After four months we could finally leave our beautiful Europe and the adventure on a foreign continent was waiting for us, hello America, hello Mexico!

The Plan

With the current situation, we were of course, like everyone else probably is, uncertain at first if and how we can enter Mexico from Europe without problems. On the one hand, we oriented ourselves on the information from the German Foreign Office and did extensive research on the Internet. However, we also took the opportunity to inform ourselves about the current situation with a friend of us who is living in Mexico. In August she had advised us not to travel to Mexico because the situation was not under control at that time. We were in regular contact, so that finally at the end of September she was told us fortunately that the situation in Mexico is gradually improving. What we also found very helpful was the Skyscaner website: https://www.skyscanner.de/reisebeschraenkungen. At the time of our booking at the beginning of October, we were able to see from the interactive map which entry restrictions apply to travellers from Germany or Greece. With all the good information we decided to fly from Athens via Frankfurt to Cancun.

The German Foreign Office has already pointed out that the Mexican government requires to fill out the cuestionario de pasajero online before enterin Mexico. We had to fill in standard information like name, place of residence etc. as well as the last whereabouts of the last 14 days. After filling out the questionnaire, you will receive a barcode, of which we made a screenshot.

Our flight from Athens to Frankfurt left at 6:45 a.m., so we had initially planned to sleep the night before at the airport. However, during the last days of our stay in Greece more and more anti-corona measures were implemented. In Athens, for example, a lockdown was enforced between 23:30 and 5:00 in the morning and all restaurants had to close or were only allowed to offer take-away food. We decided to book an accommodation near the airport for the night and accepted the offer to be taken to the airport at 5am for a small extra charge of 15 Euro.

At Athens airport

As one does in the modern world nowadays, we checked in via the Lufthansa App, so that we were able to drop off our luggage directly at the airport. After we got through the security check, we didn't have to wait too long for the boarding to start. Before that we were a bit worried that we might be a bit short of time. But in the end everything worked out great and the flight from Athens to Frankfurt was also very relaxed.

At Frankfurt airport

In Frankfurt we had over two hours to change flights. What we did not expect was the fact that the small difference in temperature was clearly noticeable. Fortunately, we had made the right decision to put on thicker clothes in Athens. Fortunately we didn't have to pick up our luggage again in Frankfurt because it was automatically transported to the next plane.

To get to the gate with our flight we had to go through an identity check this time. New for me was the alternative of an automated ID control (I never left europe before). We had to have our passports scanned on a device, which takes about 5 seconds. Afterwards you stand in front of a photobox-like device, which scans your face. Funnily enough, some people didn't understand the sign in front of it, which said that they should please take off their face mask during the face scan. So this all took a little bit longer, but fun fact: Even if the scanner took a little bit longer for the people with a face mask, the machine still recognized them.

At the gate during boarding, there was once again amusement to see how the distance regulation was suddenly ignored for most people. Lufthansa employees could repeat as often as they wanted to, "please keep your distance". With the fear of not being able to board in time, people crowded closely together, ignoring the numerous announcements of keeping the distance. We waited well-behaved until most of the people were inside and ended up queuing.

Finally the flight to Cancun started, which lasted about 11 hours. On board there was the possibility to watch movies or listen to music/podcasts via a small display on the seat. We were also provided with a blanket and a small pillow, as well as a sandwich, lunch and other small snacks and drinks in between. We waived the short-term offer of 399€ per person to be upgraded to Premium Economy Class.

After three movies and some sleep I felt really sick for the first time. The difference in pressure at 11185m altitude was quite a problem for me, so I had headaches most of the time and almost threw up. But after we got closer to Mexico and lost altitude again, the headaches and the nausea that (probably) came with them disappeared. Although I had taken two travel pills before, they did not help me. Calli fortunately survived the flight well. The landing approach to Cancun airport was a little adventure at the end. At the time of our landing there was wild tropical rainfall and strong gusts of wind due to hurricane ETA on the Caribbean Sea, so that our captain decided shortly before landing at an altitude of about 50 and 100m to take off again and fly a lap of honor. On the second approach everything worked out perfectly and we landed gently.

Entry Mexico

Woman at the border control: „Buenos dias, how many days you stay here?“

Tomek: „Hello, we planed to stay here something around 3 month, traveling through Mexico to Mazatlan.“

*Boom stamp here, boom stamp there* woman at the border control: „Thank you, have a nice trip.“

Yes, and so we got a visa for 180 days for Mexico. No fever measurement, no question about the questionario, no evidence of a return flight, nothing. We were in Mexico!

We then collected our bags and went out to catch the ADO (bus) to Cancun . There were a lot of people at the entrance and at the bus station offering to take a taxi or bus. But since we already knew how to get to Cancun and to our accommodation, we declined all offers with a smile and went straight to our bus. When we arrived in Cancun it was raining like a waterfall. But at least it was warm and our accommodation was not too far away from the bus stop. When we arrived we went straight to sleep. Calli had to fight a little bit with her circulation because of the jet lag. After taking a travel pill, her body had calmed down and she could peacefully fall asleep. Since it was already 7 p.m. local time and we couldn't really sleep for almost 24 hours, we were optimistic that we would sleep through until the next morning so that we could get rid of our jetlag immediately and discover the country the next days.

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