Ecuador Day 12: Early Morning Flight back to the States via El Salvador, Los Angeles and Finally Home

We had the front desk call us around 2:30 a.m.  I felt like crap and wanted to sleep longer then I realized I was going back to the US and my own bed and motivated me to get ready to go.  I was so done with traveling at this point.  I've been on way too many airplanes, been around way too many germs, got sick (which I still have a cough from) and been around way too many people.  I was done.

I got changed, did my bathroom stuff, made sure I didn't leave anything in the bathroom, packed my bag with the stuff I wouldn't need on the plane, checked my bed, under the bed, the table tops and the bedside table to double check I didn't leave anything behind.  Mom was getting all of her stuff ready as well.  We didn't want to be the people holding up anyone.

We went downstairs, checked out, gave them back the room cards and waited for Amy, Beth and Kaitlin and our taxi to come.  I found out two more of our volunteers were also staying at the hotel as well and had almost identical flights back to the US.  Amy, Beth and Kaitlin were late coming down so the two ladies took our taxi.  Amy was so upset because she specifically called for that cab to come get us.  I honestly didn't know if it was theirs or ours because they also could have called a cab for themselves.  The hotel got us two more because we all were not going to fit inside of just one with all of our bags.

About five minutes later we were on our way to the airport.  At this point every minute counted.  We paid the taxi driver, made sure all of our bags were out and we went inside to find our line.  Our line was really long and I actually was worried we might not get a spot on the plane.  When we got closer to the roped off area of the line, some guy cut in front of everyone and some lady really didn't like it.  She called over some security guy and turns out the guy was waiting in the wrong line and wasted all that time.  Karma.

When we finally got to the desk to check in, we gave her our passports, we checked in our bags this time and hoped that we received them when we got to Seattle.  She gave us our tickets and we were literally the last ones on the plane to El Salvador.  We went through security, which took a little while, walked to our gate and got on quickly.  We found out seats and got situated.  Everything since 2:30 a.m. seemed very rushed.  Our plane left late because of the ticketing delay.  Mom sat behind me.  I watched Gifted and ate breakfast on our way to El Salvador which was almost a 3 hour flight.

The flight was very turbulent as we were getting closer to El Salvador.  During our descent, as we got past the clouds, we could see how rainy it was.  The country was very green and it would be cool someday to actually explore it.  We arrived in El Salvador late and we immediately had to get off the plane (which we had to walk the tarmac in the rain), run through the corridor, after finding out our gate, Gate 10, (because it wasn't on our ticket), rush though security (had to take off our shoes and I had to debag my laptop).  They were boarding everyone and we were a few of the last passengers on the flight.  We all sat together in the middle of the plane.  This plane was one of the bigger air busses so a lot of people were going back to the US.  We all sat in the row that didn't have screens for movies.  We got lucky because no one else got to watch movies either.  They made an announcement stating that they were having technical difficulties with the media onboard and none of the screens were going to work the duration of the flight.  Of course it would be for the longest portion of our flight back to the US.

I got my notebook out and wrote some stuff down in it.  We were served some food and drinks but we mostly slept during this leg of our flight.  I am so glad I bought that blanket because it came in handy while I was sleeping.  I was freezing.  The 5 and a half hour flight was grueling.  I so wanted to be in the US because it meant one step closer to home, food, shower and bed.  Just before our descent the flight attendants brought around a declaration document that we had to fill out.  It was basically who we were, where we were coming from and going to, what we were bringing into the country and how much it was worth and gave them back to them.

When they said we were on our final descent into LAX I got so excited I wanted to be there already.  We touched down, slowed our momentum and made the journey to our gate to get off.  I turned my phone off of airplane mode.  It has been on airplane mode for 12 days.  I was surprised that I only got one text message that entire time and it was from Grammie who said, "yea you are coming home!  I am so glad, seems like you have been gone a long time.  You helped a lot of people!  Had a lot of adventures!  Anxious to hear your stories.  Love ya bunches!"

I could not wait to get off the plane and through security and customs so we could eat before the next plane ride.  We had no idea how long it would actually take but we were glad we had that 2 hour plus cushion.

We had to wait in a huge line just to go through customs.  Once we got through the line and to the actual customs area downstairs, we went to a kiosk to put in our information, it scanned our passport and took your picture.  You were to keep that when you saw one of the officials to go over it with you and welcome you back to the US.  That part didn't take that long.  When it was my turn, I walked up to the official and handed him my documents.  He did some stuff on his computer, handed me back my passport and told me "welcome home!"  I was sure happy to hear those words.

