Wnner! And losers...

Most first commenters on giveaway posts lament the fact that they are the first commenter, certain that they won't win. Not so this time - my Random Number Generator chose number 1, Linda from Illinois! Gotta wait until I get back in the country to mail it Linda; I forgot that my flight was at 6 AM so I had no chance to mail it today.

The losers I referenced in my title were a couple at the airport this morning. The flight was overbooked by one seat. I volunteered to stay behind for a later flight - I don't have to be anywhere until 8:30 AM tomorrow, and there was another flight that would get me here tonight and I'm always interested in the $400 travel vouchers. However, at the last minute, the captain radioed to the gate agent that they were going to be over the weight limit, so even though there were 2 empty seats on the plane, they could only take one more passenger. The two people who were supposed to be in those seats were a couple headed to a wedding. They refused to be separated and put up quite a fuss, but there was nothing the gate agent could do. I felt so bad for those two as I boarded the plane and they were left behind. I hope they finally got wherever they were going in time.

I, on the other hand, had two seats to myself on the otherwise full plane, and then had a row of 3 seats to myself on the plane from Atlanta to Mexico City. I arrived around noon, and after checking in at my hotel, walked around in this frou-frou neighborhood for a bit. I'm staying at the JW Marriott, as usual. Somehow I missed this the last two years (or forgot), but directly across the street is a Bentley car dealership, and just down the road, a Porsche dealership. Needless to say, I didn't do any shopping today because I can't afford anything in this part of town. It sure is nice to walk around in, though. I grabbed some tacos at an outdoor cafe, then came back to the hotel to rest. I'm pretty tired after my 4 AM wake up today to catch my flight. I chatted with the family using FACETIME on our iPads (genius! the kids even danced for me, it was great!), and then I nipped across the street to Starbucks to get a chocolate croissant for dinner. What's that you say? Croissants aren't dinner? Whatever, you only live once. Now, I'm debating heading down to the hot tub (outdoors) or just staying inside in the plush robe that comes with the room. Decisions, decisions, decisions. I'm not all that keen on being away from my family for so long, but travel isn't all bad!

After my conference presentations in the morning, I plan to head over to the Centro Historico to check out some museums and maybe make some purchases. I'd also like to check out Chapultepec Castle - we'll see if I have time. I'm not sure if I can get photos on here with only the iPad and my phone to work with, but I'll try. Plus, there may be another giveaway if I find anything interesting to buy during this week, so stay tuned!