Travel to Mexico January 1, 2022

Travel in these times is certainly more stressful, even though everything went as well as can be expected. Months ago when the pandemic appeared to be in its last gasp, and we had thankfully received two doses of the Pfizer vaccine, we decided it would be wonderful to accompany my aunt and fly to Mexico in January 2022. Little did we know that Covid had yet more tricks up its sleeve and that travel would again become precarious. However, with the reassurance of booster doses in December and our knowledge that once in Mexico it would be easy to isolate, we decided to continue with our plans. 

To celebrate my father’s 90th birthday, family members had recently travelled to Hamilton from BC, Mexico and India with varying levels of success and stress (changed rules, inability to access Covid tests, delayed test results, lost baggage) but all had eventually arrived healthy. My aunt has been travelling frequently and actually feels safer as everyone on the planes and in the airports is masked, and Canadian flights mandate vaccinations. So we knew it was possible to fly to Mexico, but to be prepared for aggravation and delays.

Preparing for the flight was not simple. Fortunately our flight to Mexico was direct from Toronto to Puerto Vallarta, so we only had one set of rules to concern ourselves with. Air Canada has detailed information on their website about travel rules and documentation required, so we knew what had to be done in advance, as long as the rules didn’t change at the last minute. The first thing to be done was to upload our proof of vaccination documents a few days in advance. Our Canadian documentation with QR code was quickly accepted, while my Aunt’s CDC record took longer for verification. We also had to fill out a paper Federal Attestation to vaccine status, and carry   our proof of vaccination documents, but were never actually asked to show either one.

There were also documents required by Mexico, including the immigration form and a health verification.  The immigration form has always been a pain to complete on the airplane as the print is very small and detailed information is needed in duplicate, so it was wonderful to be able to complete this in advance. The health verification document had to be left until the end, but as it turned out it wasn’t even needed. One form that would have been very helpful to have had online was the customs form for Mexico. It was distributed on the plane but unfortunately was only available in Spanish. I wonder how reliable those forms are if people can’t fully understand what they are completing and attesting to. The flight attendants were fortunately very patient in helping a plane load of people all asking the same questions.

Ultimately we completed more than enough documentation, were at the airport in plenty of time, made it through all checkpoints and were at the gate early. Starbucks was open so we enjoyed lattes and ham and cheese sandwiches while we waited for our flight. The flight left a few minutes early, and was about two-thirds full, so we actually had empty seats beside us which always makes me feel like I won the lottery. We encountered a lot of turbulence during the flight which slowed us down and we were late arriving, but other than that the flight was uneventful. Everyone respected the mask rules and were just happy to be able to go away on vacation again.

The airport in Mexico was not crowded at all, unlike any other time we have travelled here, but were told that was because we were one of the first flights to land that day. Passing through immigration was uneventful, and our baggage was off quickly, so the final step was to head to customs. Enroute our bags were repeatedly checked by the adorable but presumably well-trained sniffer dogs. Baggage check at customs is like a game show, where you press a button and if you get a green light you go through, but if you get a red light you are pulled aside for a full baggage search. I pressed the button for our group and for the first time ever got the red light. So all 3 of us were taken aside and our suitcases and carry on bags were xrayed. 2 of our suitcases were then going to be hand searched, but there must have been something more exciting found in the next bags they xrayed as these bags were selected and ours were returned unopened.

The final hurdle was to get a cab, running the gauntlet of time share salespeople who offer rides before you can get to the cab stands, but this was done quickly as well and we were off. Well, the cab driver actually went in the wrong direction so we had a tour of Puerto Vallarta and saw the docked cruise ships before he turned around to head to Nuevo Vallarta, but we eventually arrived at Playa Royale, which was just as welcoming as always with its beautiful grounds, palm trees, beach, pools and most importantly sunshine and warmth. And here we will stay for the next two months. Lucky us!