"What? Mexico City?! They'll rob you blind." Relax, I ain't going el Tepito or even Tlatelolco or Iztapalapa.
"Nothing but choking smog for miles and miles." No, it isn't the 1980's, it has gotten a lot better lately.
"They'll steal your organs..." I can go on and on here. Having been there, I know the city quite well. I came across an astonishingly cheap $68 AeroMéxico fare from Tijuana to Mexico City only a fool would say no.. and I sure showed them I was no fool by being on my way to glorious Mexico City!
I'm sure y'all know about CBX so there's no need to dwell on this convenient route to the airport. Parking in San Diego, walking on this bridge straight to the Tijuana Airport situated next to the border, and was on my way to Mexico City.
There's no United Club in TIJ so I spent $30 to relax in the VIP Lounge which was the only one available at the airport and it wasn't too shabby. I didn't order drinks, but I had two ham and cheese paninis which weren't too bad. No packaged food for people to stuff their luggage with, not that I was going to.
Not fond of the stuffy subways in Mexico City, I opted to rent a car. So-called "travel experts" clearly ignorant of Mexico oftentimes claim that insurance is a required add-on to car rentals in Mexico which is patiently false. It's just a bait-and-switch tactic just about all of them employ (except one). You arrive, they tell you insurance is a hidden and mandatory add-on so you are forced to pay $20 to $30 extra a day.
With the other car rental company, I did not want to buy it after seeing "suplementaria" (supplementary) on the contract, he told me if I didn't purchase it, there'd be a $16,000 deposit on the car. He clearly did not like it when it went through so I paid only $65 for a week for a VW Clásico (Mexican-made car based on 4th generation Jetta from 15 years ago). I went back to the same one a few months later and he surprised me with a lovely upgrade which required an even bigger deposit... and, very much to his disdain, it went through, prompting him to cancel it, claiming the car class I reserved just showed up on the computer. Third time, he went back to me with a grin, "Sorry, sir, the bank declined the deposit." It was only for a two-day rental so I paid extra for the "insurance" which was more than twice the rental rate shown on the internet. When I got back home, the bank told me it was never swiped so I was indeed conned.
Now, I did say "bait-and-switch tactic just about all of them employ (except one)" and that one you have been waiting to find out.. it is Sixt. I highly recommend them, their integrity is unbelievable and I truly appreciate it. Keep in mind, it is NOT a 24-hour-a-day operation as Google Maps would have you believe. Operating hours are from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. as it says on the door. I got there a little before 7:00 a.m. and had to wait outside while there were also vehicles parked on the street waiting to drop off. They gave me a Chevrolet Cavalier which was not based on our older Cavalier which is no longer made, unlike the VW Clásico which was new 15-year-old car, it was an all-new version made elsewhere. The car seemed to have European specifications by having the headlight level switch you will never see on U.S.-specification vehicles.
One of the first few stops was the Chapultepec Castle which is the only "true" castle in the Americas having been occupied by a royal. No, it wasn't a Spanish royal although it was constructed for the Viceroy of New Spain who was also a viscount. Incomplete, it was sold off for pesos on the dollar. With Mexico weakened after the Mexican-American war, the opportunistic French invaded it and a French emperor Maximilian and his wife lived there during his short-lived four-year reign and that is what makes it a "true" castle! How he died kind of sucked, he needed to get out of Mexico after the defeat of his troops, but he didn't want to shave off his beard to evade detection, and his mother telling him to stay in Mexico and "die like a man" left him only one choice.. death by firing squad.
The first two nights were spent at Sheraton María Isabella and I enjoyed the spectacular view of El Ángel in front of the hotel. Service was impeccable. The suite was nice and the view was great, but the furnishing was showing its age, I'd give everything else of that hotel 5 out of 5, and only the furniture merited a 4 out of 5.
The final night was at Gran Hotel de la Ciudad de Mexico which has a great view of the zócalo. Unfortunately, there was a book fair going on so I couldn't take a decent photo. Funny thing is zócalo means the base part of a statue or a pedestal. The only reason it was named that way was because they were going to put a revolution monument there, but plans changed so only the base part was left behind. It has since then been buried in the ground but the name stuck. Even other parts of Mexico call their town squares "zócalo" so now it either means a pedestal or town square in Mexican Spanish. This hotel at one point was the most luxurious mercantile center in Latin America owned by a Frenchman in 1899 featuring an exquisite Tiffany stained glass ceiling imported from France and accommodating one of the first department stores in the city. After it shut down in 1958, it was abandoned. In 1966, the ceiling and antique elevators inside were restored, and it opened as a five-star hotel in time for the 1968 Olympics.
I put in a reservation for Mr. Schonhauserschlagdorfsterburgstein (I may have forgotten the spelling) becuase they write that in chocolate for incoming guests. I wanted it to be covered in chocolate, it was that good, but I made the mistake of using a short first name which they used instead. Next time, I will put in an equally long first name and they will have no choice but to give me more chocolate.
On this trip, I was able to record everything in my phone and put it all in 4K format at 60 frames per second. I love the Samsung S21 Ultra and its 3x and 10x optical zoom, it has been incredible. Even better was being able to edit my videos on an app from CyberLink named PowerDirector which had no problem handling over 200 clips (all at 4K resolution at 60 frames per second) and I'd cut it down to 7-minute videos with around 120-140 clips. The Samsung S21 Ultra has 12GB of RAM and I am sure that also helped making editing trouble-free. Since I did not bring a laptop with me on this trip, I used a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse which helped with editing, so I didn't miss having a laptop. I would upload from my phone at nights. The videos are at:
Whoo, I truly enjoyed it!