The flight to Ecuador...it was a long day

Tom and I booked our flight to Ecuador in February 2016. We realized we could use our Aeroplan miles for business/first class on Avianca Airlines. .....what a treat that was. Our flight left at 3:15 p.m. On December 24th from Toronto's Pearson Airport. Because we were booked into business class/first class we had access to the Maple Leaf lounge at Pearson for free beverages and food. We went to our boarding gate about 20-30 minutes before the time listed on our tickets. I decided to hit the washroom one more time before boarding, and when I came back Tom said that he was going to go for a walk. Well, in the past, I always held onto both of our passports, but about our second time travelling together, I told Tom that from now on he would carry his own passport as I didn't want to have that responsibility in the event he was late in getting back to the boarding gate. So, just around 300 p.m. I hear the last call for boarding for our flight. I asked staff when they had started boarding and I was told that they started the boarding call at 2:50 p.m. The best that I can figure is when I was in the washroom, they started calling our flight for boarding and Tom did not hear it......as I had been sitting in the wait area for over 20 minutes and had not heard the initial boarding call. Anyways, the airline did a last call for Tom ..luckily he was heading back. Tom's comment was something along the line of "geez, I never had that happen before, I always wondered what it was like"and to me he said. " I suppose that was a good rule you made about the passport". "Yep" I replied. Tom says "you would have left without me". "Yep" was my reply.

The flight was smooth with a half hour layover in San Salvador. The extra room in the seats was great especially for Tom who has long legs. The food was great. Breaded fish, shrimp cocktail and I really appreciated the Bailey's on ice.

We arrived at 11:59 p.m...only one minute away from Christmas Day. The airport was hot and we waited another hour to pass through immigration. Our drive to the airport was waiting and it took another hour to get to our accommodations at Colonial House, just on the edge of the Old Town of Quito , a UNESCO world heritage site. So, at 2:00 a.m, on Christmas Day we crashed after being on the go for 18 hours.

No matter how long the flight lasts or what time of the day you start the journey, for us anyways, it makes for a very long day. Makes us wonder how did we ever manage to do he 14 hour non-stop to Hong Kong and then another 7 or 8 hours to Bangkok? At the end of the day, you do what you have to do...and it is so worth it!