Longest Travel Time Ever

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Hey all, I finally got around to setting up this blog thing that I promised; I guess 6 days into the trip is a good time to take some initiative. I am still in Bogota, using the free WiFi of my hostel while I still can. I was intending to head north a few days ago, but things keep coming up... More on that later.

The ticket I managed to get to south america was unbelievably cheap, but required possibly the most complex travel schedule I have yet taken. My original plan was to start off my journey through south america by visiting my sister Eryn in Ecuador, but after looking through all the flights I could find, I discovered I could get to Bogota for literally 1/5 the price! The catch was an overnight bus ride to Chicago, a day stuck there, and an overnight layover in Ft Lauderdale, meaning that although I started last Wednesday evening I didn't get to Columbia until Friday afternoon.

I have to warn anyone taking the megabus, be sure to bring some kind of pillow or jacket along. That was perhaps one of the most uncomfortable sleeps Ive had, and I have slept on bare concrete! I'd compare it to airplane seating, but airplanes always have those swivel headrest things which at least provide something to lean against. This didn't even have that! To top it off, there was some kind of solid thing in front of my legs so I couldn't stretch out. To be fair though, it was a lot better than I expected for a 15 dollar ticket.

Anyway once I arrived in Chicago a 6:30am my first order of business was to 1, get rid of my bag and 2, find somewhere to pass out (I wasn't terribly rested from my bus ride), so I headed to the airport. Turns out, you are not allowed to check in bags more than 3 hours prior to departure (some kind of 9-11 thing). My flight wasn't until 6:30 that evening, so I was informed that no matter how charming I tried to be there was no way I was going to get my bag checked before 3:30. Well, item 1 had failed, so I resorted to item 2 and found a rather comfy looking patch of linoleum to curl up in next to my rejected suitcase.

I woke up around noon and took the 50 minute subway ride back into the city to explore a bit before my flight left (dragging along my suitcase which I'm pretty sure became heavier the further I walked). I managed to find some kind of schwarma festival going on in the center of the city, so that at least eased my increasingly ravenous stomach. I'd forgotten how nice the downtown area of chicago is. They had added some sort of reflecting ball thing to the central park area since the last time I was there, which is actually quite cool. It looked rather trippy from underneath.

I also got to try out couchsurfing when I got to Ft Lauderdale, which for all you doubters turned out to be fantastic. The guys I stayed with (and their 2 dogs and cat) turned out to be fun to talk to and extremely generous; they picked me up from the airport, gave me a (quite comfortable) bed, made breakfast, and took me back to the airport the next morning! One of the guys worked at the airport, and had some connections with the people in Spirit airlines (my flight) which turned out to be quite valuable when I went to check in. They brought me right up to the front of the check in line, and even bumped me up to first class (not much different than coach for this airline, but still)! I am going to have to do this again in the future, and perhaps host when I get a more permanent location.

39 hours after I started, I finally arrived in the beautiful (but hectic) city of Bogata and set out to find a hostal...

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