Air travel with Don Julio (a Mexican’s journey to Canada)

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How bad could it be?

Image of cat carrier with harness inside

I really had no idea. Truth is, I didn’t really give it much thought until the night before I was to meet Don Julio, a young grey tabby, in Playa Del Carmen. I set up the soft-sided carrying case, put the pee pad in and got the harness ready.

Blog posting: Don Julio, the man, not the tequila

The reality of it hit me as I waited on a busy street under the hot Mexican sun at the appointed meeting place. Would I be able to handle him? Would there be a private room offered for the airport security check or would I lose him in the massive Cancun airport? Would he cry the entire 9 hours?

Cat sleep in a hard shell carrier

Yikes.

I’d never travelled with an animal before. I hadn’t been a cat owner for 22 years. Before we arrived at the airport, I needed to give him a Gabapentin pill and transfer him to my airline approved carrier. Oh joy.

Step one: open the rescue society’s carrier that he came in – a hard shell. He couldn’t have cared less. Fast asleep.

Step two: open mouth, insert pill. Easy. Swallowed right away. Into my carrier. Easy peasy.

Next, I opened the carrier so Don Julio could take in his surroundings. He nuzzled up against my leg and slept for the rest of the hour long drive. Then, airport arrival. DJ’s carrier was zipped up for check-in at the Westjet counter (no, he didn’t go as luggage. The boy flew premium class in the cabin) and he was wide awake for the first time. I felt my blood pressure rise. The singing had started.

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Don Julio, the man (not the tequila)

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He ‘sang the song of his people’ for hours while enjoying premium class service on a Westjet flight a few weeks ago between Cancun and Vancouver. He, is Don Julio, a grey tabby rescued from a luxury resort near Playa Del Carmen, Mexico.

No, I can’t afford to stay in luxury resorts. Yes, it took a village to liberate him from his terrible living conditions.

Here’s the story. A cat-loving couple from the Vancouver area, the luxury resort visitors, found him crying in a bush in January. Covered in flea bites and ticks. Long story short, they kit-napped him and went to a local vet. But, they had to leave him at the resort. The paperwork required to bring him to Canada required more days than they had left in Mexico.

That’s where I come in. A match made in heaven. I read their story on Facebook and let them know I’d be in the area in late March and would be happy to bring him back to Vancouver. If they could apprehend him with enough time to get the veterinary paperwork done.

They did and I booked his flight home.

In the meantime, Don Julio spent the next six weeks in a luxury cat hotel getting healthy – AKA ‘the pudge plan’. He was the purr-fect guest, I’m told.

A blue towel covers a case carrier under the seat of A Boeing 787 jet enroute to Vancouver from Mexico.
Don Julio ‘sings’ in his carrier under the airplane seat.

On the appointed day, I made my way to the meet up in Playa Del Carmen for the 50-minute drive to Cancun airport, a bit fearful of what I’d agreed to. Was Don Julio vicious and unmanageable, or sweet?

Find out in my next post.

Thanks to Coco’s Animal Welfare Playa Del Carmen

Mexico weather in Vancouver in June

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Okay, the weather in Vancouver is unseasonably Mexico-like right now. Climate change. Never in my life have I ever had to use a fan before July.

I’m not a huge fan (the other kind of fan) of the hot, hot, heat and climate change needs to take a chill pill. I’m pretty miserable in the heat.

But Tank, you spend so much time in Mexico. What’s up with that if heat isn’t your thing? I’m off to Cozumel in two weeks for a spot of scuba diving. The great thing about diving in Mexico is this. It involves water, typically warm water, and doesn’t put one in direct sunlight. Diving rarely involves extreme heat.

A Cozumel friend.

When I’m not submerged, I can handle Mexican heat most of the time. If I can’t, there’s EXCELLENT air conditioning and margaritas. Mexicans know how to cool stuff. Another reason why I love Mexico. (I don’t love the corruption that keeps working people poor, the drug cartels, or the roosters crowing outside my accommodation at 5 a.m.). Everything else is great.

