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Airport Survival Tactics: What to do When You Arrive
Before Getting off the Plane: Visa, Passport, Customs Forms
Before you leave the airplane make sure your paperwork is filled out.
You will need your passport ##
Fill out the customs form.
You fill out the visa SIGN IT! twice, on front and on back.You will get a stub of the visa returned to you to keep.
This must be returned to immigration when you leave the country. DO NOT LOSE IT!… Keep it with your passport at all times. If you lose this you must pay a fee of about $20 when you check into your flight.
When you disembark the plane try to move quickly to get into and through MIGRATION quickly. Regardless which airport you use this line can be hell if you get caught behind someone with troubles. Merida the line is small but nearly 3 times as long to get through. In Cancun there are thousands of persons going through this line. If you dont have your paperwork ready you go to the back of the line.
When you get to the Migration officer, say hello, smile be friendly and ASK FOR 90 DAYS from the official.
Tell him you need 90 days, that your flight return to USA is in late July. Beg, plead, smile, speak Spanish, giggle, flirt, ANY thing to get
90 days stamped on your visa. If you get stamped 60 days you may have trouble. If you get LESS THAN 60 days you will need to make an extra trip to the Migration Office in Merida to get an extension that will cost $30 US.
Luggage and the Button
Once you go through Migration then you go to the baggage holding area. There is a restroom
there you can change from winter clothes to summer if you wish do
this before your luggage arrives.
Go to the bathroom as you may not have another opportunity for a few
hours.
Wait for your luggage and then get in the Customs line. You are asked to press a stoplight.
Green push on through past the big glass doors.
Red get searched ‘ the searchers are not really too interested in
this job so just smile always!
After this cut through all the stalls, venders, taxi drivers, condo sellers, etc. to get to the street.
Do not exchange money in the airport. Make sure you have at least $20 US in single dollar bills. Use these until you get to Cancun City or Downtown Merida to exchange money at a casa de cambios.
Cancun Airport, After Customs to ADO Bus to Downtown
After going through this you
exit into a corridor that pushes you to the right. On one side are car rentals and money exchange.
Go past all this, then there are the condo dealers. Go out but grap the promotional materials-- Cancun Tips. Once outside cut past all the drivers hustling you for a ride. Stick close to the right by the kiosk and go to the road there. You will see some buses. Your bus is in the SECOND parking slot. First one goes to Playa del Carmen, second one is Cancun Bus Station. Both are ADO buses. All other buses are not for you. Its a madhouse on the street, just be calm and move through past all the hustlers to the ADO bus stop. The ADO persons wear RED uniforms.
Mérida Airport, After Customs to Downtown or Bus Station
After getting your luggage, you go through Customs, press the stoplight and then you exit through these double glass doors that you have been looking at for a while. Go past the mob of friends and taxi drivers. Veer around the corner towards the exit. Once outside on the street turn left until you get to the TAXI KIOSK. You buy a ticket here for whereever you want to go. Its approximately $120 or so pesos. Share a ride if you can.You really dont want to hang out and wait for the local city bus with your luggage. Its not worth the wait or the savings.
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