Our trusty airport limo driver was outside our door this morning at 4:00AM sharp. Oh well, I’m already up and showered, so no need to curse him for being prompt at that hour…
The American Airlines flight from San Francisco to Miami was one of the roughest commercial flights I can remember. I got a couple hours sleep. but was jostled awake repeatedly from severe turbulence over both the Sierras and Rockies.
The flight was a completely full narrow-body plane, and the guy in the middle seat should have bought two seats, but that seems to be more common these days, making flying akin to a trip to the casino — who will squeeze between us this time? To help make the trip more pleasant, the plane had a single movie playing on a tiny monitor several rows forward of our seat. Of course they help to minimize the screen problem by only showing a movie I would never want to watch anyway…
In Miami, I approached a person at the American Airlines counter, and asked if there was a meal on the flight from Miami to Guayaquil (Ecuador). He checked the roster, then said “Yes, but it is airline food, so don’t get too excited about it.”
Nice to hear an employee give an honest response occasionally! (and yes, the food was terrible — worst international flight food I can remember having)
The flight from Miami to Ecuador was another full narrow-body plane. This time we were pleasantly surprised to find a very nice (and thin) man sitting between us. His wife was one row back.
David Linn told us he is moving to Salinas, Ecuador for a year, or possibly more. I knew from prior research that Salinas is an up-and-coming beach resort town on the North Coast of Ecuador. Warm days laying on the beach. Sounds like a nice vacation, but I have a hard time envisioning retiring there. I’m pretty sure I would get bored before very long.
David runs a printing company in Colorado Springs though ( TOPS printing — www.TopStops.net ), with employees back in Colorado that can run most of the business. He says he can do his part over the Internet. Now, that sounds like a life I could enjoy — sit on the beach and do my work in shorts under a thatch-roofed section of beach.
When we arrived in Guayaquil, we stayed at the Hotel St Rafael — a little hole-in-the-wall downtown. Pleasant enough, and in a good part of town, for $42 per night (after taxes), so I would give a qualified recommendation for them to anyone else coming down this way.
We walked around the neighborhood, but only found one restaurant open at 10:30PM, so went in. We paid $10 for a pollo (chicken) dinner. Food was OK, but not great. Certainly filling enough though. Walked back to the hotel, and hit the sack, since we have a 7AM flight to Cuenca.