The Quito Countdown Is On…

23 months since my last international trip. 20 months since the COVID-19 pandemic took over the Western world. And 18 months after we originally planned this… our Ecuador trip is only a little more than one month away!

To be clear, we’ve postponed this trip several times. Back in February, I was wondering whether we might finally make it work in 2021 — along with musings of other potential travel destinations (none of which panned out). Luckily, we had a much better 2021 than we did 2020. With trips to Milwaukee, the Pacific Northwest, Ann Arbor, and several visits to Washington DC, we were able to scratch the travel itch — at least domestically.

But after all this time, lots of waiting, three COVID vaccine doses each, and Ecuador passing the U.S. on the percentage of their population being fully vaccinated, we decided: it’s finally time.

A Brief History of the Situation

As I mentioned… this trip has been postponed quite a few times. We’re grateful to our Airbnb host in Quito who has allowed us to keep changing our dates. And we’re so glad we get to stay there! I’m not going to share a link to the listing right now for privacy and safety reasons, but I will share it once we’re back. It’s a beautiful home in a great area, not far from the Parque Carolina in northern Quito.

So, here’s what has happened every other time our scheduled trip has approached. I look at the calendar and say to Matt: “Oh, shit. Our trip to Ecuador is supposed to be in 3 weeks.” *We look at the state of the world, our lack of any solid plans whatsoever, and most concerningly, our lack of flights to get us there.* “Yeah, I guess we better push it again.” “I’ll message the Airbnb host and see if we can reschedule again.”

Last time this happened, in August, we decided that we were going to push it once again until after the holidays, for January 2022. And we were actually going to do it this time. If we didn’t end up following through, we were going to cancel it altogether. But we both really want to go. So we decided that, this time, we’re going to act like it’s happening.

Planning Is Half the Fun

Acting like this trip is happening = planning! Planning is one of my very favorite things to do when I’m not actually traveling. I finally started taking it seriously. We booked our flights from Kansas City to Miami on Southwest points. We booked our hotel overnight in Miami, and then we booked our flights from Miami to Quito on American Airlines flight credits we’ve been holding onto since the very first time we booked and canceled flights for this trip.

I dug through the depths of my internet bookmarks to find the shared Google Map for Quito that Matt and I started back in May 2020, when we were still on different continents, and started adding day trips, restaurants, parks, and more.

While I rely a lot on the internet for planning — of course — I’m also a big fan of using books to help me make plans! The internet can sometimes be too vast, with too much information. That can make it overwhelming when you’re trying to narrow down the things you’re most interested in. With books, on the other hand, you’ve only got a finite amount of information in those pages, which can give you a great starting point. You can always head online for more details once you’ve gotten some ideas from the book!

I went to my local library and checked out The Rough Guide to Ecuador & the Galápagos.

Taking Vacations From Vacation

When I travel, I pretty much never stay in the same place the whole time. While my solo trips to Spain in 2016 and Thailand in 2017 were only 2-3 weeks long, I was always on the move. In Spain, I went to six different cities in those two weeks; during the Thailand trip, I went to Bangkok, Chiang Mai, and even Siem Reap, Cambodia. The way I see it is like… if you’re going to spend all the time, money, and effort to get somewhere, especially if it’s really far away, you might as well make the most of it and check out a few different places while you’re in the area.

(But I try to be smart about it. Don’t go so many places that you feel rushed and like you don’t get to enjoy the place you’re in before going somewhere else.)

Even when Matt and I went to Montana for a month last year, we took a weekend trip to Yellowstone. We had another one planned for Glacier National Park, though the early onset of winter meant we weren’t able to follow through. So, long story short, I’m a big fan of taking vacations from your vacation.

With it being my first time in South America, I knew I was going to have a hard time staying in Quito the entire two months we’re there. I started looking at Peru and Machu Picchu, but I learned that the first few months of the year are kind of the worst times to go because it’s really wet, muddy, and slippery.

Next up, I went to my old tried-and-true method for picking weekend trips from Spain when I lived there: Skyscanner, which is a travel booking tool. After putting in your location, you can select “Everywhere” for your destination, and it will give you a list of places you can travel on your dates, organized from the cheapest flights to the most expensive. And this is why we’re now going to be visiting Medellín, Colombia, for a long weekend trip.

If you’re thinking of Medellín from the 1990s, don’t be scared for me — Colombia, and especially Medellín, has come a long way since then. Dozens of popular cities in the U.S. are far more dangerous.

The Galapagos Islands… Of Course

Now, would it be a trip to Ecuador without visiting the Galapagos Islands? I honestly didn’t know a lot about them, so I don’t even think I was really even aware they were part of Ecuador. But every time I told someone we were going to Ecuador, they immediately wanted to know if we were going to the Galapagos. I started thinking they might be onto something. So I was like, why not?

For Matt, the Galapagos Islands were for sure on his bucket list. As a former Zoology major and animal lover, this is like a dream come true. We’ll be spending a few days of our week-long trip on Santa Cruz Island at Puerto Ayora, just a 10-minute walk from the famous Charles Darwin Research Station.

Figuring out exactly where to go and stay in the Galapagos when you’re not part of a tour group or a cruise was a little bit tricky… but we’re going to spend a few days on Isabela Island and hopefully take a few day trips from Santa Cruz to some smaller islands.

Whatever happens, you know I’ll report back here so you can plan your own trips there with ease someday. 😋

The Countdown Is On!

I’m sure the holidays are going to keep us busy… especially since COVID made them really weird last year. But every day we’re getting closer to the thing I’ve been looking forward to for so long. And I’m so excited to have lots more to write about on here!

If you’ve ever been to Quito, Ecuador, Colombia, or the Galapagos… let me know! I’d love to hear whatever tips or advice you have.

–Cathy
Leave for Ecuador

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Originally Published on November 28, 2021.