Laying Over and Lounging

I’m almost afraid to start writing this for fear of jinxing myself, but my travels have gone ridiculously smoothly. I ended up having to check a bag, which I HATE but I was a few pounds over the carry-on limit for Copa, and quite frankly, the trade off of getting a little more baggage space to carry-on was worth it. But that meant airport lines! Or so I thought.

The Galápagos Islands are not an easy destination as far as flights go, there are a lot of them involved. The first key flight was getting to LAX in time. I began tracking my flight about five hours before flight time and tracking the inbound plane. It was originally scheduled to depart SMF at 4:25pm and land at LAX at 6pm. This would give me 3 hours to get my bag, walk to Bradley International, check my bag with Copa, and get thru international security. It also meant it would take me longer to get thru SMF because they royally screwed up when they put their kiosks in years ago and checking bags there sucks now. My flight was going to be delayed by 15 minutes, a 6:15 arrival. This felt ok but made me nervous regardless.

B dropped me off at SMF right at my goal time of 3:15pm. And alas, curb side check is open again!!! Within ten minutes of being dropped off I had checked my bag, made it through security, and was in the Escape Lounge with a glass of Prosecco and a FlightFud hydration drink mixed. Since I fly often for work, I frequent this lounge and some of the staff now recognizes me. On my way out, I made a comment to the front manager, Krista, that I was sad to see they didn’t have any Andes mints out today; one of my favorites. She expressed her remorse that the supplier didn’t have them in stock but more were on order. I made my usual stop at the restroom on my way to the gate and as I turned to enter a stall, Krista was behind me with a jar containing four Andes mints. She’d realized they had four left under the counter and literally chased me down through the airport to get me some Andes mints. One of the finest moments of customer service I have ever received.

My flight to LAX was less than half full and I had the entire exit row to myself. And lets not forget, THE MASK MANDATE WAS LIFTED! The flight was smooth and QUICK. Being that I was headed to LAX I’d calculated that with a 6:15pm arrival I’d hopefully have my bag by 7. The bird touched down about 5:45, earlier than the original planned time, and I had my bag collected by 6:03! Flight one, done!

At 6:11 I walked into the eerily empty international terminal and found the Copa Counter. It wasn’t even open yet! I chatted with the only other traveler in the business class line for about 25 minutes until they finally opened the counter and I was the first person to get my bag checked and get through the line.

Next hurdle, security. It looked oddly mellow on regular security line side and when I walked across the terminal to the TSA Pre line I worried it was closed. NOBODY WAS THERE. NOBODY. Just some bored TSA agents. And that’s it, nobody else. I walked right through. By 6:40pm I was in the Star Alliance Lounge with a glass of champagne in hand.

With over two hours to kill before boarding my next flight it was the prime opportunity to pull up the DirecTV app and watch the Real Housewives of Orange County season finale while I ate a light meal and drank my champagne and hydration FlightFud. The episode was ghastly but watching it combined with chatting with the couple across from me killed enough time that before I knew it I only had 20 minutes left before boarding my next flight.

I do love an airport lounge bathroom and the ability to do my proper nighttime face wash and moisturizer routine. Washed and moisturized I was ready to go. I made it to my gate 5 minutes before boarding time. Side note: Shame on LAX for not having proper water bottle filling stations in the terminal!

Boarding felt calm and organized, it helped that I was the second person to walk onto the plane. It was a trip stepping onto a 737-800, which I regularly fly with Southwest, and see it set up with a proper business class section complete with lay flat pods. A trippy site that I was very happy about since once of those large spaces was mine!

I switched seats with the lady in front of me so she could sit with her elderly mother and chatted with my new neighbor for a bit, a German cataract research scientist who lives in Irvine and has a 10-month old baby. It was her first trip since having the baby, her first night away from said baby, and she was excited to be able to sleep.

Throughout our brief conversation we both were frequently and abruptly distracted by the large wild-grey-haired man seated in front of me. He seemed to be well oiled already and had made himself the official greeting committee, chatting up everyone as they boarded the plane. When the flight attendant approached to ask him what he’d like for dinner, chicken or fish, you could tell he made her as wildly uncomfortable as his wild hair.

I had already taken a sleeping pill and the flight wasn’t departing until 10:16pm but I was still hungry, so I went ahead and selected the fish for dinner instead of talking a pass. And a glass of bubbles of course. The sea bass that arrived was ok, just ok. Served with vegetables, a green salad, and some random blob that I could not identify but was quite delightful. Artichoke dip? I have my money on artichoke dip but I couldn’t say for sure. That would make sense with the accompanying pita chips. As much as I wanted to devour the meringues that came for dessert I held off, consuming what is basically pure sugar would not help me get any rest. The sparkling wine was delightful and I made a FlightFud hydration drink as a chaser.

What is this FlightFud? It’s a new hydration powder I recently learned about from a travel blogger I follow (shout out TrustedTravelGirl), specifically formulated for travelers with its hydrating and immunity boosting components. This trip is my first time trying it out.

