This year’s adventure to Mazatlán began on December 29 with a stay at the former Wyndham Garden Hotel. Now a Hotel 11. As always, we chose to stay at an airport hotel because the flight departs in the morning. We have stayed at this hotel several times as it has a good restaurant and is in great shape. Since our last stay, Wyndham sold the property to Sonesta Hotels, who have branded it as Hotel 11. A great rate, excellent service and the same great food. Our rate for the night was $151.95, tax in. Had a few vino’s, so supper almost matched the room rate. Our bad. Check them out at the link; it’s recommended.
Hotel 11, MOD Sonesta – Calgary Hotel with Airport Shuttle | Sonesta
The next step is the flight. As usual, we flew in on WestJet. It is pretty much the only game in town from Calgary. There is Sunwing as an alternative, but they are now owned by WestJet and have some limitations that are not good for us. It is cheaper, but one-way travel is not allowed, and changing flights is next to impossible. As we are there for 3 months or so, this restriction is not a good thing. We book as one way in each direction instead of round trips to give us the flexibility to head home earlier or later, especially for urgent personal reasons.
We caught our shuttle and arrived at the airport with a 3-hour window. As we check in online, we ditch the lineups at the counters and proceed directly to the self-check-in kiosks. We generated our bag tags, dumped our luggage at the baggage chute, and headed into security. Security can cause a hiccup or 2, but we sailed through and headed for breakfast. The Tim Hortons and Starbucks are always full, so we use the Vin Room in case we want a mimosa or a nice chardonnay at 8:00 in the morning (You have to love air travel). The buzz in airports is unique. People everywhere around are excited, nervous or bored. Sitting in a restaurant eating breakfast and people-watching is a great way to kill time before boarding. The Vin Room is a Calgary restaurant/wine bar with 3 locations; this (obviously) is the airport location. Food is good and reasonably priced for an airport. The service is excellent as well. Breakfast was around $50.00, with tips and taxes and no wine. Another recommendation to check out if you are flying out of Calgary. Check them out at the link below.
