent what was possibly the most efficient and organized rental car agreement process of my life. They knew who we were before we stepped off the shuttle, there was no wait for service, the car materialized behind us in nearly sparkling condition, and we were on our way.
It was about a 90 minute drive from there to Todos Santos, which is to the north west up the Baja peninsula. The roads very quickly opened up to a desert landscape with few cars. We were happy to leave the other passengers at the airport behind. We can only presume they were all on their way to some mega resorts in Cabo San Lucas with buffets, karaoke contests, and margaritas as big as your head.
We arrived in Todos Santos to our casita at Serendipity. Nicole had been eyeing up this particular lodging, but didn’t think it was available. She received a call from Mexico just this morning alerting her that we could get it last minute, in a rare twist of fate that actually benefited us. Our casita is amply large and has its own kitchen.
After a lunch that consisted merely of a single airline Biscoff cookie, we were eager to get some dinner. Our host recommended a nearby taco hut that was simply called, “5 Tacos and a Beer.” Their offerings were as expected. I ordered 5 tacos – 2 carne asada, 2 adobado, and 1 longaniza (a type of sausage). We washed down our tacos with a Modelo Negra.
The sun was just setting as we drove back to our casita. We decided to go for a walk down a path that led to the beach. It is a very isolated beach — no resorts or high rises to be found anywhere. The temperature finally began to cool down from 95 degrees earlier in the day.
It may not be the vacation we planned, but so far, it is perhaps the vacation we needed. Tomorrow we have no plans, and that may be the best plan.
passports & pepto bismol 