Country #17 - Honduras

Short Stopover

This morning I was able to sleep in before taking the hotel shuttle to the airport. My flight was in the late afternoon, and I arrived in San Pedro Sula, Honduras around 5:00pm. For those of you who don’t know, San Pedro Sula is one of the top cities in the world in terms of homicide rates. As a result, I decided to stay at the Hilton to try and be as safe as possible.

Unfortunately, the shuttle to pick me up somehow forgot about me so I had to wait over an hour in the airport before someone arrived. This then meant I had to drive into San Pedro Sula at dusk, which I had definitely been trying to avoid. The drive went through a lot of shack-like buildings before arriving in the more modern city center. I saw a few really nice modern looking malls with stores that we have at home. However, I’m 50% sure I heard distant gunshots on the drive in. That being said I’m sure there are safe parts of Honduras, but unfortunately, due to the nature of my trip, I only have time to fly into capital or large cities most of the time.

After finally arriving at the hotel I checked into my room and ordered a tasty sandwich from room service, before passing out pretty early before my extremely early flight back out of Honduras. While it would have been easier to have just flown out on the same day, there were, unfortunately, no flights. It was definitely a short stop over, but I’m on to Belize tomorrow!

17 countries down, 179 to go.

Country #16 - Guatemala

I had a pretty early flight to Guatemala this morning. So early that breakfast was not yet being served, but thankfully the wonderful people at Nima Local House Hotel in Mexico City, Mexico packed me a nice little to-go breakfast. I cannot thank them enough for all of their hospitality at Nima!

The flight was about two hours and upon landing customs and immigration were both simple. My hotel in Guatemala City had a free shuttle and I met the driver outside. The drive into the city was interesting for sure, as the surroundings were definitely a mix of things. Many buildings were dilapidated and rundown but I also saw some newly built restaurants and malls.

I arrived at my hotel, the Grand Tikal Futura Hotel, and had to wait a few hours before checking in. It was a very rainy day in Guatemala (downpours not drizzles) so that only helped my decision to stay indoors. There are definitely safety concerns with Guatemala City, so I decided to stay in and explore. My hotel is pretty new and actually has a mall in the bottom where I spent most of my day. It was pretty much what you would expect, and the food court was almost entirely American brands. I walked around the mall for a little while before deciding to eat Taco Bell. Not ideal, I know. But at least it wasn’t McDonald's? My options were definitely limited, but I was able to get some churros and chocolate for desert so that was definitely a plus!

I felt very safe in the mall even though I was definitely an anomaly. Everyone was so nice, however, and no one even gave me a second look. After a few hours I went back up and checked into the hotel. I was given a high floor that had a really cool of a volcano. I had no idea at first because there were so many clouds, but once they cleared a bit it was so cool to realize I was so close to a volcano!

After my early morning it was no surprise that I fell asleep so quickly after going to my room. I did not anticipate, however, taking a four hour nap. I accidentally set my alarm for AM instead of PM, but I would much rather this mistake happen when I have nothing to do in a hotel than early in the morning when I have a flight to catch. I apparently really needed some sleep!

After I woke up I decided to order room service instead of exploring the food court again. I ordered a cheese pizza that was surprisingly really good! After a few hours of working and watching TV, I went to sleep for the night once again quite easily. While I wish I could have seen more of Guatemala, safety and the rain helped me make the decision to rest instead. It was actually pretty cool to just hang out in the mall and see locals going about their normal lives instead of the usual tourist destinations. Overall, it was a good day in Guatemala!

16 countries down, 180 to go.

Country #15 - Mexico

Exploring Beautiful Mexico City 

Last night I flew into Mexico City, Mexico where I made my way to my hotel for the day, Nima Local House Hotel. Upon arrival I was a bit confused because there is no sign on the door for the hotel, to help it blend into the neighborhood and beautiful building that it is in. I called in and someone came out to show me the correct door. I was mesmerized by the hotel when I walked in. It is so beautiful and such a well-designed hotel! I was greeted with a refreshing mint drink and shown my room on the top floor. You walk through a cool little outdoor walkway to get to it! The room itself was stunning. Automatic curtains are always a good sign! The design of the room was very nice and there was chocolate, snacks, and a welcome letter waiting for me in my room! I slept so incredibly well. The bed was amazing as were the pillows, which isn’t surprising as there was even a pillow menu! Thank you so much to Nima for sponsoring these two nights of my trip - I cannot say enough incredible things about my stay!

