Having a € 180 plane ticket from Cancún, México to Brussels, Belgium, has some cons. I had to get a 50 dollar ticket from México city to Cancún. This was easy, I just went at 10 pm from my house to the airtport and, having only one 10 kilo bag, I didn´t have to check in my lugagge. I got to Cancún at 2 am and decided to sleep for a while.
I had two options, either waiting from 2 am until 5 pm in the airport, which was the time when I had to board my second plane, or to go to Playa del Carmen, my home for 5 months last year.
Guess what I did?
Yup, let´s hitchhike from the airport to this small town 45 minutes from where I landed.
I still got it, I can still hitch rides in the back of a pick-up truck. Yeah. Feels good man.
This is how Cancun´s airport looks at 2 am.
This is how it looks at 4 pm.
Big difference, huh?
Anyway, I didn´t have any problem with schedule, I saw my friends from the hostel I used to work back when I lived in Playa and I even met a very nice girl I am metting again in the Netherlands, I look forward to see her again, but just a bit.
This is the first time I fly above the ocean, I have only flown within my continent, America, so this was a new experience. I wasn´t scared nor nervous because of the plane, I was anxious due to the fact that a lot of Mexibros get rejected from entering to Europe, mainly because my fellow citizens lack paperwork needed or invitation letters etc. I prepare everything I needed in order to be allowed into the Schengen area and made a post about it. Either way, I was nervous, you never know if you´ll get an immigration officer who´s had a bad day and will give you a hard time.
This was the first time I went in a plane giving instructions in a language I don´t speak so this was weird. I understand a bit of french due to my spanish roots but in no way I understand a flight attendant speaking over a the speakers fast as hell and with an accent I don´t get; and of course I don´t understand one word spoken in Dutch (the Flemish); and their english is not good at all, so I pretty much just disconnected myself and followed my instincts and just assuming the behaviour was the same you need to follow in the previous flights I´ve taken.
One thing was clear, the flight attendants are prettier here than in México, sorry fellow mexigirls :(
The immigration office
So basically I spent around 8 hours and 250 dollars getting invitation letters from European friends, medical insurance, hostel reservations when needed, a flight getting out of the Schengen area and some other minor stuff.
I was better prepared for my long awaited interview with the immigration officer, I even practiced some phrases in french so they would appreciate my effort... Yeah, I was worried about doing all of this for nothing and getting denied my entrance to the old continent.
Well...
It took me 30 seconds to go through immigration...
The conversation went a bit like this:
Officer: Hello, what´s you businness in Brussels?
The Nomad: Hello officer, I´m here for a series of conferences in Lisbon from November 1-5, so I decided to do a small Euro trip before and after the conferences for around a month and a half.
Officer: That is not a small trip. Thinking and watching my passport, perhaps looking at all my previous stamps (around 7 so far in 2017)
The Nomad: Well, I´ve never been to Europe so I want to get to know your country sir, but I have a ticket for Romania from Germany, do you want to see it? I was already prepared to bring out all of my paperwork
Officer: Don´t worry, enjoy your time in Europe. Stamps my passport
The Nomad: Really? You don´t need to take my fingerprints - I said while pointing the laser sensor -. Oh, shut up Eric, just do as he says, you don´t want him to regret this decision
Officer: No, that´s it. Enjoy your visit.
And that was it. I was relieved, kind of thrown out of myself because this is not what I expected but hey, I´m not complaining.
Welcome to Belgium baby! Every day I am getting closer to attending Steemfest2!
Europe is just like Central America, to get the most out of it you just need to...