The wonderful world of Jet travel

There was a time when the journey was much of the experience. There wasn't any choice. It took such a long time to travel via road or sail. Weeks or months of uncomfortable contemplation of the home left behind or the unknowns ahead. Now the transition is close to seamless, by comparison anyway. Half a day to anywhere in the world. As for the contemplation, stressful. Information overload. The ill fitting experience of others.

In this case, going from the mid coast of Maine to Cuenca Ecuador the options are narrow. Flying, of course. There are two places to arrive, Quito and Guayaquil. From there its a short hop on a domestic jet to Cuenca. The arrival in Quito seems to be just before midnight. I haven't found any exceptions. For Guayaquil there is mid evening or early morning. I am favoring the 6am Guayaquil arrival as I hunt Orbitz before plopping my money down.

The two directions to go after arriving in Guayaquil are a jet to Cuenca that morning....or, Getting a bus for the Santa Elena Peninsula. I would still make it to the Coast if I flew that morning to Quenca, but I would do it later, after setting up a base camp in Cuenca. That way I could explore with just a backpack. Lesson one is travel light whenever possible.

The cost seems to be stuck at $800. It might go a little less on the tickets, but it'll be substantially that. About what going to Madrid (via Barcelona) cost last year. Somewhat like telecommunications its not (just) about distance. The deals seen in the last ten years have gone, maybe for good.