Wandering Mind Written Down

2025 Q3 Part 2 – The Summer Trip Preparation, Departure and Arrival

Want to know what I hate about flying?  Never mind, I’ll just tell you. It’s the storage capacity on what I want to take along on the trip.  Clothing-wise, I’m a light packer…some t-shirts, cargo shorts, underoos, socks and a pair of sneakers…oh, and toiletries too.  Cause I’m not nasty.  It’s pretty much a carry-on and my back pack. I honestly hate checking-in luggage, it’s really annoying and a waste of time.  Don’t get mad, that’s only my opinion.

That, there, is why I hate flying.

The Preparation: I’m so accustomed to my road trips where I can carelessly take my two Canon cameras, my two tripods and my eleven lenses with me because I never know what I’ll be photographing  during the trip. Basically on the road trips I take with me as much equipment as possible because storage space is never an issue. Yes, I know I don’t always use ALL the lenses I take but it’s the comfort I have of carrying with me options. 

I’m not kidding when I say that since my last post about this 2025 summer trip, the primary concern has been narrowing down which exact lenses to take with me.  My trusted camera for the last 10 years has been my Canon 80D – sure, it’s a DSLR that’s a bit bulky but that’s the camera I jumped from good ol’ point-and-shoot camera toward a more professional camera.  Actually, that’s a lie.  The Canon 70D was my intro to better photography until it was one night unceremoniously stolen from my car.  Definitely not good times.

The 80D has witnessed the many beauties throughout the USA, Mexico and Colombia. For this camera I have amassed nine lenses which again for my road trips have travelled around with me. I’m pretty sure if I were to upgrade to another DSLR I would still keep this one because it’s been my steady sidekick, as evident by the various photography postings on Instagram. 

Yes, I know I mentioned having two Canon cameras even if all I’ve been doing is praising the 80D. On September of 2024 I finally took a step towards getting my first mirrorless camera when I saw a sale Canon was running on the R100.  It’s such a small and lightweight carry compared to the D80 and captures images just as beautifully – the biggest downside is that it isn’t touchscreen which could’ve helped when trying to make setting adjustments while taking photos.  Still, I don’t have an ounce of regret for this purchase because it has captured some great photos. By now, I have added two lenses plus a ring adapter in order to use the lenses I have for the 80D…because lenses can get expensive.

My newest curiosity in gear which I went for primarily for this upcoming trip are my new pair of Ray-Ban Meta.  The main reason for this trip to Juchipila, Zac is because of the fiestas during late July held in La Mezquitera Sur, where my parents have their house. I’ll go over this on the next post, but in short, it’s a three day celebration with day two being an approximate 2 kilometer pilgrimage to  Juchipila.  Back in my youth I used to carry with me a camcorder and film the trail of people partaking in this pilgrimage.  My “grand scheme” this time around is to record clips via these Ray-Ban Meta glasses instead.  Not gonna lie, I received them around July 23^rd so I’ve had them for over a week and I have not live world tested them yet, except when I was setting them up.  Insert face palm here.

So yes, all of this will fit in either my backpack or the carry-on suitcase.  I’m typing this the night before my departure and I still haven’t packed.  Wish me luck.

The Departure: IAH – AGU.  The only direct flights from Houston, TX to Aguascalientes, AG are through United Airlines which only fly from one to another twice a day.   What I didn’t enjoy was having to go all around IAH just to get to my gate – typical airports to change the gate at the last minute too.

The arrival.  AGU, or better known as El Aeropuerto Internacional Lic. Jesus Teran Peredo or Aeropuerto Internacional de Aguascalientes, is a small and easy to navigate your way around airport.  No frills about it but with super friendly people.  Immigration agents actually smile at passengers and even greet you unlike some of the airports in the US of A.   Because of its size, you don’t get a large crazy crowd of passengers every where – and that’s nice.  I was able to go to the Enterprise car rental booth and quickly was informed where I could get my car. 

By the way, I took a couple of photos from the plane as it was descending and I shamelessly posted the on my Instagram account (I write this, as I’m shamelessly mentioning it here).  Landscape images where the sky meets the land during the sun’s last setting hour.

The rest of the experience was getting to the City Express by Marriott where I would spend my first night of this trip.  The plan is to wake up super early and head to Starbucks, which opens at 6am local time, and get my morning boost as I make the two hour drive to La Mezquitera Sur and then visit family in Juchipila.  I’m so glad to finally be here in Mexico again!

To be continued…