Baja: The Experience - Day 9 - The Return Journey

2/26/17, “The Return Journey”

New York, New York

And so my adventure has come to its end.  There and back again, just like Bilbo did, just like Frodo and Sam did.  I am back in my Hobbit-hole, and I will stay on this island for another two weeks.  I have no desire to leave the Shire again any time soon.  I have put my passport away, and I will not need for another three months.  Feasts and ale and pipes will keep me happy in the meantime.  All that remains is to recount The Return Journey, the “back again” portion of the trip.  Then, the Oscars tonight before I get back to my normal routines.

I left off at the hotel in La Paz, and it was 11:30 AM.  My flight was not for another five hours, so, barring any unforeseen circumstances, there would be no issues.  I had some chips and lit up an LFD for the ride.  We first dropped Roberto off at his friend’s house on the way to the airport, and it was around noon then.  From there, it was two hours to the airport in Cabo.

About an hour from the airport, we started running low on gas.  By the time we found a gas station, the tank was on E, and Elias thought we weren’t going to make it.  I cleaned the car up a bit while they filled the tank.  Before long, we were at the airport, and we said our goodbyes.

I didn’t see a sign for Aeromexico check-in, and I started to get worried, but then I saw a long line of people waiting to check in for the flight.  There were also kiosks, and I used one to check in, which was a complicated process.  In the end, my boarding passes didn’t print.  I went to the agent, but he said I needed to wait on the long line.  I wanted to get lunch and write my entry.  I would not have time if I waited on the line, and I did not want to have go through the lengthy data entry process on the kiosk again.  I tried another kiosk, and, fortunately, it allowed me to just print the boarding pass from that kiosk without reentering my data.  Boarding passes in hand, I went back to the arrivals area, where I knew there to be a Subway.  It was where I had first met Roberto and Scott.

This was very much a there and back again, just like Frodo and Sam, encountering all the same places and the way back that we saw on the way there.  I got a BBQ pork sandwich, which I paired with the rest of my chips and the big bottle of soda water that I had gotten the day before.

After lunch, I went outside, lit up an Aurora, and wrote my entry.  Security was a breeze, and I got a cup of coffee at Starbucks before we boarded.  It was small plane, and we had to walk out to the tarmac.  My suitcase would not fit in the overhead, so I had to take out some of my clothes and put them in a separate plastic bag.  That did the trick.

Before long, we took off, and that’s when things started to get scary.  After ascending about 5000 feet, we stalled.  Then, the plane did about an eighth of a barrel roll (45 degrees).  This was not normal turbulence.  Something was off.  Reader, I have flown hundreds of times, never, in all of my years of flying, have I ever felt more scared on an airplane.  The plane adjusted itself before continuing the ascent.  I read more “Lord of the Rings” during the flight, and then, the same unsteadiness returned as we made our descent.  Was this a pilot-in-training or something?  I did not have confidence in the pilot’s ability to land.  My lack of confidence was not found to be irrational.  It was one of the roughest landings I have ever experienced, but we landed in one piece.

We had to take a bus to the terminal, and I soon found myself in the familiar arrivals area.  I walked past all the familiar sites, before going to my favorite spot.  I lit up my 2015 Christmas Pipe and wrote my reflective entry, reflecting that this was the last time I would this.

After my pipe, I got a burger and fries and Carl’s, Jr.  Wasn’t their CEO supposed to be our next Secretary of Labor?  I had gotten a soda cup, intending to fill it with the flavored sparkling water they had at the fountain, but it was sickly sweet.  They did not have plain seltzer, but they did have coffee, so I filled the cup up with coffee, which paired nicely with the meal.

After dinner, I went back to my spot and lit up a Partagas, which smoked poorly, as I continued a conversation I was having with a friend about the Oscars.  After the cigar, I went to get my traditional Krispy Kreme donut, but their cash register was closed, despite them having two full carts of donuts.  There was no way to procure a donut.  That was disappointing.  In the US, they probably just would have given me a free donut.

I then went through security and to the newsstand where I usually get my last cigars.  Knowing this would be the last time I could get Cubans legally for quite some time, I picked out a nice selection, including 4 Romeo y Julieta Churchills, which were seriously overpriced.  The guy rang me up, but the total seemed high, so I looked at the screen, as I handed him my card, realizing he had charged me twice for 4 Churchills, a total of 8 Churchills.  I started to protest, but he already ran the card and couldn’t cancel it.

I looked at the receipt and realized what had happened.  He had charged me another set of 4 Churchills instead of ringing up the 4 lesser-priced Romeo y Julieta No. 1 cigars.  It took a while to convince him of his mistake, but, eventually, he agreed that he charged me twice for the Churchills, but the supervisor was off-duty, and no refund could be issued.  He said I could have 4 more cigars, but I didn’t want 4 more overpriced Churchills.  However, no mention had been made of 4 lesser-priced cigars, and I had not been charged for those.  In the end, I got the extra 4 Churchills, accepting that the 8 cigars for the price of the 4 Churchills was actually a reasonable price.

From there, I went to my gate, and waited until we boarded.  I was glad to be going home.  I fell asleep not long after we took enough, and the short flight only allowed me two full REM cycles.  It seemed like we landed as soon as we took off.  I breezed through border control and was outside within 30 minutes of the time we touched down.  I got a coffee and two donuts from Dunkin Donuts and waited for the bus back to the city.  There was no traffic Sunday morning, so we made quick time.

I lit up one of my new Romeo y Julieta cigars and walked back down Park Avenue, just as I walked back up Park Avenue to start the trip.  I got back to my Hobbit-hole, and, after changing into some more comfortable clothes, proceeded to write this entry, which I will now close, along with closing out this trip.  Next stop: Del Mar for Gene’s memorial service.