We planned this trip with Brandon's family over a year ago so of course we just chose a seemingly random Saturday in January to leave. Of course once the 2016 election happened we realized we were leaving the day after the inauguration which was of course the same day as the Women's March on Washington. We were also leaving from Reagan Airport which meant we had to drive through the city. Our flight wasn't until 10:30am but we got picked up at 6am and of course got to the airport around 6:30am. That was fine though, better early than late! At check-in we saw a few very tough, scary looking military dogs flying home. Presumably they were in DC for inauguration crowd control.
I'd like to take this moment to complain about American Airlines. We bought our flights forever ago, probably June 2016? We were flying with Brandon's parents and brother so there were 5 of us but not on the same ticket. American repeatedly switched our flights to either give us really long layovers or arriving to Quito extremely late. When I would call to complain they would switch them back but it makes me so hesitant to fly with them again. Even though you put time into researching flights to find the perfect one they can just randomly move you to something else at their whim? Regardless it all worked out since I demanded a refund for our first tickets and was able to buy them cheaper with my new Chase Sapphire Reserve card which has been AMAZING the six months I've had it. More on that in some other post!
Anyway, we got to the airport really early and had surprisingly good airport breakfast and waited for our flight. We saw tons of women arriving for the march and making their posters at the arrival gates which was great.
There really isn't much to report from the flights. We flew to Miami and had very mediocre Mexican food and met Brandon's brother and then got to Quito in the early evening. The airport is about 45 minutes from the city so by the time we go to the hotel I think it was about 7pm. We basically dropped our bags off and asked for a recommendation for dinner. The hotel insisted the five of us would fit into one cab but it was a bit too cozy for us so that was the last time we would only take one cab!
For some reason the concierge at the hotel thought we would be into the main tourist square with tons of clubs and street vendors. The area seemed kind of sketchy and definitely not our scene but eventually we settled on a traditional Ecuadorian restaurant that was very mediocre but edible. Then we piled into 2 cabs and went back to the hotel to get some sleep!
Throughout our time in Quito there just seemed to be a pervasive sketchy vibe. It's the type of town I definitely wouldn't walk around alone at night as a woman. Regardless of where you go it's recommended that you don't hail your own cabs, the hotel or restaurant will call you one- there's actually signs telling you not to get your own cab. It just seemed a bit more gritty than I'm used to for large cities.
Our hotel was wonderful It was the Mansion del Angel and we had a room/suite with a little sitting room and large bathroom off the garden. I guess I didn't take too many pictures of our room or during travel so perhaps this is a lackluster first entry but here you go!
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| The lobby at the Mansion del Angel |
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| The garden outside our room |
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