Well, I’m here.

The flight was, well, long. The seats were uncomfortable, but cheap. There was a great selection of movies; I don’t mind the small screen, but the headphones were rubbish.

My husband and I have done a fair few group adventure holidays, and one of the “games” we play is trying to spot other people from our group at the airport and on the flight. Sometimes we spot them, although we are often helped because the adventure company issues special bags! On this flight I was trying to spot whether there was anybody who might be heading for Dr Aguilar’s operating table: essentially does person x look like they want to have their testicles removed? Or maybe just their cock? Or perhaps the whole shebang! Is that lady actually a pre-op? A silly game (and I hope nobody is offended by it), perhaps there is somebody on the flight looking at me and thinking “he looks like he wants his balls cut off”!

As it happens, I was the only one on that flight coming on this particular adventure!

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I was really worried about the US customs, if heard all kinds of horrible things about them (a lot of it from Americans terrified of immigrants). I was expecting angry offers shouting at me because I don’t know what I was doing. They were really quite nice and welcoming. The chappie who scanned and stamped my passport asked what I was doing and I said “tourism” but that I was going to Tijuana. He said “good luck”. Not inspiring, but then he suggested I take an excursion out to see a small town called “Puerto Nuevo” (about 30km from Tijuana) where they do amazing lobster. I’ve heard the same from a few people. Sadly, I am watching the pennies, so it’s just going to be a quick trip to the nearest beach to see the sea.

I had messages from Marla and the driver come to pick me up (a chap called Jonathan). Marla wanted to make arrangements for my free days. Jonathan was really nice and chatted all the way.

The Mexican border isn’t a problem; cars regularly commute through (people live on one side and return on the other). Mostly it’s there to make taxing goods between imported between the two countries. I’m relieved about that, as I was worried about it being difficult for the return journey. Normally it takes about an hour from San Diego airport to the recovery centre.

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At the recovery centre I was met my Marsha, whom seems to organise everything. She is definitely efficient, but also friendly. She passed me over to another member of staff to be inducted, given some basic tests, and agree to the centre’s Ts and Cs. The recovery centre isn’t a hotel, so there are rules around noise and not coming back too late.

The room is large and the bed comfy enough. It is the same sort of bed as you get in an NHS hospital, so it can be adjusted and lifted up and down. This also means that it has a lovely plastic mattress, easy to wipe down, but the bed clothes might go walk about. I was down the call button. I might be glad of the bed’s adjustable features and the call button come Tuesday next week!

Dinner was brought to me, possibly because I had just arrived. It was healthy and tasty, but I know that many people (eg my husband) would be going hungry!