familygoboston
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 28, 2011
We are awoken by our box lunches arriving right at 5 AM...the hotel service is very efficient. We dress, gathered our bags and met Miguel in the lobby. The ABD transfers always require a pick up 3 hours early for airport drops. I understand why, but your mileage may vary. AT 6 AM , there is no traffic in the city and we arrive at the airport in 15 minutes. Once at the ticket counter, our family is able to use priority check in which doesn't take more than 10 minutes, passport control is about a 20 minute wait (you'll finally get your passport stamp here...yeah!) and there is no one in line at security. You have to pass through the duty free shops to get to the gates and your carry on bags will be inspected at the gate again.
You cannot bring liquids of any sort (coffee, water) into the gate area, even if they are purchased beyond the security check point, but we noticed they let people sit in a restricted area to finish up coffee (my DM did this and we referred to it at the "group W " bench - maybe you know the reference;-) If any one of these areas bogs down, as it might if several flights are going out at once, you can see why they build in the extra time to make it through the process. Since we move through quickly, we have about 2 hours to wait (and shop) But if your pick up feels too early, you can certainly plan to do your own transfers.
Our trip home was truly uneventful, which was good, we were tired and anxious to get home to our pets. We didn't need any more "adventures". But we have many wonderful stories to tell of our time in Ecuador and the beautiful people we have met...and now this story is over! Thank you for following along and I do hope if you are reading to research your own journey, that you have a wonderful adventure!!
Up next- my packing list and some photo tips from DH
You cannot bring liquids of any sort (coffee, water) into the gate area, even if they are purchased beyond the security check point, but we noticed they let people sit in a restricted area to finish up coffee (my DM did this and we referred to it at the "group W " bench - maybe you know the reference;-) If any one of these areas bogs down, as it might if several flights are going out at once, you can see why they build in the extra time to make it through the process. Since we move through quickly, we have about 2 hours to wait (and shop) But if your pick up feels too early, you can certainly plan to do your own transfers.
Our trip home was truly uneventful, which was good, we were tired and anxious to get home to our pets. We didn't need any more "adventures". But we have many wonderful stories to tell of our time in Ecuador and the beautiful people we have met...and now this story is over! Thank you for following along and I do hope if you are reading to research your own journey, that you have a wonderful adventure!!
Up next- my packing list and some photo tips from DH