Trading the Colosseum for Dawn Departures

These pictures were taken on September 8, 2025.  Jay celebrated this birthday in the city of Rome, Italy.  Here's a peek at that day:

 

Jay and I always try to give ourselves the gift of travel whenever a birthday rolls around. Our recent Alaska cruise took care of my own 2026 milestone, but Jay’s upcoming celebration in September remains entirely unbooked. Our actual confidence in where or when we will fly is floating near rock bottom. Mexico City has surfaced as our primary idea for one simple reason: despite all our years of travel, Jay and I have never spent any time in the capital city. It remains a massive, unvisited five-century-deep megalopolis waiting on our map; it offers a full week of real exploration, provided we can accept the flight schedule.

A quick check of the flight options shows that the airlines make Vancouver-to-Mexico City travel feel like a test of patience. Reaching the city at a reasonable afternoon hour requires an 08:15 Aeroméxico departure, which demands a 05:30 alarm clock setting that borders on biological cruelty. The alternative is Air Canada, which burns an entire calendar day in transit only to deposit passengers at the terminal at 23:15. On top of that, even opting for budget carriers still guarantees a fairly expensive ticket for a trip that stays strictly within North America.

So our plans remain in limbo while Jay and I weigh the scheduling headaches against the thrill of brand new territory. Paying a hefty premium for terrible flight times rubs me the wrong way, yet staggering onto a tarmac before sunrise feels like the inevitable tax for diving headfirst into a premier cultural and culinary hub sitting practically in our continental backyard.