Problemas (Premium)

As J.R.R. Tolkien observed of writing The Lord of the Rings, “this tale grew in the telling.” And so it went with this rundown of some of our many problems in Mexico. Originally, I had intended to discuss these topics in a section in a “What I Use: Mexico 2021” article that I’ll still post in a few days. But this description of our problems, some technical in nature, some not, is large enough to warrant an article of its own. So here we are.

To be clear, this has been an incredible trip. But it’s also incredible how many issues we’ve had. It’s made the trip feel much longer than it is as we see-saw between stress and exhaustion. Oddly, none of this has ruined anything, and we’ve still had a great time. But let me step through a partial list of a rather incredible list of problems, mostly small, but all annoying in their own way.
Bag issues
It started innocuously enough right after our arrival at the Mexico City airport when one of the shoulder straps on my laptop bag---a Rick Steves Velocé Shoulder Bag---separated from the bag when I picked it up off the floor to mount it on the expandable handle of my rolling luggage, a Rick Steves Ravenna Rolling Case. At the time, I thought I had ripped the strap off and would need to replace the bag. But later, I discovered that I had simply overloaded the bag and popped a plastic connector piece on the bottom of a strap, probably because I had stuffed it too full with the two laptops and other gear. All I had to do was pop the connector piece back in and all was well.

That particular problem was self-inflicted and avoidable: I already own two larger laptop bags that are specifically designed for handling two laptops and much more gear, an eBags Pro Slim Laptop Backpack and an HP Renew Backpack that I purchased on sale in December 2020 and forgot to write about in an article about my then-anticipatory 2021 travel plans. (I did manage to upload a photo of it, however.) This is personally frustrating as I was trying to save space with the smaller bag, and it wasn’t necessary. I own those bigger bags for this very reason (and only need one of them, obviously; the eBags one will be decluttered soon). And either of the larger bags would have fit under the seat of the plane just fine. Ah well.
Water issues
(I will describe the trip/schedule in the What I Use article, but the short version is that we visited San Miguel de Allende and Guanajuato in the five days of this trip and then Mexico City for the remainder of the two week trip.) After we had driven to San Miguel de Allende and parked the car, we got settled at the Airbnb. The main bedroom had a king bed, a couple of nightstands, a wardrobe, and the type of wall-mounted, ductless air conditioner I only know about from watching House Hunters International. The AC was up high on the wall next to my side of the bed, and I placed my laptop bag on the floor under it and turned on the AC as we unpacked.

A little while ...