Traveling to Quito

 Why am I traveling to Quito, Ecuador?

That's where the Hurtigruten Expedition Cruise to the Galapagos Islands start.  Following the schedule change of the Antartica cruise due to an outbreak of COVID-19 cases, Hurtigruten gave credits or refunds to its passengers.  I am using the credit to sign-up for another Hurtigruten cruise, this time to the Galapagos Islands.

The Galápagos Islands has been on my "bucket list" for a long time.  I feel no rush to go there because I know that one day I will get there.  When the opportunity came this spring I quickly put it on my travel plan for 2022.  Getting to Quito is the first step towards this trip.

Amidst all the chaos of air travel during post-pandemic I was lucky to be able to travel to Quito without a hitch.  Luckily, I was booked on an early flight from Phoenix to Atlanta.  Many flights have been canceled by all airlines this summer for various reasons:  staff shortages, weather, overcrowding at airports, etc.  I arrived at the Phoenix airport about 2 1/2 hours before my flight.  The airport was very crowded even before 5am in the morning.  Because mine is an international flight I have to have an agent screen my documents.  The line was long and moved very slowly.  Apparently, most travelers who need an agent to assist in their check-in do need a lot of help.  

I was finally checked-in and headed straight to security.  The first step is to be biometrically checked by the Clear staff.  Clear is a private company that screens travelers using biometric identification, in this case, using my eyes.  Once I got through Clear I was taken straight to a TSA Pre-check agent, who upon checking my boarding pass, waved me through.  This is a time-saving step as more and more travelers have TSA Pre-check.  With Clear I cut in front of that line and go straight to the screening line.  Nowadays that screening line is very efficient and I am usually through in less than 5 minutes.

My next stop is the Delta SkyClub where I ate breakfast and wait until it's boarding time.  This time I was lucky that the boarding gate is right in front of the SkyClub.  Everyone was on time and the flight even left a little early.

We landed in Atlanta a little early and I headed to the Delta international terminal.  Nearby is a SkyClub where I ate a very nice lunch and wait for my flight to Quito.  I paid extra for a Comfort+ seat and it's right in front of the aircraft door.  This gives me a lot of legroom.  The flight was not full and some passengers were moving to better seats.  It's a relatively short 5-hour flight.  The plane flew almost straight south from Atlanta to Quito.

I arranged for a pick-up service through the hotel.  It costs me about $20 extra compared to a regular taxi but landing at night in an unfamiliar country justifies the extra money.   It took about 30 minutes to go from the airport to the hotel.  I checked into the JW Marriott hotel at about 9:30pm and after a little unpacking, was soon ready to go to bed.  It was a long day.  I got up at 4am that morning, having slept maybe only 2 hours and when I went to bed around midnight Quito time, which is 10pm Arizona time, I had been up for about 18 hours.  I had very little sleep on the plane.  

Quito is at over 9,000ft or almost 3,000m elevation.  So, the first thing to do upon arriving is to drink a lot of water on the first day to avoid altitude sickness.  I did that after I checked into the hotel and find myself going to the bathroom almost every hour.  The next morning I was ready to explore Quito.