Milagros Torres, Courier Looper, shared her first experience with hand-delivery from Mexico to the United States.

I believe that hand-carry service, especially in Mexico, demands a sense of urgency. People should know that you have to move NOW. 

At first, I thought, “Sure, what can go wrong if I go?. I mean, it’s super easy. However, once the date came I thousands of thoughts ran through my head:

In the end, you’re hand-carry delivering. If anything goes slightly wrong, it can be a domino effect that affects other people! 

Hand-carry providers in Mexico are always worried about communication. Even if you know English, there’s still this expectation for everything to be excellent for the whole process.

To be specific, Houston’s international airport has strict and jumpy customs agents. For example, Mexicans were taken aside, and their belongings were thrown on the table.

Also, they send us to a different place so the people from other countries could go through. Literally, if you were Mexican, you were tossed aside.

On one occasion, during a hand-carry service parting from Mexico, I was taken into an isolated room. There, I was questioned about:

I was asked the same thing many times; it seemed as if we were not speaking in English. In the end, after explaining so many times, the guard started to talk in Spanish!

On the other hand, you also meet interesting people and make friends.

I must say I came across a lot of good people. I met most of them in London, that’s where I went out the most. It was beautiful even though it was always raining. I always came back with a cold and annoying jetlag. 

The funniest thing that happened to me, and I remember: TULSA. 

Tulsa is a colorful quaint place, like a ghost town. First, I arrived in the super small airport, very cozy. Then, I got an Uber, and a pick-up truck arrived. Anthony, a man of around 65 years of age, descends from the vehicle, carries the boxes, loads them into the truck, and we part to fulfill the delivery.

On the way, we had a normal chat: “What do you do here?” “Where are you from?” Etc. As soon as I told him I’m from Mexico, he said: “Oh, you don’t have any drugs on those boxes?” and I replied I had weapons. Gladly, he found it funny. 

In the end, we got along really well, and he introduced me to his daughter, who was around my age. Later, they took me to some downtown bars. Everything was empty. There was barely anyone. 

Because of that, we were able to talk with the barman. It turned out he was from Guadalajara! I mean, that was really extraordinary. Anyway, I was having so much fun that I almost missed my flight, which was a constant worry on the back of my head. Good thing nothing bad has ever happened.

To summarize, I can tell this is a good experience with a lot of advantages:

It may be tiring, but nothing that can’t be managed. In my experience, I’ve never lived anything negative. I can tell I’ll do it again, a thousand times, and I really recommend it. Without a doubt, it’s one of the best things you can do.

Providing hand-carry services has left me with great memories, experiences, and a good distraction from my routine. With time, being in an airport becomes fun. You learn to live in them, love the airplane food, different food 100%.

I mean, when you land back in your country, there’s always the urge to run and get some tacos.

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