A long day of travel was ahead of us. Ottawa to Ecuador isn’t a particularly long ways for global travelling, but it does make for a long day when you have three different flights and have to clear two different customs.

We left the house at 5:30 AM. Not super early for me, but it was quite early for Grandpa, who’s body is still on Saskatchewan time.

With three connections, we thought it’d be a good idea to carry on all of our luggage. So we each had a small suitcase and a backpack that we had to find space for on the airplane. Ottawa to Philadelphia was easy – it was a small plane so everybody had to gate check their carry on suitcases. But Philadelphia to Atlanta was harder: it seemed that everybody had a suitcase that had to find a home. We found a place for one of ours, but the other had to go into the seat in front of us, making a crowded seat even more crowded. The flight was only a couple of hours, though, so it wasn’t too bad.

We had a four hour layover in Philadelphia. There is a good selection of stores and restaurants behind security, so that makes passing the time easier. We ended up taking a very long lunch at Legal Seafood, which is a high-end chain out of Boston. Quite an enjoyable meal with good company.

The flight from Atlanta to Guayaquil was our longest flight, almost four hours. I must be getting older, because that’s too long to sit in one place without moving around. We did manage to nap some on this flight.

Once we cleared customs we met the largest crowd I’ve ever seen at an airport; throngs of people there to greet their arriving friends and relations, I assume. At first we couldn’t see our tour guide in the throng; he had ducked out to grab an ice cream! He did arrive just as we were reached the end of the throng – no harm done.

He drove us to the hotel. The room is nice, but the beds are hard. Just the way I like it, but Bethany would prefer something softer.