The next morning I had a very yummy breakfast of fruit, yogurt, and fresh scrambled eggs. I got to meet and talk with Carolina, who I had communicated with over email. She was so nice and so excited to talk about my trip! She then helped me with some advice and directions for my day, and I then set out to explore the city! I started at Museo Nacional de Antropología, and boy was it impressive. The museum has countless historic artifacts from all throughout Mexico’s history. You learn about the indigenous cultures and the history of the country and the different people who have lived in it. There is a lot of information on the Mayans, for instance. The museum is very well done, although it is massive, and has a really cool circular waterfall type structure in the center 

After spending a few hours learning a ton, I started to walk to go eat lunch. When I exited the building there was a cool ritual outside, where men were tied by their feet hanging from a giant pole and spinning around while chanting. It is definitely hard to describe, but there were tons of tourists out watching the spectacle! After watching for a few minutes I walked down the street, one of the main streets in the city, Paseo de la Reforma, to lunch. It is a gorgeous tree covered street that reminded me so much of Spain.

I ate at La N° 20 Polanco, solely because it was Mexican food and within walking distance to the museum. On their website, they had an English menu so it was definitely a bit of a surprise when my waiter kept going to get someone to translate even though I was just pointing to the menu. I had queso fundido, which is an extremely thick type of queso served with fresh tortillas. Queso, like we have at home, is nowhere to be found in Mexico, but I enjoyed the queso fundido. I also had cheese quesadillas which were really good as well! It seemed appropriate that during my meal a Mexican soccer match was on. The entire restaurant was so into the game it was great, and I got to hear the announcer yell “goaaaaal” which was pretty entertaining as well.

After lunch, I bought a ticket for the Hop-on Hop-off bus. I know, they are so touristy. But I’m a tourist with one day to see a major city so that’s what I did! They are honestly really helpful the first time you are in a big city to help you get acclimated and see what all you want to go back and see. The ride was pretty slow because Mexico City has pretty awful traffic, but it was okay because so many of the neighborhoods were so beautiful and again reminded me of Spain.

After about an hour and a half, I got off to see Catedral Metropolitana. It is beautiful and had an amazing golden altar. This is where I made a new friend! I asked someone to take my picture, and we soon got started talking. His name is Mutaz, he is the Dean of a Law school in Palestine, and he had just arrived in town for a conference on law and social justice. He had also come off of the bus and was headed next door to the Templo Mayor Museum as well. It was so interesting to talk with him and learn about Palestine and to talk about travel with him. He has been to fifty-four countries himself! 

The Templo Mayor Museum was really interesting because it is a site of historic ruins right in the heart of Mexico City, literally next door to the Cathedral! You can walk through them and also learn about them in the museum inside. After the ruins, I got back on the bus and Mutaz did as well. After another hour and a half of riding through and seeing the city, I ended up at a stop right next to my hotel. It was super convenient! I decided to get a burger at a cool restaurant right near Nima called We Love Burgers. My burger was great, and Mutaz joined me as well! It was great to learn so much about Palestine and what he does (he has worked for the UN and written books and research papers galore). It was so great randomly meeting someone who has had such cool experiences. He even invited me to speak to his students when I make it to Palestine!

After dinner, I walked around the block back to my hotel. It was a busy but incredible day, and I did not get to see nearly enough of Mexico City. There are so many museums I want to go back to and places I want to explore. I’ll just have to come back soon - and thankfully I can because it is so close! I loved Mexico City on its own, but it definitely did not hurt that it reminded me so much of Spain. Honestly, if you had dropped me in the middle of the city and asked me to guess where I was, I probably would have said Spain. The resemblance was uncanny at times, especially when comparing it to Madrid. 

This shouldn’t come as a surprise, I know - Mexico was originally conquered by the Spanish. But I honestly was not expecting to like Mexico as much as I did. I feel like we almost only ever hear bad things about our neighbor to the south, but I absolutely loved Mexico City. I felt completely safe the entire time. It felt so much like Madrid, or Barcelona, or even New York at times that I was truly shocked in a good way by how much I liked it. By the time I finished the first museum I had called my mom and told her to start planning a trip to Mexico City because she loved Spain so much. I am sure there are dangerous parts of Mexico, but I did not see them. I went to museums, saw churches, visited other tourist attractions, and saw as much of the city as I possibly could in one day. One thing that’s for sure is Mexico City is now at the top of my “to visit again soon” list. It is so close to home, and there is so much to see. Another bonus - right now the exchange rate is very favorable for the US Dollar! As recently as 2014 the exchange rate was 14:1 - it is now 18:1! For a major city, it felt like a bargain for sure. Thank you for a great day Mexico City, I’ll be back!

