Travel days are boring at best, let alone having to read other people's boring travel stories. So please skip ahead to the next post if you are not interested in the nitty gritty...last chance!
We took the LONG route to get ourselves to Ecuador. Flying Singapore Airlines from Sydney to Singapore, then Singapore to New York (EWR). We challenged ourselves having to change airports in New York, with our next flight taking us to Guayaquil, Ecuador, on JetBlue leaving out of JFK.
The first 2 flights were long but comfortable enough as we were in business class. I was that crazy lady doing walking lunges down the aisles and squats outside the lavatory. I went to get snacks so many times that all the crew knew me and started giving me their personal recommendations.
On Thursday 23 Oct at 0535am we arrived at New York's Newark Liberty International airport (EWR). I'm declaring the time because time warps whenever any long distance from Australia is involved which is always. We had our MPC app ready, dreading US immigration. Then we were told MPC was not running! However, despite the long lines, it moved quickly. We had a friendly immigration officer. Despite not having a dedicated MPC lane, having pre-registered meant he just took Mal's photo and all the details came up for both us. By the time we were done, our luggage was waiting outside. We were out within 30 minutes. Our pre-booked transfer, however, no showed! Luckily, we had allowed enough time to get an uber to schlep us to JFK instead. The worst part of the whole ordeal was Malcolm having to wait in the cold outside as he did not bring warm clothes.
Security at JFK was surprisingly quick. Before we knew it, we were airside having to wait 2 hours to get to Ecuador. Everything was looking good. Flight was running on time, passengers loaded well before departure time, and then suddenly nothing happened...we just sat there on the plane for a while. An announcement soon came that the plane was too heavy! I learnt all about load planning today. The flights was delayed an hour and a half while they deboarded a couple of passengers and their luggage. By this stage, the energy levels were flagging.
I was relying on eating to stay awake during the 6 hour flight. Things became dire somewhere over Panama with about 2 hours to go when I ran out of the snacks I pilfered from Singapore Airlines. Both Mal and I succumbed to jerkily nodding off. We finally arrived at Guayaquil at 8pm local time. Immigration again was quick and our immigration was super warm and friendly. During luggage collection we discovered why the plane was too heavy. I had never seen so many luggage come off not such a big plane. Almost everything had 2-4 MASSIVE suitcases EACH!!!
Our guide and driver were waiting outside to take us to our hotel Wyndham Guayaquil Hotel . We were glad to have finally reached Ecuador. By now, we had travelled 50 hours door to door. How apt! Our guide had thankfully checked in for our next flight for us, printed us our boarding passes and organised for a wake up call the next morning as well breakfast to go. Hallelujah! I'm too tired to look up how to say that in Spanish.
Sangria and bedtime!
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| Flight #1 Sydney to Singapore |
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| Not a fan of the new amenities bag on SQ |
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| I don't wanna be spraying' basil and aloe vera on my face...bring back Penhaligons! |
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| At our favourite hidey spot in the SQ lounge T3 lounge in Singapore |
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| Showers often busy so book a slot before you get your food. |
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| Flight #2 Singapore to New York. Still smiling |
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| 17.5 hour flight |
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| Some of the snacks that I took to try |
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| There's more |
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| The crew kindly put something together for me for "breakfast" just before landing. My stomach couldn't handle Hokkien Mee |
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| Waiting for our transfer that never came. I had a down jacket and scarf. Luckily Mal could hide in the heated little booths because he brought NOTHING |
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| Iced macchiato USA style |
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| Flight #3 New York to Guayaquil |
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| Quality free snacks from JetBlue |
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| My last SQ snack |
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| Finally at Guayaquil! 50 hours later... |
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| The obligatory room and bathroom photos. Clean, comfortable, spacious. Good enough |
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| Clean bathroom |