Next step was to get our tickets for Seattle and go through security.  I swear we walked a mile to the ticket office.  I was so hungry I started to get hangry.  Every tiny thing bothered me and we were running out of time.  I did not want to stay here any longer than I had to.  Luckily, the ticket line moved faster than the customs line did.  We walked, what seemed like another mile, to security and waited in line there.  I kept checking the time.  I really wanted some time to get some food before we got on the plane.  I was getting really antsy.

We finally got to the end of the security line and I took off my shoes and took the laptop out of the bag.  I was scanned and then on the other side they took the tub with my computer for further scanning.  I was so upset.  I had to wait at least ten minutes and those were a long ten minutes when you are hangry.  The security worker told me that they needed to check my computer for residue and took it to a station and rubbed it down with a cloth and then stuck the cloth into a machine to tell them if it was dangerous or explosive.  My computer was negative for everything.  They handed me back my stuff, I threw on my shoes, stuffed my laptop into my bag and started looking for food on the other side.

I bought a turkey sandwich and Doritos at one store and found a place that sold Pepsi.  I was so excited to eat this food it was literally killing me.  Between airplane food, snacks, Cliff Bars and the food we ate in Ecuador I was so ready for this turkey sandwich, chips and soda.  I found a place to sit and I nommed so hard.  I heard that our flight was going to start boarding soon so I walked to where Mom, Beth, Kaitlin and Amy were sitting and ate the rest of my food.  A few minutes later our airline started boarding.  I've never flown Virgin Airlines before and it was so colorful inside.  I sat next to mom and she gave me the window seat.  We took off shortly after.

I dinked around with the screen and watched an episode of Family Guy then decided to write in my travel journal for a while.  About halfway through the flight they served us cinnamon biscuit cookies and drinks. The ride was pretty uneventful and there wasn't any turbulence which was nice.  I looked out the window several times when we would pass the recognizable landmarks like Mount Shasta, Hood and Rainier.  A few minutes later we were into our descent into Seattle.  I was super stoked!

We touched down and we were welcomed into Seattle earlier than our arrival time.  We made sure to grab all of our stuff and got off the plane.  We were finally home!  We went to our baggage claim carousel and hoped our stuff made it as well.  After a few minutes of waiting we saw our bags.  We grabbed them and got the heck out of there.  Beth's husband came and got her while we added a new passenger, Dr. Harris.

We waited for our shuttle which came within ten minutes and we were on our way back to Amy's SUV in the Ajax parking lot.

We arrived at the lot, got out with our bags and got into the SUV.  One more step closer to home!!  I called Ben to let him know that we are heading towards Lacey, we were going to meet up with Dr. Harris's husband at the Walmart in Hawks Prairie.  I also had Ben come get mom and I.  During the ride home, Dr. Harris asked us about our experiences in Ecuador, what were the things that went well and what are the things that could go better next time.  It was interesting to hear what people had to say.

Ben let me know he was on his way to Walmart as we got closer to Lacey.  Traffic wasn't that bad, which always surprises me, during this time of the evening during the week...especially on a Monday.  When we got there, Dr. Harris's husband and kids and just gotten out of the store so we got to meet them all.  After a couple conversations and some goodbye's, Amy was on her way home with Kaitlin, Dr. Harris and her family were on their way home and Ben picked us up and drove us closer to the store because mom needed a few things.  I bought pizza because I wanted pizza.

We had to drive out to Rainier to drop mom off, said hi to dad and headed home as soon as possible.  I wanted some pizza, a shower, my clothes clean and bed.  I was going to take a coma.  We got home after 7.  I brought all my stuff in, threw the pizza in the oven, peeled my clothes off, showered, put clean clothes on, all while the pizza was cooking so it would be done when I got out, stuffed my clothes in the washer, sat down and ate pizza.  We watched TV as we ate.  The clothes got done shortly after so I threw them in the dryer.  I unpacked the rest of my bag and set everything on the table for when I go through it the next day since I took the day off from work.

Around 10 p.m. I went to bed and didn't wake up until almost noon the next day.  Wow what a trip!  The next planned trip is scheduled for May 2018 but I can't go until May 2019 when our side trip will be Machu Picchu in Peru!

Next Adventure:  Pumpkin Carving Game Night

Ecuador Day 1: Seattle to Los Angeles to Colombia

I got most of my stuff ready the night before and double checked it because I did not want to be without anything.  I think I double checked it a few times and rearranged it in my pack a few times.  I was really excited but also really nervous about traveling to another country and how long I was going to be on these airplanes.

