So it begins!

Check-in went quite a bit smoother than last time. That was probably because mum wasn't there to steal my cabin baggage... Still had to put my bag in a special place though - Heathrow doesn't like bags with straps!

Thanks to Dad's paranoia about Heathrow traffic jams I made it there before check-in had even opened, so had 4 hours to perouse the wondrous Heathrow Terminal 4! Better than being late I suppose...

The flight however, went very quickly. Aeromexico were sublime. The hostesses etc. were very friendly, the entertainment had (most likely by coincidence) the funniest Family Guy and Big Bang Theory episodes I'd ever seen and I managed to get a decent amount of sleep despite some turbulence near Bermuda.

Having left half an hour late due to Heathrow traffic, we made it to Mexico an hour early. On arrival, there was a massive queue!!! This is because you have to go through immigration even if you're on a connecting flight. And it was 3am, so lots of flight passengers but too few night shifts...

I then got detained. And no it wasn't because I was smuggling drugs but because I'm a mug. Because of our smart passports, it transpired that Brits could skip msot of the queue and use the machines to check ourselves into the country. This required giving our fingerprints, thumbprints and face ID, in case we decided to become criminals - which judging by my passport photo is quite likely.

Unfortunately, I clearly did something wrong somewhere because when the time came to get my passport stamped I was pulled aside to a dingy room along with a host of interesting looking characters. I was there with a typically moody Brit who kept on harassing the non-English speaking staff asking why they were detaining him and how long for...(he had a connecting flight to Bogota so it was quite understandable).

Eventually, the Mexican immigration decided we just couldn't read instructions on a screen rather than a serious security threat and so let us go into the wonders of Mexico City airport. The airport is very chaotic and seems undersized for such a large city. Not as slick as some of the airports further south. Still, am wide awake and its 4am though I bet I'll crash later (my body clock + my laptop clock which I annoyingly don't know how to change) is on 11am right now...

Still, thoroughly excited to arriving in Lima and pleased how this journey has generally gone very well! Just lapped up a horribly milky capucchino and a fruit salad... technically my 5th meal in 24 hours...

Vamos!