Sunday morning we joined friends at the Club for Brunch. It was nice to spend a few quiet minutes with them again. Afterwards, one of our knights in shining white hair came over to the condo to pick up a load of bags. We were amazed at the number of bags his small car held. The plan was for Monday morning another friend to come and pick up the rest of the bags and I would ride to the airport with him. Ed would go without any bags and could just return the rental car and join us at curbside.
I was up very late Sunday night getting the final things competed. Ed cleaned out the refrigerator and I ran the last small load of clothes. We have a cleaning team coming to the condo next Monday to give it a really good cleaning before our friend visits her condo.
I didn't even go to bed until midnight, just had to much to do and think about. Now, I was really getting excited but also worried about how the trip would go. I had heard stories about American pilots calling in sick so flights get cancelled; will that happen to us? What will happen in Guayaquil customs, will they want to inspect all 10 bags? Am I bringing in stuff that the Customs people will question? Will the 3 laptops, 2 Kindles, an IPad, 1 very large camera and 2 small pocket size cameras cause us to get hit with customs fees on these?
Monday morning at 6:15, I wanted to shoot the alarm clock when it rang. Where did that night go because I swear I only slept for a few minutes. At the arranged time at 7:45AM our two dear & special friends arrived to pick up the other pieces of luggage and me. We locked up the condo and off we went.
The plan worked perfectly because the two cars with luggage and me arrived at the same time. Then, by the time we had unloaded the two cars and put all the bags on a trolley, Ed had arrived from dropping of the rental car. It was time to say good-bye to our dear friends and head into the airport. It does ease the good-byes when we can say "We'll see you the end of February."
These are the 10 checked bags - plus we had 4 carry on bags!
We were flying first class with American Airlines and had a really nice guy check us in for our flights. As we weighed each bag, I wrote down the weight. I had been told by our friends who loaded the bags into their cars that a couple of the bags were well over 70 pounds! Well, the weight of the bags were; 45; 47.5; 52; 53; 54; 58; 58; 58.5; 62; and the heaviest at 67 pounds. I did it and they were all under the 70 pound weight limit for first class passengers. Ed and I each got three FREE bags and then we paid $150 for each of the other four excess bags.
Our flight out of Tampa departed right on time without any problems. We had arranged for a long four hour layover in Miami to make sure the connection went without any problems. Also, we got a day pass into the American's Admiral's Club and four free beverages of our choice for flying first class! Almost across the the escalator to the Admiral's Club was the Duty Free shop. We stopped in there and picked up a bottle of Grey Goose vodka and Tanqueray gin. The two bottles cost $54 and we understand that can be the price for one bottle in Cuenca.
Ed had forgotten to put some letters into the mailbox next to the condo and they ended up with us in Miami. I asked the receptionist at the front desk if they would mail the letters for us. She explained for security reasons they could no longer do that but told me where a U.S mail box was in the airport. It turned out where I had to go almost walk back to Tampa and come back in through Security again. After, that little bit of exercise I was ready for something special... a Patron Agave Margarita! Oh, heavens it was one of the best I have had in ages, in fact it was so good that the second one was even better! As I was drinking (not sipping) the second drink, I realized I had better put some food on my stomach. I ordered a steak panni that was very good but only could eat half because it was rather large. I brought the other part along with the bag of chips on the plane with me (just in case).
Our flight was about 20 minutes late getting into the air out of Miami. I got on the plane, stretched out and went promptly to sleep. I woke 90 minutes later as Ed was just finishing his dinner. It must of been the lack of sleep that finally caught up with me but I did have a slight pounding in my head! We had such a great cabin attended that he has saved a dinner for me. I wasn't really hungry but enjoyed the nuts and fruit plate along with a large glass of ice for my diet Pepsi I had with me. I was coming back to life and felt human again.
When our cabin attendant saw that I was drinking diet Pepsi, he brought me three cans to stash in my carry-on. I loved that man! So, for the first couple of days, I will be able to start my mornings with a diet Pepsi and that's a good thing!
The flight to Guayaquil was just a little over four hours long with very little turbulence, really a very pleasant flight. The first thing we needed to do when we arrived was go through Immigrations and have our passport stamped. Then, it was onto baggage pick-up and all the bags were there and waiting for us. We had to 'rent' three roller carts and a guy with a vest helped us. It turned out he was part of the customs team. I thought he was just a baggage handler and had requested some assistance from him and he helped. With our three roller carts over loaded we headed to the scan machines. You place each one of your bags in a machine, including your hand luggage, and then the guy MIGHT select which bags he wants to "inspect". Our cardboard box was selected and one duffel bag was selected. He guy opened each and took 5 seconds looking into them and sealed them back up. Well, that was easy!
The guy in the vest that was still helping us, had to pull off all the airlines claim tickets and get our claim stubs and hand them over to guards after passing through the machines. As we walked out the airport arrival door, we looked for our name on a hotel sign, but our driver wasn't there. So, our helper told us where to stand and how to call the hotel and get picked up. Ed gave our vest helper a nice tip and thank him very much for his assistance. It was about 20 minutes before our hotel van arrived because of a traffic accident on their route to the airport.
We got all our bags in the back of the van and got inside to relax. Our driver said he had another passenger from our flight he needed to get. He went back into the airport while we just waited. Just a few minutes our driver comes back with a couple and two small suitcases. I got to chatting with the lady and learned they had come from Budapest and had been re-routed due to a flight cancellation. Not one of their three bags arrived and the next morning they were heading to the tour the Galapagos Islands. Then, they were going to a flower market in Quito for their import business.
The hotel stored our 10 bags in their secure luggage room. We didn't see the need to bring them upstairs and handle them any more then necessary. The room was large and lovely. We had free Internet and I was able to make a short post on Facebook letting everyone know that we had arrived safely with all luggage.
We have a large private van & driver picking us up at noon from the hotel for the three hour drive to Cuenca. As I look out our hotel window it is cloudy and I hope it burns off so I might get a couple of good pictures on the drive over. We have to go to our Realtor's office to pick up the keys to our condo and then our driver will take us to the condo. It has taken months to pack up all our belongings and I want them all unpacked and settled tonight! I have this nesting feeling coming over me.
So, is this when our journey begins? Was everything that we had to do before only prep work to get to this part? What will Cuenca be like and will we like it?
Opps, I just learned that hot water was not included in the price of the room. I just had a cold shower and now trying to warm up from that little experience. But, I like really hot showers - is this something I have to give up?
Peggy
Note from Ed: 'guess I was hyped up as I had trouble getting to sleep last night, but once there, snooze city! Bed was great, and the room is spacious.
Breakfast was a nice Marriott buffet. Lots of Papaya, melon juice, and mashed corn tomales. They did made to order omelettes, and had the typical continental buffet items. The ham was kind of sweet and a little tough. You could have been anywhere in Europe, except for the array of exotic fruits.
Can't wait for the trip up the Andes to Cuenca in a couple of hours.
EDM
I love this...what a great run down on the flight and first day. I am amazed at how well everything went. One question, can you order hot water when you check in? or are there no hot water showers/baths?
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