La familia Soiland-Reyes

Travel to and practical information about Mexico

Is it safe to drink tap water in Mexico?
No, it is not safe. Make sure to buy and carry with you little water bottles. Another thing that you should carry with you is toilet paper since it is not always provided! And although the food they sell in the street stands can be quite good, don’t be over adventurous; your stomach may not be used to the bacteria around. For other health related tips you can read the Mexperience section on Health and Safety issues.

What is the voltage in Mexico and how are the electricity plugs/outlets?
The voltage in Mexico operates at 120v/60 cycles. If your device does not accept 127 Volts at 60 Hertz, you will need a voltage converter. Outlets are like those in US or Canada, so a plug adapter for US/Canada will do.

Can I use my british/norwegian mobile phone in Mexico?
Yes you can. Just check with your provider that your mobile has been set up to be used abroad, most of them are these days, but if in doubt better check with your provider. The roaming costs can be a bit expensive, something like £1.00 per minute, either for receiving or making calls. Texts are around £0.40.

Is it possible to exchange GBP currency into MXN currency? Can I take with me travellers cheques?
These days you can withdraw money from your debit cards in the ATMs in Mexico, but you cannot always be sure that you will be given money, since at busy times they give priority to local bank’s customers. In big shops and restaurants you can pay with credit card, but not in the small shops or for taxis; then you need to carry cash. In the airport there are ATMs and Currency Exchange stands (Casas de Cambio in Spanish) which may not offer the best rate. In Puebla you can also exchange money, I remember that the “Caja Central” in town gives decent exchange rates and is just in the main square of Puebla. If you are buying traveller cheques, either in GBP or USD, maybe is better to buy American Express since it is easier to find American Express shops in Mexico city or other cities, and hence you will avoid having to pay double (sometimes crazy!) commissions.

What is the time zone difference in Mexico city?
With respect to UK, it is 6 hours difference behind, hence when in UK it is 10:00 am in México city it is 04:00 am. Most of the states in México, including Puebla, use the México city time, referred to as central time. Only the states in the north have a difference of 1 hour behind México city. With respect to Norway, the difference is 7 hours behind.

What is the easiest way to tranport within and out Mexico city?
For notes on how to transport from Mexico city to Puebla visit our “Getting there” section. Inside Mexico city, if you speak spanish you can use public transport such as buses or the tube – just avoid peak times 7:00 – 9:00 in the morning and around 18:00 – 19:00 in the evening! If you speak spanish it will be easier to move around. If you don’t, then the best choice is to take a taxi; always make sure to ask your hotel to call a taxi for you or to take one from the authorized taxi ranks. In Puebla it is safer to take a street cab, but if possible always ask your hotel to call one for you. To travel outside Mexico city and between other cities the best way is by coach; which are quite good. You can look for tickets and available routes in the TicketBus website. Distances are long in the country, hence hiring a car may not be a good idea if you want to have a relaxing holiday. For more tips about transport, security checks when taking a taxi in Mexico city, or hiring a car you can check the Mexperience webpage, it is quite good.

How do I travel from Mexico city to Puebla?
If you are travelling from Puebla straight away from Mexico city’s airport, you can catch a direct coach (ie. a fancy bus) from the airport to Puebla. If you are staying a few days in Mexico city and then travelling to Puebla, then you need to get to the TAPO, which is the south coach station of Mexico city, and then take the Estrella Roja or the ADO coaches to Puebla; services are very frequent. In Puebla, you will arrive to the CAPU, which is Puebla’s main coach station. In the CAPU you will find stands of authorized taxis “Taxis autorizados“, you give the address of where you are going and pay in advance. This is the best way to take a taxi from the CAPU to your hotel. You can read more about travelling by coach on our “Getting there” page.

What is the weather like in Puebla in February?
We say that “the weather in February is crazy and in March a bit more”, but having been in England I don’t think it is that bad anymore. The coldest months are December and January. Towards the end of February the weather starts being nicer. In average the temperature is 16°C, but historically on the 23rd February it can vary between 7°C early in the morning up to 23°C around midday. You can monitor the temperature in Puebla and in other Mexican destinations in the Weather Forecast webpage.

About the wedding

What kind of gifts would you like?
It’s difficult for us to think about gifts since the gifts will be moving around with us, but by popular request we have put together a little gift list to give you some ideas. Yet, the best gift for us is simply your presence!

How (in what language) should I do my speech/song/performance?
There will be a few selected speakers during the event, and everyone else is welcome to create a little video that we will show with subtitles during the wedding. We hope as many as possible send us a little video clip, even if it’s just to say hello!

What are these little business cards that came with the invitations?
The cards are tickets. You might find this peculiar, but in Mexican style a wedding invitation comes with tickets as to be sure of the number of people attending the celebrations. In a Mexican wedding, if you don’t do this, guests might bring along all of their family and friends, even other people they meet on the way to the wedding! Although a good recipe for a party, this could get a bit awkward when running out of food or drinks!

What is that silly number on the back of the ticket?
It’s the ticket number, uniquely identifying your ticket. We might use this number in the future to authenticate your access to protected parts of this web site (such as a gallery). There might also be a prize draw in the party based on your ticket number, so hold on to your ticket!

For techies: Each ticket has a unique number. The ticket number is an UUID (Universally Unique Identifier), a large number produced using a random number generator. There’s 122 random bits in an v4 UUID, and the chance of producing a duplicate of a given UUID is pretty low, even if you generate 68,719,476,736 = 2³⁶ uuids, the probability of any of those being duplicates is 0.0000000000000004. (Source: Wikipedia)

I have another question not answered by your FAQ
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