Planes, Boats, and Automobiles

All good things come to an end.

July 16th
We left our hotel on Isabella island at 5:00am to take our taxi (pickup trucks), to the boat dock, to take our water taxi to our 2 hour ferry to Santa Cruz, to then take a water taxi to the dock. We then walked to grab a coffee and catch our van across the island to the next dock to catch another short ferry across to Balatas Island where our airport was about. It was a long 5.5 hours to get there, then, but the day was just beginning for us…
Our 11:40 flight back to Quito was delayed, first until 12:55, then 2:30, then 5:00, then, then 7:00, then 7:50p. This had us arriving in Quito at 12:30am.

The airport in Baltas is small, 3 gates, but we were all able to get into the lounge, to have some food, drinks and comfortable seats. We got to see an extra sunset in the Galapagos, at least! We made the best of it and no one in the group lost their temper, unlike some others we saw.

We were supposed have to have a farewell dinner in Quito, which was not to be. During our airport delays one member of our group rebooked to another flight from Balatas to make her overnight connection through Quito. When the rest of us arrived in Quito our local guide greeted us to give us a small gift., which was a nice touch. 2 members of our group went into Quito for the night, since they had flights later in the day. Three of us stayed at the airport, since they had flights on a few hours, how big to get into a lounge to grab a shower and comfortable seat.
I decided to grab a hotel nearby and skip the 50 minute drive into Quito. We said our goodbyes,not the big farewell and reminiscing you hope for, but everyone was just tired and trying to get to a bed. I arrived at my hotel around 1:00am and got five hours of sleep, clean clothes, and a shower, it was worth it.

July 17
The travel day started early, but at least I got to sleep in until 6:00! My first leg to Miami was uneventful, but delays with my connecting flights made it impractical to fly, so I grabbed a rental car and drove the final stretch back to Tampa. I am home!

This final travel episode has in no way impacted my views on the trip, as I start to look back and can’t believe it’s over.

By the numbers:
19 days
4 new counties
9 different hotels
9 flights covering 13,470 miles
233,053 steps
2 ferries
10 water taxis
1 jet boat
1 kayak
28 shuttle bus rides
10 Ubers
2 trams
1 rental car
14 fellow travelers met
9 guides
Tons of fun
Countless memoriesRead more