Day One - A Good Start

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So we have made it to Guayaquil, Ecuador!

This involved a 2am megabus journey from stoke to heathrow, then a grand total of FOUR different flights. It was the cheapest (though not exactly most efficient) way we could find to get here. The women who checked us in looked horrified. She said, I quote, 'I hope it's worth it'.

I arrived at Heathrow at the same time as 5 fire engines, which is always nice. Whenever me and Kit go away together something like this happens. First time we were delayed four hours because there was a 'small plane crash' at East Midlands airport, then there was an incident on landing at Leeds Bradford that left me psychologically scarred for life.

Anyway flight number one was fine, but when we got to America we realised that even though we were only changing planes we would have to collect our luggage, be vetted by customs and immigration then recheck our stuff before we could get our next flight. We had only one hour in which to do this, which made Kit pretty edgy as he has a complex about missing flights due to some previous traumatic airport experience. Obviously our bags took forever to come off the plane, then we were futher delayed while Kit was harassed by an 'Agriculture Protection' sniffer dog and forced to prove he wasn't trying to smuggle illicit meat or fruit into the country. I then got stuck at immigration, because in answer to the question 'Why do you want to come to America?' I had written on my form 'I don't, I'm just changing planes', which Overly Serious Immigration Policeman did not find amusing. Then the scanner wouldn't read my fingerprints, which he was clearly very excited about, perhaps thinking me to be some kind of genetically engineered spy. After mashing my hand onto the scanner with a large book he got my prints and reluctantly let me go. We legged it through the airport and made the flight with no time to spare. At this point I realised that our next connection was scheduled to start boarding 5 minutes after the flight we were on touched down. I didn't notice this when booking the flights because there is a time difference, and I just assumed that American Airlines would not suggest to me an itinary that is CHRONOLOGICALLY IMPOSSIBLE. It all worked out fine though, suprisingly. We made each connection just in time, visiting (briefly) Chicago, Nashville and Miami. Catching an internal flight in America seems to be just like getting a bus, I even saw one guy who had managed to get on the WRONG PLANE.

So we made it here, but my bag didn't. I am utterly umsuprised by this, given the complexity of our itinary. I remember saying to Kit we should split our stuff up between the two bags, so if we lose one it wouldn't be too bad. We talked about what a good idea this was, but didn't actually do it. Consiquently I am now wearing Kit's underpants, tshirt and boardshorts. I look like a very effemminate 12 year old boy, or a surf lesbian. According to the good people at the airport, our flight from Miami was massively overloaded so they had to chuck a container of luggage off and leave it. Clearly Kit has good Travel Karma, cause his bag made it somehow. They assured me that they would have my bag delivered to me in Canoa, where we're heading next. I didn't believe their lies, but we had been awake for nearly two days and did not have the energy to complain.

This morning we were informed by the people who run the hostel in Guayaquil that AA are a bunch of lying bastards, and they never deliver bags like they say they will. I suspected this may be the case. Aparently sometimes it takes a week to get the bag back. This does not fill me with confidnece. Canoa is pretty remote, an 8 hour bus-boat-bus journey away from Guayaquil, and our intended hostel doesn't have an address because the town has only one street. I feel the chances of my bag making it there are roughly in the snowball in hell kind of area.

We've been phoning AA all day on the number they gave us, but just like hostel lady said, they don't pick up. There is only one AA flight a day to Guayaquil, and just before the flight touches down is the only time they have any staff in the airport. We were supposed to be on our way to Canoa by now, but we've decided to stay here another night, go back to the airport and bollock them.

I'm not upset about my bag being missing for a while. I have very low standards of personal hygeine while travelling, and I don't mind looking like a cross dresser. I do mind losing travelling time, and I don't want to miss any more of my Spanish classes, god knows I need them. So if they deliver the bag to Canoa, that's just fine. If I have to hand around in Guayaquil any longer, I WILL officially flip my shit.

Guayaquil is a large, dirty, generally grim port city with not lot to recommend it, it's main virtue being that it is cheaper to fly here than Quito. That is the reason I'm sat on the internet writing. Kit is asleep and there is not a lot better to do at this point.

Anyway, on the up side my travel insurance will pay out up to a hundred quid for baggage delay, so I could make enough to cover three weeks accomodation, if I can figure out how to go about claiming it.

I'm bored of the internet now so I'm going to go and wake Kit up, play with the hostel's slightly psychotic pet parrots, perhaps curse American Airlines and go find something to eat.

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