A lot of unexpected things happened since I started traveling the world fifteen months ago, but this one may take the cake 🎂
I’m working last night til 1:30am, and all of a sudden, my laptop keyboard stops working 😑
I hard reset. Reboot in safe mode. Everything you need to do to sort this out. But nothing 😞
So, around 3am, I head to sleep planning to sort it out all with Apple support in the morning. I wake up. Speak to tech support, and it won’t come back to life. Awesome 🥳
But, I’m in Mexico City, so this can’t be that bad. There’s two Apple Stores within 15 miles. I just need to Uber over there and see if they can fix it, and if they can’t, just bite the bullet and buy a new one, right? Wrong 😒
You see, in Mexico during COVID, you have to make an appointment at the Genius Bar just to buy something. You simply can’t walk into the story and buy stuff. Strange, but okay. Until I come to find out... there are no appointments in Mexico City for the next week 😱
The earliest appointment is at a store 45 minutes away next Saturday at 4:30pm. At this moment, I start to panic. I run a law firm. A marketing agency. An education company. Five podcasts. And a non-profit all from my laptop. What am I gonna do?! 🤯
I call Apple Support to see if I can buy it online and pick it up at the store. Nope. Not in Mexico. I phone a handful of resellers, but no one speaks English - and from what I can gather - they’re all outta stock 😭
So I hop in an Uber determined to beg, plead, and charm my way to a new laptop. I arrive at the Apple Store armed with broken Spanish, a sob story, and a smile in hopes they’ll sell me a laptop without an appointment 🤭🤞
And much to my surprise... I’m successful 🤩
I wait for about an hour, order Uber Eats while in line, Google Translate my way through the checkout process, and by the grace of everything that’s holy I walk out of the Apple Store with a brand new laptop....
....with a Spanish keyboard 😦😧🤬
I mean, seriously, why does there need to be a N key and also an Ñ key?! Who needs two N’s?! How many times do you type niños?! 🤨
Also, what‘s this strange ass key: [Ç] 🧐
It looks like a C with a squiggly line coming out from it... But why?! What does it do? I’ve been studying Duolingo for two months and I’ve never once seen an Egyptian Hieroglyph 😶
And why are all the ? upside down ?¿?¿ 🤣
To make matters worse, I can return the laptop within 30 days, but I have to return it to the Same Exact Store in Mexico City! But I have to check out of my AirBNB tomorrow and travel to San Miguel de Allende. Not anymore 🥴
So, I get home, heck and peck my way through the Ñ’s and Ç-thingies, get a new AirBNB in Mexico City, and order ANOTHER laptop with an English keyboard for pickup in Miami 🙄
My amazing paralegal will ship it to my new AirBNB next week so I can then make another appointment to return the Spanish keyboard laptop before leaving the city ¡Ay Dios Mio! 🤪
So, here I am, typing to you from my brand new Spanish keyboard from Mexico City 👨🏻💻