I got up and went to work.  I knew today was going to be a very very long day.  That morning we did our inactive letters, I got an enrollment packet out the door and all the claims orders printed and prepared all the envelopes to be ready to be mailed out the next day.  I told everyone bye and that I would see them when I got back on the 27th.  They said to have a great time and be safe.  I told them I would try to send them updates when I had available internet.  I left work at 11:30 and was home by noon.  I had Ben make me a sandwich, I changed my clothes, cleaned the cat box, said goodbye to Calvin and I had Ben drive me to Yelm Dental while I ate my food.

Trish called me to wish me happy travels to Ecuador on our way to Yelm.

We got to the office by 12:40 and hung out upstairs until mom was done.  We gathered mom's stuff and headed over to Amy's house, which was right down the road.  Ben dropped us and our bags off.  I told him goodbye, gave him hugs and kisses and he told me to be safe.  I told him that I would talk to him as much as I could while I was gone.  We packed all of our stuff in the back of Amy's SUV.  We piled in and we were on our way to Fort Lewis so we could pick up something from Josh at work.

From the base we got onto I-5 and continued north until we got to the Ajax parking lot, our long term parking arrangement, we paid, parked and got on a shuttle that took us and our baggage to the airport. 

So it begins...

The shuttle dropped us off at the Alaskan Airlines.  We tagged and checked in the zebra bag with our lab coats and toys for the kids inside.  We would see it again when we got to Ecuador.  We printed our boarding passes from Seattle to Los Angeles.  We went through security, which went smoothly since I had been to the airport in the last few months to know what to do with my laptop this time, and hung out at our gate until it was time to go.  Our group gathered snacks, water and used the restroom.  I plugged my stuff in so they were all charged up just in case I wanted to use them during the flight.  Ben called and texted before it was time to board the plane.

Mom, Beth and I sat together further back in the plane.  We chatted about a bunch of stuff on the way to LAX and looked out the window until it got too cloudy to see.

We arrived at LAX early, which in hindsight was a good thing, and found out where we needed to go for our connecting flight to Bogota.  We had to go outside the airport and wait for bus "A" to take us to Terminal C.  There, we waited in a long line that seemed to never move and we were the minorities.  It appeared that they were having trouble with their computers?  When it was our turn it took FOREVER, of course they spoke Spanish so we really didn't know what they were saying.  We thought there was something wrong with one of the passports but they assured us it had to do with keeping our party together for the next flight.  Which didn't really matter to us honestly.

Once we got our boarding passes (to Columbia and Ecuador) we walked back outside and followed the red line to the International Departures building.  There were a lot of Asians. We followed directions to where our information got checked, we were screened by a dog and waited to go through security.  Once we got through security it is way different than domestic flights inside the US.  Your shoes stay on and nothing gets taken out of your bags to be checked further.  All of your belts, pocket contents and cell phone went into your bags.  The only thing you couldn't take with you was beverage liquids but food was okay.

After we got through security, we walked to our gate.  Our flight was running behind so we had to wait a while, plus we were in group E, so we weren't going to be boarding for a while.  We used the restroom, bought some water and snacks since we haven't had dinner yet. 

I was banking on getting some food served to us once we got on the flight.  Our flight was going to be very full and since we were the last group on we really hoped there was room for our bags near our seats. 

When we did get to board, we boarded Avianca, a flight I've never heard of, I found my seat, which was on the left side of the plane next to a teenage Asian girl, I stuffed my bag into the overhead storage bin which was near my seat and got situated.  I turned my phone onto airplane mode which it will remain until I entered the US again on September 25th.  I was the only seat in the area that did not have a blanket. 

After the flight took off I asked the flight attendant if I could get a blanket and she said sorry and that they didn't have any extra and about 90% of the flight got one.  I was so upset!  There was nothing I could do so I sat there trying to figure out how I am going to stay warm and comfortable for a 7 hour flight in the middle of the night.  I thought to myself I should have brought a blanket and one of those travel neck pillows and I now know better for next time.

Day 2: The Red Eye Plane Ride, Our Layover in Colombia and A Night Adventure in Guayaquil

Saying Goodbye to the California Desert and Giant Dinosaurs on I-10: Day 8

I got up around 7 to the sound of Brenda using the blow dryer.  I managed to get out of bed and started getting ready to go.  We had 106.7 miles to drive from 29 Palms to Ontario, plus checking out the giant dinosaurs along the way.  We weren't sure how bad the traffic would be or how bad the construction was in Yucca Valley.

We packed up the van and decided to stop by the Denny's in Yucca Valley instead of back tracking to the other end of 29 Palms.  We all ordered the $4 Grand Slam again and wanted my eggs runny just like yesterday.  This time service was really slow.  We had a schedule to obey people!  Get a move on!

