Job Discussion Forums

reddevil79 · Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2005 4:51 pm Post subject:

Thanks for that guys. It depends, tickets to latin america from london are usually very expensive, particularly when flying in July. I've been looking at one year returns, but the only ones I can find are too pricey and via the states (means applying for a visa too). Does anyone know of any flexible one year return tickets between europe and mexico? Any info welcome...

Guy Courchesne · Joined: 10 Mar 2003 Posts: 9650 Location: Mexico City

Check with Iberia. I've seen that most UK teachers come into Mexico from Madrid or Barcelona...avoiding a US stop. Spain has good links to its former colonies.

sickbag · Joined: 10 Jan 2005 Posts: 155 Location: Blighty

Guy Courchesne · Joined: 10 Mar 2003 Posts: 9650 Location: Mexico City

lozwich · Joined: 25 May 2003 Posts: 1536

reddevil79 · Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2005 10:58 am Post subject:

Hi Lozwich, ta for the info. Yes I am British, but as I will be staying in Mexico for more than three months, the 'visa waiver program' doesn't apply; I would have to get a visa. If you or anyone else knows the name of that Spanish budget airline, I would be eternally grateful! I have checked mundojoven, but still no improvement on 400 GBP one way to Mex. City or 440 GBP one way to Guadalajara with Iberia...

Guy, surely a busy man like you doesn't have time to go sipping cocktails in Cancun for a week!?

Guy Courchesne · Joined: 10 Mar 2003 Posts: 9650 Location: Mexico City

hmmm...what IS under that beep that I could possible sip?

I have never been to Cancun...in over 4 years here in Mexico. Would love to go.

lozwich · Joined: 25 May 2003 Posts: 1536

Sorry, didn't make myself real clear there...

To pass through the US on the way to Mexico, you can use the visa waiver program and take advantage of cheaper tickets. In 2003 when I went to Mexico, I bought a (very cheap) one-year return ticket Oz to LA and then when I got to LA, entered under the visa waiver program and bought an incredibly cheap one way ticket to Guadalajara on travelocity. Then, a year later, when I returned to Oz after being in Mexico the whole time on my FM3, I entered LA, got another visa waiver thingy, and left the next day without a hassle.

Lozwich.

Ben Round de Bloc · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 1946

reddevil79 · Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2005 4:40 pm Post subject:

Yes it is cocktails. I was wondering what was so offensive about it...then it dawned on me.

Thanks for the info lozwich. I did get a six month return to DF via Houston last year, but then the US embassy website implied I would be turned away and sent packing back to london as the 'visa waiver scheme' didn't apply for stays more than 90 days, even when transiting !?

Ah yes, immigration cards. Hey, that could be an interesting new thread; The oddest question to appear on immigration and customs forms. Mine has to be Chile, when I was asked to answer whether I would be importing any semen into the country! I wasn't sure what to put I have to say...

Samantha · Joined: 25 Oct 2003 Posts: 2038 Location: Mexican Riviera

Ben Round de Bloc · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 1946

It sounds like nothing more than police trying to get mordidas to me, certainly not a practice that's found only in Cancun.

saraswati · Joined: 30 Mar 2004 Posts: 200

Nope, not just in Cancun...though the one I had to pay there was higher than in other parts of Mexico. Sad

Guy Courchesne · Joined: 10 Mar 2003 Posts: 9650 Location: Mexico City

There has been some political wrangling of late in Cancun. I wouldn't be surprised if the police are hassling tourists as a way to take federal pressure off of them. The feds have been hitting the drug gangs hard of late, so it could be the police are losing their usual revenue stream from drug dealing, drug running, or protecting drug lords.

I've only paid one mordida to a federal agent, but it I who offered it in order to be able to park in front of the Acapulco airport. 50 pesos...5 dollars to bribe a federal cop. This country never ceases to amaze me.

Julieanne · Joined: 18 Mar 2004 Posts: 120

Jacqui,
Yes you are correct, there are many poor people that do not benefit from Free Trade. But what I have seen happen in Mexico in the last 10 years is that there were only 20 families in the entire country, with a hold on everything. Imagine that 20 families!! The money was stinking. Now however, there is a least a little more distribution of wealth, which actually those 20 families hate but can't stop it. Sure there are many people not benefiting and may never will but at least there is some trickle down effect and there are people, especially that I see in Monterrey, which even considering this city has not been doing that great the last 4 years, but there are people here with things and opportunities they never dreamed of. Cars, houses, loans etc. and better paying jobs. People now want good things and that is because the market has opened. Did you know the best car in Mexico just a mere 8 years ago was a Grand Marquis? The striving to want to improve is necessary because that is the problem for the lack of quality here, the pride is missing and one day, unfortunately not soon enough, if it gets to the poor in cities, it will also reach the poor in villages.
Mexicans need to face up to their shortcomings, this has been the problem, nobody wants to face the fact that this country has a lot more potential than it is showing and that the problem can only be solved by the people themselves, not the government, and I believe that they are beginning to do that through having access to Internet and with NAFTA.
They are beginning to realize they can't continue forever with monopolies, bad quality products, old-fashioned way of doing business and making money during the inflation cycle only by grabbing it quick. They have now are learning to plan and strategize. They are learning the teachniques of a good customer service, not "al rato" and that means actually next week. They are learning that you can't in business be non-confrontational, the problem comes and bites you in the butt!
So I have a positive view but only if the country continues on the same path.
Very Happy