Clearly this isn’t our first attempt getting to the Galápagos Islands. Even for the customer that pays for flights, it is a bit of a logistical nightmare. The Galapagos have a lot of paperwork and requirements separate from the rest of Ecuador. Boat excursions to other islands do not run daily, and nonstop flights between Quito and Baltra airport in the Galapagos aren’t daily either. But as tourism is beginning to surge again around the world, we felt we had to make another push to get there before everyone else does the same.
Thanks to aforementioned surge in passengers, we arrived at a very crowded LAX despite it being 630 in the morning. Security went quickly and we soon found ourselves at gate 28 and ultimately the back row of a fully-loaded Delta A321 bound for Atlanta. Our connection in Atlanta was about 35 minutes, an amount of time that surely no legitimate website would allow you to book, but we beat to our own drum, and are quite efficient. We took the train past 5 terminals and then walked the entire length of terminal E whilst tripping over ourselves to reach the Quito gate with time to spare. We would have been next in line for seats, but none of that matters when there are no seats to give. Alas, we found ourselves walking over to the Bogotá gate. To be fair, we had expected it to go this way, but it never hurts to try.
After 20 minutes of watching the gate agent complete our checkin and verify our documents, we were given seats in the exit row. There are certainly worse seats one could have. With as stingy as airlines have become, we were slightly surprised to get a meal onboard. It was, however, a fairly underwhelming turkey sandwich which barely fit on our tiny exit-row tray table.
We touched down in Bogota around 745pm. The last time we were here was in the before-times. In fact, it was our last international trip before “social distancing,” “covid,” or “zoom meetings” became a thing. Our time here will however be brief. Customs and border control was relatively easy and we hopped on the hotel shuttle to the Hilton Garden Inn. After about a five minute drive, we arrived. Here is where I would normally say that Nicole is a Hilton Honors Gold Member, but I need to put a stop to that. She’s a Hilton Honors DIAMOND Member, y’all.
Our traveling is not over. We have to get up early tomorrow to make our way back to El Dorado International to head down to Guayaquil and (hopefully) all the way to Baltra in the Galapagos. Because of Nicole’s Diamond status, we got some free beverages. I had myself a local brew before filling out some government forms, listing for flights, reserving a hotel, and finally calling it a night. Hopefully tomorrow goes smoothly.
passports & pepto bismol 