December
23 / 24, 2000
Longest
Travel Time Ever... continued
Around
7:30 PM they told us that even if our flight to Guatemala
left, we'd never make the connection so we'd have to stay
in San Pedro Sula for the night. We were ushered down to
the ticket counter where the same lovely woman who had helped
us get our seats in the morning awaited. She gave us vouchers
for taxi rides to and fro, vouchers for hotel, meals, and
phone calls, and allowed me to make a phone call to the
US right there from the ticket counter. And she truly became
our Christmas angel, when asked nicely, she upgraded us
to Clase Ejecutive (that's their version of business class
and first class rolled into one) for the entire trip back.
We were placed on new flights for the morning, this time
routed through El Salvador to LAX.
The
hotel was called the Copantl, and was decent, though probably
not as nice as the Inter-Continental across the street.
We had dinner with a couple of other people we had met in
the airport (a peace corps worker and two professional "futurists").
We
had been told to be back at the airport at 6 AM for our
flight which meant we had to leave the hotel at 5:30 AM.
Of course, once we arrived we learned it had been delayed
by 1/2 an hour. Finally we left San Pedro Sula and arrived
1/2 hour later in San Salvador International Airport (which,
by the way, was much nicer than Guatemala City Airport).
When we arrived, everything seemed fine for our connecting
flight, so we took a walk down the concourse, had a snack,
and found an International Herald Tribune, our favorite
newspaper while on the road. When we returned to our gate
we found....oh, the horror...the the flight had been delayed
by 2 hours! I guess we shouldn't be surprised by now. I
suggested to David that since we were in possession of first
class tickets we search out the VIP Lounge and see if we
couldn't wait in comfort. Success! It was all but deserted
and we were able to have complimentary Bloody Marys, watch
an NBA game and make a collect call home with ease. Now
that's the way to travel!
As
for the trip, people ask, "did you have fun?"
And I answer "yes....but....". But it wasn't what
I expected. Then again, most travel isn't, or it wouldn't
be fun.
-
KJ, 2001, Los Angeles, USA -
additional
infos about the trip and the author
can be found here