We followed California 62 all the way towards Palm Springs.  When we got in between Morongo Valley and the Springs it got awfully windy.  To the point where it was kinda scary being in a van.  We drove through the mountain range with the San Bernardino Mountains to the north and the San Jacinto Mountains to the south of us.  We came to the I-10 junction and when we reached Cabazon we immediately saw the giant dinosaurs.  We found the exit and when we got out of the van it was like being in a hurricane.  It was 30 degrees cooler and crazy windy.

Information about the giant dinosaurs:

Claude Bell's giant dinosaur sculptures are icons of roadside America: while many have grown up with them along the highway in southern California, others may also remember them from various films and videos, perhaps most famously Pee-wee's Big Adventure. The site features two sculptures: a 150-ton building in the shape of a larger-than-life-sized Apatosaurus (begun in 1964, completed in 1975), and a 100-ton Tyrannosaurus Rex structure (built in 1981). The dinosaurs, nicknamed "Dinny" and "Mr. Rex" respectively, were originally built to attract customers to Claude Bell's Wheel Inn Cafe. The dinosaurs were purchased in 2005 from the Bell family for $1.2 million by developers.

We didn't get to stay long because we had a plane to catch around noon and we had to drop Jim off at his car at the hotel and we were still almost 70 miles out from Ontario.  We got to Jim's exit and we messed up and had to do a large loop around on I-15.  No harm, we still got Jim to the hotel and we got to the car rental place, dropped off the van (we drove that thing a total of 1180 miles), got on the shuttle and into the Ontario Airport with time to spare.

Our bags and ourselves were checked in very quickly...we actually had to wait around for a while at our gate, 405.  Brenda and I used the restrooms and I grabbed a snack from one of the stores inside.  I even wandered the concourse for a bit just to see what all this tiny airport had.  We found our our airplane was 15 minutes late. 

When it was time to get on the plane, I had a B boarding pass and Brenda and Ray got on with a disability pass, which allowed them to get on the plane first.  I would have liked to sit with them but it wasn't a big deal.  When I got on I sat almost to the back of the plane.  I sat next to an Army guy and an empty seat and I just read my book to Sacramento.

When we got to Sacramento, Brenda waited for me to get off the plane and told me they were going to pay people to take another flight because the Sacramento to Seattle was overbooked.  What I was going to have to do if I chose to do it was, give up my seat, fly to Phoenix and then to Seattle and arrive after 9 p.m., earn $300 plus a buddy pass for my next flight.  I could have done it but I was ready to be home besides I had mom picking me up at 5 and Ben was waiting at the station in Rochester with my car.  A little while later they had the same scenario except you would fly to Las Vegas and have a two hour layover and then arrive in Seattle around 10 that night.  I might have done both if they paid for me to stay in a hotel over night and actually enjoy the cities while I was there. 

Brenda and Ray's flight to Portland was about an hour before mine.  We sat at a restaurant and ate some food before they had to take off.  Brenda's best friend had won tickets to the country concert at the Tacoma Dome, so basically they would get off the plane, drop Ray off at home and head up I-5 to Tacoma as quick as she could.  When they boarded I sat near my gate and talked to mom for a bit to waste time.

When it was time to board, I got on the plane...almost to the back again, sat down by the window seat and read my book.  I sat next to this eccentric older couple from I think the Everett/Monroe area, he was decked out in Seattle Seahawks gear and she was dressed comfortably in baggy traveling clothes.  We had a little bit of turbulence when we reached the Oregon border but nothing really to worry about.  I watched the mountains pass by...Mt. Hood, Mount Adams, Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Rainier.

We made our descent into SeaTac and getting off the plane was quicker than I anticipated.  I called mom and let her know I was landed.  She was in the cell phone parking lot hanging out.  My bags were one of the first ones off the plane.  I walked outside the baggage claim and waited until I saw her car.  She made me drive and it was smooth sailing.  We stopped in Hawks Prairie because she needed to get a few things from the store.  I was starving so I bought a Lunchable.  We headed down towards Rochester and met up with Ben at the station.  I gave mom her Joshua Tree bag and The Route Beer I got for Ben.  Mom went home and I stayed and visited with Ben for a bit.  He said I definitely looked tan.  I was tired so I decided to leave since he was on shift.  I got home around 9 and did a load of laundry.  I fell asleep shortly after.  

This trip was a great history lesson for me.  I got to travel to a place I've never been to, cache our faces off and all in company with some good people.  I hope to go again next spring break.

Next Adventure:  A New Job and A New Opportunity