This is a plea for those in charge of this world to deal with climate change. What we don’t need is a hot, miserable Tank staggering around in between trips to Mexico.

Brother goes to Rimowa store (and not an #epicfail)

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I’ve just discovered little brothers aren’t completely useless.

I was swamped so he volunteered to visit the Rimowa shop on Vancouver’s trendy Alberni Street and in Holt Renfrew. Frankly, I cannot believe they didn’t escort him out!

This is the current state of my decade-old Rimowa Salsa Air. It needs to be replaced with something before my next trip at the end of June. I refused to part with this special friend (we covered a lot of miles together. It now lives under my bed and stores diving equipment.)

https://tankstravels.com/2023/04/16/say-goodbye-to-a-trusted-friend-nope/

Surprisingly, he came back with useful information. He found a red check-in Essential (large). I love red and Holts has it in the size I want. We also both like the forest green, which is a newer colour.

I’ve also been looking at a Pelican bag – not exactly a suitcase, but sorta like one.

The pros of Pelican:
Crazy, thick plastic. Indestructible
$900 cheaper than the Rimowa

The cons of Pelican:
Two wheels (not the four I’m used to). Means pulling, not pushing
Five pounds heavier when empty compared to the Rimowa
Kinda ugly compared to the Rimowa


Decisions, decisions.
You tell me. (I can afford the Rimowa.)

Two grand for a new suitcase (laugh emoji)

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Readers of Tank’s Travels would have good reason to question my sanity (read: aspic photos). But, I’m likely not going to spend $2K on a suitcase.

Rimowa makes good suitcases. But, they come at a high price. The company has been around since 1898 (bought by Louis Vuitton in the last few years, which may be the kiss of death). They made the first ever polycarbonate (hardshell) suitcases. Their aluminum cases are legendary and OMG so pricey.

There isn’t a suitcase on the planet that can withstand baggage handlers. Hardshells, like my purple Salsa Air (a discontinued model now called the Essential Lite) crack. Aluminum cases get punctured or dented. Damage comes and goes with the territory.

Funny thing is Rimowa tries to spin the damage as a badge of worldliness and a good thing. As in, ‘the expensive and now dented aluminum suitcase for which you paid $2,500 now has character. Every bit of damage represents a special memory of your travels’.

LOL.

Rimowa is big on selling image. Insinuating discerning travellers will take notice of you and your expensive suitcase and won’t that make you feel special.

If the owners of Rimowa saw how I dress when I walk through an airport with their product, they’d be appalled. Picture the opposite of style and elegance.

I digress. I won’t be buying a $2,000 suitcase (well, probably not), and I’ll always love my Rimowa Salsa Air, which now lives under my bed as storage for diving gear.

https://tankstravels.com/2023/04/16/say-goodbye-to-a-trusted-friend-nope/

I’ve joined the Rimowa discussion page on Facebook for advice. Rimowa-ers love to connect I’ve discovered.

Advice so far: buy aluminum, only use aluminum on private jets, check polycarbonate and use aluminum as carry-on, buy a Tumi suitcase, buy an Away aluminum suitcase.

Also, buy a Pelican case. Interesting. This, I’m researching. More to come.

Next trip is end of June. Lots of time to decide.

Say goodbye to a trusted friend? Nope

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I refuse to bid farewell to a trusted partner. We’ve travelled the world together for 10 years.

Broken suitcase wheel attached to purple plastic

I’m talking about my purple Rimowa Salsa Air suitcase. Some Tank’s Travels readers might remember when I purchased the suitcase at Mego on Granville Street in Vancouver (now shuttered) in 2013 for a scuba diving trip to Thailand. It cost a lot of money at the time.

The Rimowa Suitcase Challenge 2013

A purple suitcase with a hole where a wheel should be.

I want to cry when I look at the state of my dear friend following my most recent trip in late March 2023. Cracked at the wheel.

See the purple duct tape? A suggestion from the Vancouver Rimowa-store guys after finding the crack during a lock fix last year. “You can buy it from Amazon,” they said. They told me the crack was severe and no fix was possible due to its location next to the wheel. Duct tape, they said, might lengthen the suitcase’s life. It lasted another two trips to Mexico – packed full of scuba gear (and flavoured tequila on the trips home!)

