Heading Out for a new adventure - new countries

Thursday, February 26, 2015
London, England, United Kingdom
      Begin at the beginning so that involves arising at a very early hour to be driven to the airport to catch a plane for the good ole USA. We're off for a trip to Guyana, Suriname, and Trinidad. Why? Cuz we've not been to any of those countries before and seems like a good idea and time to go. So, at the airport and that involves not much of anything these days because if you think about it and what travel used to be like, you'll be steaming and furious that flying is so much of a hassle. Just go through the motions as quickly as you can and go chill once through security. I do my usual ritual before flying - find the best face cream sample and moisturize. Then go sit in the business class lounge and complain about the number of people in there with small children! How do they afford it??? Oh well. Maybe they won't be close to us in the plane (Yea, right, we never happen to be that lucky!)    


 Finally on the flight which isn't too bad and into Miami in the afternoon . It takes our hotel a long time to get a bus around to pick us up from the curb. We see every other hotel bus pass by us three or four times or more. Luckily we are close to the beginning of the terminal. When the bus finally gets us, by the time it reaches the end of the terminal, people waiting are not picked up and must wait for the next bus from this hotel. Good luck to them and I hope they finally made it to the hotel. We had no plans for the day as we are still close to the airport, without transportation, and sometimes I just fall down on the job in micromanaging everything.  So around about 6, we walk down the street to the Latin Cafe for dinner. It's quite tasty but somehow upsets my stomach anyway. Hate starting a new trip with a bad tummy but I am fine the next morning.
       Our flight to Georgetown, Guyana the next day is not until 2:20 p.m. Try as hard as we can, we cannot manage to sleep into the morning so up for breakfast and then nothing much to do until time to go to the airport. Travel days are always the hardest because you are anticipating your trip and getting excited about being there and having a holiday or you are tired and can't wait to get home but it takes soooo long in either direction even if the trip to get there and back is only a few hours!.

      Finally we are on the plane headed for Georgetown. We are flying Caribbean Airlines which is not a bad way to go except it seems to be a Trinidad and Tobago company so we have to stop in Port of Spain, Trinidad on the way. As a result, we don't get into Georgetown until 9;35 at night. I had made arrangements for a transfer from the airport to the hotel with Adventures Abroad, the company that is doing our tour. We get into the airport, get our bags, get out and find our transport. He tells us to try the ATM machine for local currency. it is broken. We go to the van and climb in and are ready to go. it is 10 p.m. Our transfer guide tells us we are waiting for another couple. So we sit. and sit. and sit. and sit. We can't even see him inside the terminal as there are so many people greeting arrivals and waiting for people but as we sit and sit and sit, the airport empties. I think we must have been the last flight in for the day. Finally there are only a few people left inside the terminal. The very last people out of the terminal is the other couple! Oh my gosh. The woman is in a wheelchair so I feel bad about being irritated that they took so very long to leave the terminal. They also have 5 large suitcases to fit into the van. Our transfer guide is climbing into the back of the van to move our bags around and stuff in their suitcases. (we have one large suitcase, one medium, and two small carry-ons). The lady in the wheelchair is seated outside the van next to my husband. We are sitting in the front row of the van and trying to figure out if we have to be gracious and move to a back row for her when suddenly the woman gets up out of the wheelchair and walks to the back of the van to yell at her husband! What the hey!? OK, we don't have to be gracious.   

      It is now 11 p.m We have been waiting for one hour for them to exit the airport and get to the van to leave. Now we drive into Georgetown which is over a half hour. I am thinking it is going to be a very interesting trip - in a bad way - because this man and woman are arguing with each other - bitterly - for the entire trip into Georgetown. They appear to be about 20 years older than my husband and I so my husband and i make a pact not to become that way - or at least not to argue so vehemently in public.     



      Luckily when we get to our hotel, we are the only ones getting out! This couple is moving on to a different hotel and therefore probably NOT on the tour with us. What is irritating now is that we had to wait an hour for them to ride with us when it was a different hotel and different tour. Oh well. It only takes the transfer guide about 10 minutes to pull out our suitcases from the pile in the back of the van.
 
      Our tour leader is waiting for us. Didn't expect that. Usually when someone gets in so late, you just get a note on what to expect for the next day. But Chris, our tour leader, comes out to greet us and welcome us and let us know what is happening. Unfortunately, we can't hie off to bed right away. Tomorrow we will have a morning tour and then boat ride up the river to the Baganera Resort. As we fly back from there, we have to pull out what we will need for two nights and possible rain, and meds, and bathroom stuff, and sunscreen, and insect repellent and so forth. Wow, the one thing forgotten in the literature was to bring a small bag for the over-nights at the jungle resorts. Again, luckily for us, we have an expandable small bag so can pack it up with what we will need. The rest will stay at the hotel until we return. We also have to turn in our passports and passport photos so we can get the group Suriname visa. Finally about 1 a.m., we are climbing into our bed and turning out the lights. YEA, we are here!
       

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