If you went to Mexico???

How did you know how long to book for your return ticket? I know we are 2 days in the hospital and 1 day in the hotel..so I was thinking 1 more day just to be sure? Does that sound about right?
And how long of a flight was it to San Diego..the only seat sales right now for the time Im looking at is about a 9 hr flight..both ways have a 4 hour layover..how do you think I would feel? I have credits to use with Air Canada so I have no choice.

Hi Madeleine

I probably told you this already, but we went to San Diego & on to Tijuana on a Sunday (my surgery was Monday) , went back to San Diego Thursday to be sure to get to the airport on time, and flew back to Winnipeg on the Friday.  The delay at the border was 2 1/2 hours.  A lady traveling with us didn't make her flight on Thursday. 

Every person feels different after the surgery.  You have no way of knowing ahead of time and someone else's experience isn't going to give you any idea of how you will feel, or even your own previous experience, for that matter.   If you're worried about that, you might want to plan to stay an extra day.  There is a lot of walking and standing around involved going across the Mexican border.  We walked for what seemed like miles to get to Customs in the Calgary airport. 

I felt fine the day after surgery; I've read of other people who slept for almost the entire time before they went home afterwards.  An extra day is certainly a good idea.  If you feel well, you can go out and do things.  If you don't, you can hang out in your hotel room. 

Thanks Dianne! I couldnt find your previous email so Im glad you posted again here. Staying the extra days sounds good to me just in case and especially because any of the fights home have a four hour lay-over over either in Edmonton or Denver. I will just have to suck it up and go for it!

 I believe Edmonton has a flight lounge for passengers to use for a small fee you can relax in it while waiting maybe

The lounge sounds like a great idea cause you never know I might feel really crappy and sitting in those chairs for 4 hours tries my patience at the best of times.

I have been looking at Dr. Joya (www.drjoya.com) out of Puerto Vallarta - one of the benefits is that you don't have that long delay of getting over the boarder as you can flight directly into PV.

All depends on flight times. I booked an early morning flight on a tuesday leaving at 6 am or so here. An hour or two layover in Denver ( had a great chair massage there! )  Got into san deigo around 1 pm local time. ( 3 pm our time) . Got picked up right away and over the border. They arranged for the cardiologist to do his tests when we got there . The surgery was around 6 pm that same day. Not sure if you ended up being in later if they would do that day or the next?

Coming back we could have taken a friday morning flight at 630 AM but we didn't want to have to leave Tijuana around 3 am ! so we booked a night at the doubletree hotel in San Diego ( expedia.ca)  They had a free shuttle to the airport and the hotel was great and under 100 bucks. In a cool area, little italy and close to the waterfront. Nice little walks around there.  We could pick our time crossing the border ( Trish got us medical passes so it was quicker but it was about 2 hours since it was a holiday weekend ) We left around 10 in the morning. The wait was not too bad, we just sat in the van and I snoozed and read. Then you get out of the van and go inside through the customs and meet the van driver on the other side. The standing in line was about 10 mins. The driver then drove us to the hotel.

I would reccommend an extra night , it's only about 100 bucks and no rush. I liked flying United. The plane from Winnipeg to San Diego was small... Not a lot of carry on luggage room but they do gate check your bigger bags for free. And I liked that there was 3 seats across. 2 on one side and 1 on the other... nice having an aisle AND a window seat , lol... no one to sit next to ... nice and comfy. You can choose your seat  when you book.

Thanks for all the great info..I have decided to go to San Diego for one night after the surgery as we leave San Diego at 6 in the morning. Plus I think one extra night to recooperate before the long trip home will be beneficial.