15 countries down, 181 to go.

To learn more about Nima Local House Hotel click here.

Country #14 – United States of America Day 2

Disneyland!

I’m working on something super exciting (and unfortunately also pretty secretive) in LA today, but it was a crazy and amazing day all around. All I can share for now is that I’m going to be on a TV show! I had a really early 5:00am wake-up call and spent my day meeting some really cool people. After finishing up work on the aforementioned secret show around noon, my day only got crazier! 

My flight out of LA was scheduled for 8:00pm, which meant that I had eight hours to now spend in the airport. However, thanks to a crazy stroke of luck one of the people I met today, Dan, works for Disney World. Which means he gets to go to Disneyland for free - and gets to take people with him to Disneyland for free! Dan is staying through the weekend in LA, which means he has a rental car already. So instead of spending eight hours sitting in LAX, along with another friend we made today, Danielle, we headed on a spur of the moment trip to Disneyland!

 Anyone who knows me knows how big of a deal this is. It took me twenty years to get to Disney World and, as this was my first trip to California, I have always wanted to visit Disneyland! It was definitely a short but sweet trip. After an hour and a half of LA traffic, we arrived with about two hours to spend. Thanks to a glitch on the FastPass machine we were able to ride the Matterhorn right away, which I really wanted to do since there is not a similar ride at Disney World. It was a great coaster! 

After the Matterhorn, I got a Dole Whip, which was possibly the best part of the day. If you would have told me when I woke up today that I would have had a Dole Whip, I never would have believed you - those things are the best! Running short on time we then walked through the California Adventure park. Cars Land was so cool, and I wish I would have had time to ride the rides! After seeing Disneyland first hand now I definitely have to go back. Thank you again to Dan! 

We left around 5:30pm and got to the airport around 7:00pm. Luckily my incoming flight was running late so I had plenty of time to grab some pizza and my favorite, Pinkberry! It was such a cool day and one that I could never have anticipated. I met some really cool people, did some pretty crazy things, and had a great day. I can’t wait to tell you all about the show that I worked on this morning!

My flight out of LA arrived in Dallas around 2:00am. My Aunt Denise picked me up from the airport and dropped me off at my Grandparents house. Due to a scheduling conflict I ended up spending a few days in the United States in Dallas, but they were much needed! I was able to get a lot of work done, get caught up on sleep, and spend some time with my family as well. I’m very excited for tomorrow though, because it is on to Mexico City, and from there Central and South America!

14 countries down, 182 to go.

Read about my first day in the United States here.

Country #14 – United States of America Day 1

16 Hours of Travel

Today was a busy travel day, that’s for sure! I woke up at 4:00am to meet my taxi driver outside of MoonRaker Beach Hotel in Barbados. She was so sweet and oddly very awake for it being only four in the morning! We talked about my trip all the way to the airport, and she was so nice and excited about it. Once we arrived at the airport we realized that she did not have any change for USD. She forgot her change purse, so I had to go exchange my cash for smaller bills while she waited. After we got that all sorted out, I checked in for my flight back to the United States. I was flying from Barbados to Miami, and then from Miami to Los Angeles.

Other than flying out of Saint Lucia, it was the most Americans that I had seen in weeks! There were no problems checking in, going through immigration, or boarding the flight. For a 6:00am flight at least it was going smoothly! The flight itself was about four hours, but being so tired I was able to get some sleep and the plane also had plenty of movie options (I watched The Edge of Seventeen).

After landing in Miami I used my Global Entry to get through customs in about five minutes. That’s after the twenty minutes of walking it takes to get there.(tip: take the Skytrain when you have to go through customs in Miami). After an easy trip through security, I picked up a bagel and headed to my new gate.

My next flight, to Los Angeles, was about four hours as well. I watched two more movies (Sing and Table 19), and before I knew it I was landing in LA. I have never been further west than Colorado, so I am definitely excited to see even the small portion of LA that I get to see over the next day.

When I landed I took an airport shuttle to my hotel. By this point I was starving, so I walked across the street to get In-N-Out, because of course there is one across the street. How much more California does it get than that? While I’m not the biggest In-N-Out fan - honestly I think the burgers taste like McDonald's and I would rather pay twice as much for the heaven on earth that is Shake Shack - it definitely satisfied my hunger.

I went to sleep soon after this. It was about 8:00pm in California when I fell asleep, but I needed all of the sleep I could get after having traveled sixteen hours today. Plus, I needed to get ready for a big day tomorrow!a

14 countries down, 182 to go.

Read about my second day in the United States here.