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San Diego tends to be cloudy along the coast during May. Locals have expressions for May and June - "May Grey" and "June Gloom."

Weather would be a big one for me on the Pacific Coastal route. I would prefer the nicer weather of Mexico. What time of year are you considering?

I would bet there is almost a 100% of this being available I did the HOHO bus in Rome and can attest that the bus has a stop in front of the train station. I don't think the loop is much more than 2 hours if you actually stay on the bus for the full loop. An issue with this approach is that some, maybe most, of the key sites require walking a few blocks from the bus.

I have stayed at the Quinta Bella Huatulco both as a guest and purchased a day pass once when not staying near town. For the day pass, we simply walked up and paid something like 300 pesos a person at the front desk. All drinks and food were purchased separately and at the time (pre COVID) and everything was really nice. The Quinta Bella has two separate pools as well as a beach. Food and drink are available at the pool as well as an outdoor restaurant. Here is the link: https://www.quintabellahuatulco.com/ BTW - would say it’s about a 20 minute walk from the cruise terminal.

I never knew this. I would assume this is only for cruises arriving into the US.

You are actually referring to passing through immigration. If you see a pattern of every time you enter the country, you could be getting your name confused with someone else that the government is looking for based on a similar name and birthdate. The more common your name, the more likely this could be happening. If it happens again, simply ask the immigration officer what's going on and they will likely tell you. If it becomes super annoying or you end up spending lots of time being processed when entering the country you can apply for a "redress number" from the federal government.

You also might want to hit up Bar Andaluz for a margarita as well. It's a completely different atmosphere than Hussong's, but is definitely worth a visit too. https://www.discoverbaja.com/2021/04/30/bajas-battle-over-the-birthplace-of-the-margarita/

I don't think it is a recent issue. Boeing's last three commercial product deliveries have all been botched in my opinion - 787 - very late and many quality problems 737max - a complete disaster that led to the loss of life 777x - very years late and many issues

Ok, I think you will find many options if you simply search the Internet. I see many preplanned options. Here is one: https://www.mazatlantours.org/deer-island-snorkeling.htm

Does the use of Chase Sapphire points to buy a ticket actually help in terms of the one way cost problem associated with one way, long haul international travel? Are you transferring the points into an airline program first or are you buying the tickets via Chase's travel department?

Sadly, Boeing quality in my opinion seems to have gone down hill at least since the merger with McDonnell Douglas and the movement of HQ from Seattle to Chicago. The recent move from of HQ Chicago to Arlington VA suggests that product focus instead of government lobbying won't be coming to the forefront anytime soon.

I have not. However, I have been on the beach across from the island in the "golden zone" and have had "panga" operators ask if I wanted to go to over for a visit. I would definitely consider it if and when I go back to Mazatlan. The cheapest way would be to simply go to the beach and find a boat to take you across. I am sure more organized tours exist as well but the cost is probably 5-10x more expensive.

This is not true. Deer Island (Isla de Venados) is a real island off the coast pretty much in front of the "zona dorado" and Stone Island is across the channel to the South. My vote is for Deer Island as a more unique experience. BTW - The local baseball team is called "Los Venados."

My speculation is that their scheduling department has had their hands full these last couple of weeks dealing the the 737-Max9 grounding and trying to keep current operations going as well as possible. I heard that these aircraft are coming back starting this weekend so maybe things will catch up soon.

Sadly neither AA miles nor loyalty points were accrued on my trip as my booking code wasn't eligible. As you initially suggested, it is truly a mixed bag flying on Fiji Airways as a Oneworld member.

Hi @Gardyloo - I am writing this post from the Fiji Airways lounge in Nadi. It seems that at least some OneWorld benefits apply when flying Fiji Airways. As a OneWorld Emerald I received group “a” boarding in both LA and Nadi. Interestingly, I didn’t get lounge access at LAX but did in NAN while flying economy. Lounge access in Nadi has been especially appreciated as we needed to checkout of our hotel this afternoon and are waiting several hours before this evening’s flight back to LAX. Fiji Airways connect status in OneWorld might not bring all benefits, but so far my experience has been good. It would have been really good if they had given me the extra leg room coach seats for free.

I like Panama as well. The menu is huge and the quality of the food, while not gourmet, is pretty darn good for the price. All of the deserts and cakes are great too. I would recommend it even though it's not really what one thinks of as a tourist Mexican restaurant.

To be honest, it seems passport stamping is becoming less common in many areas of the world with digital systems keeping track of travelers being in compliance with their terms of entry into a foreign country. Here are is a somewhat recent link: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-10/passport-stamps-phased-out-overseas-travel-technology/102933124

This seems so strange to me. What airline and class of service did you have? On American Airlines, which I have the most experience flying, domestic first class passengers are in the first boarding group and after their highest elite level passengers. Below are links to the largest carriers in the US with first class domestic service. https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/boarding-process.jsp https://www.delta.com/us/en/check-in-security/boarding-priority https://www.united.com/en/us/fly/travel/airport/boarding-process.html

Especially if you are tall! Some of the bulkhead seats in normal economy are worth way more to me than a premium economy middle seat.

I think it only helps as a convenience to home country immigration or consular staff in case of loss of documents. That said, I don't think you really to have much of anything to get back into your home country. Based on what I have seen and heard locally crossing into the US from Mexico, the immigration officials will make you sit in secondary for a long time as a penalty as they "check out" your status - especially if you forgot your passport or passport card. Exactly! 100% in agreement.

You miss the practical dimension of traveling light. I remember once travelling as a family on a 2 week Mediterranean cruise with land travel on both ends. This was when my kids were young and dragging lots of bags through train stations and other forms of public transportation wasn't all that fun. Made me think twice the next time we traveled in a similar fashion about how much we truly needed. Any "cheating" is easily solved by the onboard cabin crew if it is truly a problem. I have seen gate agents for legacy carriers collect bags to eliminate on board hassles. It's better to check the bag at the gate than paying a bag check fee in advance. Rarely are there problems on low cost carriers. These carriers use their gate agents as "police" to collect fees. I would suggest the most people who travel "light" are, on the large, simply more experienced travelers. Rather than being fuzzy about things, these travelers have clear memories about what is truly needed when traveling generally.

I like this idea although I am not sure how secure any document really is on a mobile device. As an aside, I keep my passport card and global entry in my wallet for land crossings into Mexico. My understanding is that the passport card is limited in application to land crossings and seaport entries from certain destinations.

I just checked on my application and I saw availability of Ubers from the cruise port. The fare is 44 pesos from the port exit to “Papas & Beer” at the current time.

Wow! I had no idea it had been that long. It can't be a real priority as while constrained route planning/scheduling is a hard problem it at least is a well understood problem for the airlines. Maybe they don't really want it to work... Okay Seems only fair for AA. Fortunately, more and more flights seem to be codeshared these days. That is what I thought. It really is a trade-off in terms of cost versus convenience. Thanks again for all your help. These tickets really look to be a good deal if you can plan ahead and have sufficient time/resources to travel.