I got a private message asking me about my experience with a middle of the night arrival to San Pedro Sula on Spirit Air. The person who sent it has their private messages blocked so I can't write back.
I'm guessing that a. she's using these threads to research her trip. and b. the info I was going to give her would be of help to others also. So I figure I'll just post my response here and hope she sees it and at the same time it helps other people.
To that person, you may want to change that setting so other people can respond if you ask them questions.
Okay her question:
Hi,
I am taking a very late flight into SPS as you did - what are your recommendations for getting a taxi/staying in a hotel/SAFETY! I am nervous now too!
My response:
Hey!
I would HIGHLY recommend planning in advance for safety and peace of mind. I was soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo glad I had this all planned in advance when I got there becase of the reactions I was getting from people I met in the airport and on the plane ...
I ended up in the Ft. Lauderdale airport during my layover talking to a Honduran women who looked at me like an alien when I told her I was backpacking over there by myself. She told me to go into the bathroom and hide money in 20 places all over my body so that WHEN (not if) I got mugged on my way to my hotel I'd still have some cash to fall back on (scared to death, I took her advice). And then the nice couple I sat next to on the plane said the same thing. As did the guy I met in line at customs who made me promise that I'd trust no one-- including the police who had robbed him at gunpoint and beat him up a week earlier.
I'd had the hotel send a taxi, but everyone was telling me they wouldn't really come and that I had to be really careful about getting in the cab with anyone. I was so scared by the time I got through customs that no taxi would be there. THEY WERE THERE WAITING FOR ME. By the time I made it to my hotel (without getting mugged of course!) I was scared to death wondering what in the world I was thinking when I bought my plane ticket. BUT when I woke up the next morning in daylight, it was MUCH MUCH MUCH better. I was glad I had a safe hotel to stay in that first night or I think I would have 100% freaked out. Once I was out of SPS I was careful (obviously), but I wasn't so scared! haha. And the whole trip was fine with a little common sense. :)
I stayed at the Metrotel Express and would highly recommend sucking up the money and staying there the night you arrive. Make your reservation in advance and have them arrange to have a safe taxi driver waiting at the airport to pick you up. (They will actually show, and have a sign holding your name, despite what people on the airplane and in the customs line will swear to you). It is a definite sense of security to know that someone else knows who you're getting in a taxi with. And when you arrive at the hotel and there are gates and everything, it feels much better than you did while you were at the airport and everyone is using scare tactics on you.
Another plus.. Metrotel Express has 24/hr internet. So you can email home when you make it and let everyone know you're okay.
Here is a link to the hotel: http://www.hotelhonduras.com/english/hotel_honduras_index.html
Don't be too scared. You just have to make it through that nerve-wracking first night with such a late arrival and you'll be fine. Plan in advance and don't freak out from what you hear from the locals while you're on your way :). Have some general travel sense and have fun!
~Nicole
