I could write a book about how NOT to prepare for a very long Round The World (RTW) trip. Just about everything that one could do wrong I did. But, lucky for me, my brother Tam was there at the last minute to help pull together most of the loose strings and to take care of things left undone. How I can ever thank him I know not.
By the grace of the Universe I made it to the Bakersfield airport bus just in the nick of time. Though this put me at LAX several hours before my 2:20am departure, I was just glad to be there at all!
This was my first experience with Terminal 2 and finally I understand why people think that LAX is one of the worst airports in the world. When I finally went through security about 11:30pm, what I found was dreadful, with torn seats and trash everywhere. Finding a bit of clean floor on which I could take a little nap was a real challenge.
What a contrast between LAX Terminal 2 and the arrival hall at the San Jose, Costa Rica airport. At 9:05am we were greeted by a sparkling clean facility and a guitarist playing lovely classical music. Clearly they were very interested in appealing to gringo investors as huge ads for developments and land, in English, of course, were plastered all over the walls. Though a bottle of 625 ml water cost $3, at least I could refill it for free at their filtered water fountain.
Arrived at Quito International Airport precisely on time at 1:35pm and was in the cab on the way to my hostal 15 minutes later. This included getting my luggage! I had feared that they wouldn´t let me in because I only had a one-way ticket to Quito, however they didn´t ask for proof of a return ticket or onward travel. Ah, the joys of ¨traveling grey¨ (haired, that is).
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