I live in a 510-square-foot Vancouver condo. No room to store a broken suitcase with sentimental value and its replacement. The building’s annual spring cleaning event happens in a few days and the thought of dumping my buddy in a pile of trash hurt my heart.

Then came the idea of the century. Why not store the dive gear I store under my bed in the suitcase? Genius move.

As for the replacement, $1,200 to $1,400 for the Rimowa Essential or Lite. Two grand and up for aluminum. OMG.

I’ll keep you posted on the hunt for the perfect, affordable-ish replacement. Folks on the Rimowa Facebook page are recommending Pelican!

Anyone need a roll of purple duct tape?

Toxic traveller seethes and hates

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rickySo, here I was thinking my brother was going to be named “Boorish Traveller of 2017.”

Then I had the misfortune of meeting rude Ricky. A tense, brooding 50-something jerk from a North American city. Ricky had a special talent for turning toxic any environment he inhabited. From breakfast buffet to tourist excursion, Ricky scowled and, unsolicited, offered his expert, superior knowledge of everything. When he wasn’t criticizing all and sundry, that is.

He complained loudly and angrily about being victimized by lowly travel operators who failed to live up to his expectations (he demanded and got his money back).

He expressed loathing of mostly everything, including his hometown, (so why not leave Ricky?).

He failed to leave tips when it was the norm to do so.

Ricky hated everything and appreciated nothing. One of the most repulsive characters I’ve ever met.

One wonders what kind of an environment spawns a Ricky. He reminded me a lot of a horrid couple I met on a dive boat in Palau. Perhaps he’s their spawn.

Tank’s brother candidate for worst traveller!

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Made it here despite the annoying sibling

How’s this for an experience?

Road trip to Osoyoos and Penticton B.C. Wine country. We do this annually.

I’m driving my brother’s car because 1) it has cruise control and mine doesn’t, 2) I’ve got far more experience driving long distances. (Countless, long road trips in Northwestern B.C. during my CBC Radio years), and 3) I’m the big sister and the boss of everything.

Here’s how it went for practically the entire 4.5 hour drive.

Brother:

“Slow, slow. slow.”

“SLOOOOOOOOOOW…..”

“Slow down.”

“Why do you speed up going around the corners and drive like a slug when the road is flat and straight?”

“Are you drunk?” (It’s 9:30 am)

“Are you trying to roll the car?”

I think this is what they call ‘making memories’. Next year, I’ll be sealing his mouth shut with duct tape before we set off. I’ll enjoy making that memory.

A candidate for barbarian traveller of the year methinks!

Travel to the U.S. or not?

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To fly through the United States ….  hmmmm

I was in a meeting recently when the talk turned to travelling to the United States.

One women, a beauty of Portuguese descent, said she’d cancelled a visit to New York. She’d planned to celebrate her 50th birthday there. Instead, she would visit the Canadian maritimes and “keep the money in Canada.”

Surely this wasn’t all about patriotism and the national economy. Did she fear her olive complexion and brown eyes, I wondered, get her noticed by a border agent? Would it cause her — a Canadian citizen — to be refused entry?

Who knows. This is what makes travelling to the U.S. so unnerving right now. Do you chance it or not?

I’ve often used U.S. airlines to travel to Mexico and central America. With layovers in Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas or Houston. My next trip is a direct flight to Mexico from Vancouver. On a Canadian airline.

Did border uncertainties factor into my airline decision? I can’t say they didn’t enter my mind. But, another motivator was the need to use airline points before I lose them.

I was telling a friend, an American who lives in Canada, about my upcoming travels. “You don’t need to worry,” he said. “You’re whiter than white.” Still, that doesn’t make travelling south any easier. How just is it that I would probably avoid hassle while others don’t?

Going forward, I’m not sure what to do. For now, I’ll probably avoid U.S. carriers and the layovers. Travelling is stressful enough ….