YVR to Quito: Birds 2 - Travelers 1

What a way to start a trip! We did make it to Quito...eventually...but the rather unlikely chain of events made us think that the "forces that be" were sending us a message! Getting to San Francisco, the first leg of our trip, went smoothly, until we took the wrong shuttle to our hotel. Apparently there are TWO Hampton Inns near the airport. We had to take a taxi to get to the right one or return to the airport and accept a very late bedtime.

The next day,we had a flight to Houston leaving at 10ish. All was fine, until we hear it was delayed a few hours due to a bird strike on its way in. Of course this affected our connecting flight leaving Houston to Quito. We ended up overnight at the Park Inn and booked on the same flight for the next day (thereby losing a day in Quito).

We had virtually the WHOLE day in Houston--so what does one do there? Working (Len from his computer) and Mall-Walking (Laurie taking a free shuttle). Finally that afternoon we return to the airport, and low and behold, the flight leaves on time! 20 minutes into the flight, the pilot announces that the plane will be returning to Houston, due to a suspected...BIRD STRIKE! Once back at the airport, we did change to a different plane, got a new crew and finally took off... 3 hours later, arriving in Quito at 2am! We fortunately had booked a transfer to our hotel (one hour drive) and it was 3am when we finally laid head to pillow. Stay tuned for details on two great days in Quito...