It had been about an hour since take-off, the meal was done, and there was only about 4 1/2 hours left in the flight. Time to sleep! I brushed my teeth, reclined my seat down into the lay flat bed, and snuggled into my pillow and blanket. But it was freaking bright. Like really freaking bright. They had not dimmed the cabin lights at all. I tried wearing the eye mask that came in my amenity kit, not comfortable; I tried pulling the blanket over my head, too hot. Yah, it was also hot. And the wild-haired man a row ahead was sawing logs like nobody’s business. I thought about pulling out my little travel fan to plug in but the air is dry enough in a plane my skin didn’t need that. Between the snoring, the heat, and the damn bright lights overhead I probably laid there for an hour, counting up to and back from 100 to try to lull myself to sleep. At some point, I awoke startled to realize that I had actually fallen into a real sleep. Not a deep dreaming sleep but sleep nonetheless, There was 1 1/2 hours left of the flight so I’d probably gotten a solid two hours. I closed my eyes again, waking up to an announcement that the cabin was being prepared for landing. Only half an hour to go; so apparently I snuck in another hour of sleep without realizing I had fallen asleep again. The sun was rising and through the window red blazes cut through the clouds.

Unfortunately I also woke up with a raging headache. Thankfully, Natalie, the attentive flight attendant who wasn’t attentive enough to dim the lights at an appropriate time, had slipped a bottle of water onto my tray as I slept so I emptied a Liquid IV into it to hydrate. My German seat buddy and I chatted about eyes, I know a thing or two after all the surgeries I’ve had, and enjoyed seeing the Panama Canal and Panama City come into view. I was shocked at the massive skyscraper-filled Panama City skyline; not at all what I expected. Flight two, done!

As soon as I deplaned in Panama City the first thing I saw was a large yellow Nathans hot dog stand. Also, not what I expected. But next to it was a Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf where this tea-drinker eagerly ordered an almond milk sugar free vanilla latte, in hopes of the caffeine combating my raging head. Caffeine in hand, I found the Copa Lounge and was, well, super under-impressed. It was nice to see a bottle filling station and have a comfortable seat with an outlet to charge my phone but all they had for food was some prepackaged snacks; cookies, pretzels, nothing the least bit appealing. I sat there in my minimal sleep headache exhaustion and savored my latte.

With the caffeine doing it’s job, the headache started to subside and an hour passed pretty quickly. Again thankful for a lounge bathroom; I was able to complete my morning face routine along with a complete outfit change and fixing my hair. Leaving the lounge I wandered in circles around the airport until I finally found the food court and grabbed a turkey sandwich for breakfast. I also found one more Nathans hot dog stand and ANOTHER hot dog company. Is the love of hot dogs a Panama thing?? The food court was upstairs and sweltering hot; which reminded me that I had not remembered to put on more deodorant during my morning transformation. I wished I had taken advantage of the airport lounge shower, I could have planned my time better for that. I would have killed for a shower at that moment. Thankfully I sometimes have no shame and when I got to the boarding gate I pulled the deodorant out of my carry on; applying it right then and there. The older lady across the aisle was definitely judging me but she’d probably judge me even more if I smelled.

Boarding for my next flight, to Guayaquil, was just as smooth as the last flight. Though its another lay flat bed the flight is only 1 hr 40 min so not enough time to sleep; this will be a day fueled by caffeine instead. As the flight took off the business man next to me took pictures, not very good ones, of the canal for me. He also cautioned me about Guayaquil as robberies have seen an uptick since COVID struck. Stay in tourist areas and use Uber to get around. And speaking of COVID, where your mask. Ugh. Throughout Ecuador masks are still mandated any time your in public, even outside!

As with the two previous flights, the rest of my flight was uneventful. I drank water after water after water, complete with more FlightFud hydration, while watching some true television gold on my iPad, Married at First Sight. Before I knew it the plane was touching down and I was officially in Ecuador. Flight three, done!

The airport wasn’t busy and it took about ten minutes to get through health screening; though when you have to pee as badly as I needed to, ten minutes is a LONG time. After maybe another ten minutes I was through passport control. One particular passport control officer was crazy efficient compared to his counterparts; in rapid succession his booth, #11, would ding onto the guide board for the next in line.

My luggage and I were reunited without hassle and, after being waved through baggage check, I stepped out of the airport into the hot, muggy air. It was like walking into a sauna. The Guayaquil airport is very nicely appointed and I stepped aside by a large koi pond to request an Uber, since I’ve been repeatedly told and read how that’s the safest mode of transportation here. I did a double-take, then a triple-take, when I saw $171.70 come up as the price for the eight minute ride. $172?! WTF?! The timing was coming up weird as well. I walked out to the line of taxis and inquired, cuanta cuesto? $5. I triple-checked that price as well before happily hopping into a yellow cab to bring me to my AirBnB. Finally realizing that my Uber snafu was user error in that four hours a way there’s a town with the same name as the street my AirBnB is on.

Since there are no afternoon flights to the Galapagos it’s not possible to get there without having to stay a night on the mainland so Guayaquil it is for the night. Three flights down, two to go.