Day 1 - Travel to Ecuador

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Another year and another trip for Kirsten and Chester, but with everything going on in our lives, we decided to stay in the western hemisphere and keep the trip a bit shorter than our normal vacations. Also because we couldn’t find more than 8 straight days with no one visiting us in Denver. With that being said, this did not mean we couldn’t check-off another bucket list item. We are heading to Galapagos Islands off Ecuador for 8 days. Our usual decision on destinations was a bit rushed and this was a bit of a last-minute selection, simply because we are running out of places Kirsten or Chester haven’t been. But this is one of those places neither one has visited.

The days leading up to the trip were a bit hectic. Kirsten had to travel for work to Canada and Oregon and Omaha for her mother’s surprise retirement party, while Chester, being on her summer break, took full advantage of pool time at Kirsten’s Haus of Homeless Studs. There was the late night Garth Brooks concert (that was totally awesome), a full Sunday at Kirsten’s company picnic and then a double header of baseball games. After the long weekend and a looming international trip, Kirsten was planning to wind down and start preparing for the trip, AFTER a dip in the hot tub. She hit the remote to start heating up the hot tub. Much to her chagrin, the brand new, not even a month into its use, hot tub was not heating up. After a thorough investigation, it was revealed that the f$&^ing hot tub didn’t have any water in it. It had completely drained during the day. So that meant a late night and early morning for Kirsten to make sure everything was in working order before she left her house to 3 boys for the week. Nothing is ever easy!

Travel day came early as both Kirsten and Chester continued to over-pack for the trip. Our goal was not to check any bags, but then after forgetting this and that, and needing mores shoes, it was inevitable that both were checking an “over-flow” bag. With our priorities in line, we made it to get our nails done as well! Mike dropped us off at the airport, and all seemed well. We were getting ready to head to the lounge and United texted that our flight was already boarding. WTF? So much for a relaxing drink before we take off. So no drinks and uneventful flight from Denver to Houston had us on our way. We thought we had a 90 min layover and since we were arriving late to Quito, we decided to eat some real food. Before we even finished, we got a text that our next flight was boarding, early again. So much for a relaxing drink and meal on our layover.

Kirsten checked the website to see if the 2 overflow bags we checked had made it on the flight, but only 1 of the 2 did. Now we play the game, “whose bag did not make it?” It seems to switch every time, so it was probably Chester’s bag that was going to be delayed. Last time, Kirsten’s luggage to Vietnam was delayed three days. At least we are the same size. Obviously, we would not know who was going to be without a jacket or shoes until we landed. For once we left the gate early. However, this status did not last long, after what seemed like we were driving to Ecuador, they announced that they left a bunch of luggage and were returning to the gate to get it. We sat for another 2 hours until we finally were ready to take off--AGAIN. So, our 5 hour flight is now 7 plus hours and we didn’t get in until after 2AM. So much for a good first night’s rest. But our overflow bags did make it. We finally made it to our hotel about 3 AM. A cute boutique hotel with a great little courtyard.

Our guide while in Quito area picked us up. His English is great and he seems very knowledgeable. It will take him a bit to get our humor and understand when we are joking, but if he never gets it, won’t stop us. We did opt out of driving 2.5 hours to a market in exchange for an few extra hours of sleep in the morning.

We have a full day on the mainland touring around Quito and Otalavo, then we are heading to the islands. We have 4 days of touring on the islands to see all of the amazing animal species, hiking to the craters, and seeing all there is to see on the islands. Much to Chester’s disliking we are also spending a day scuba diving. She tolerates it, barely, but does not love it the way Kirsten does.

The weather will be in the 60’s and 70’s so not a beach bathing kind of trip. Unfortunately, with the limited access to the island a private tour is not an option for this trip. Which as many of you know is not our preference. This means Kirsten is going to have to tap into that patience the boys have taught her and not want to kill everyone else on the tours. We will see how long she lasts before she loses it on the first annoying person she has to travel with. Wish us luck!

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