What they don't realize is that our airport is teeny tiny, and we only have a total of four gates. There is no possibility of missing your flight once you are there.
Then I traveled up to Denver (click for a post with photos from that visit) on my own in 2010 and very nearly did miss my flight! I thought I was so clever flying through Guadalajara instead of Mexico City, attempting to avoid all the confusion of transferring from one terminal to another in one of the biggest cities in the world. Arriving on a domestic flight (from Oaxaca City to Guadalajara), I was relieved to find an airport no bigger than our cozy little Oaxaca airport. In fact there were only about four gates inside the huge waiting room.
Since I had a long layover, I settled down to read a book until I found some fellow travelers to engage in conversation. You know how every evangelistic author always tells of leading someone to the Lord on a plane or in the airport? Well, this has never been my experience, though I keep hoping and trying.... This time I was talking with a couple who were returning to the U.S., who likewise were surprised at the size of the airport in Guadalajara. After going from one topic to another (darn, they were already Christians!), the time slipped by, and I realized that I had never heard a boarding call for my flight.
Come to think of it, I had never seen any large jets fly in that could have been my plane either. Only small Embraer jets seemed to be arriving and departing. After excusing myself, I asked the airline representative about my flight. She immediately got on the walkie-talkie and started talking faster than my dozens of years of Spanish could follow. I did hear my name and flight number, and the next thing I knew, I was being escorted, rushed, and practically pushed through the airport and out the door!
Once outside, it wasn't two minutes before a black van came careening around the corner, and came to a screeching halt in front of me. The walkie-talkie lady shoved me in and told the driver to make all haste. That was a bit disconcerting, and I might have been actually frightened, except that my fellow travelers/ new acquaintances figured out what was happening and jumped in the van with me. Together we conjectured that there must be another terminal for international flights.
Within seconds we had raced to what was not just another terminal, but seemingly another whole airport. It was ginormous! An escort yanked me out of the van and RAN me all the way to my gate. It was a long way away, and I was not wearing running shoes. Once there, I realized they were putting me directly on the plane. I have no idea how we got around security and emigration, but we did. I stopped at the doorway and insisted I needed to get my passport and visa checked. Nothing doing, they forced me onto the plane.
Have you ever had that experience where obviously everyone else has been seated and waiting for a while? I took the very last seat on the plane, and it seemed that we were taxiing away almost before I fastened my seat belt. Whew. For a woman who was always the compliant child of parents who highly valued punctuality - this was nerve-wracking to say the least.
Returning to Mexico, my flight went through Mexico City, which didn't seem like such a bad thing. However I had a bit of a time trying to explain to the immigrations official why my passport and visa had not been stamped on the way out.
Why people think traveling is so glamorous, I have no idea. To me it's generally a long boring day with expensive bottled water and too little to eat, except for those terrifying moments of excitement when I'm sure I will miss my flight and/or be stranded someplace I don't want to be.
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