Made It Home and Spending Update

Monday, Oct. 30, 2017--San Antonio

My draining sinuses (probably a cold) were still bothering me when I flew home on Friday night/Saturday morning, Oct. 27/28.  Having wet shoes/socks from the rain getting to the bus stop to go to the airport combined with the cold temperatures in the airports in Quito and Houston didn't help.  It was quite uncomfortable.

The flight from Quito to Houston (leaving at 00:35 and arriving at 5:45) went well.  I was able to doze off and on, but not get much real sleep.  Going through immigration in Houston went the fastest ever because I used the Mobile Passport program.  While standing in the aisle of the plane waiting for people ahead of me to clear out, I filled in the data on my mobile phone and took my photo.  As soon as I was in the terminal walking to the immigration hall, I submitted the mobile form.  When I got downstairs, there was a special line for people who were using mobile passport.  Being the only one using it (and, therefore, probably the only one aware of it), I walked to all the way to the front of that line while there were hundreds of people waiting in the "regular" line and while Global Entry people were still standing at their terminals filling out the online information for their "quick" entry they had paid to have.  When the man finished with a passenger he was helping, he motioned for me.  He asked to see the photo on my phone to match it to my face, asked me to tap the "bar code" which is really a QR code to enlarge it, and asked me to put it against the scanner.  My information immediately came up on his screen, and he said, "Welcome home, Mr. Drum."  I was the third person from my flight (the others were from First Class, had gotten off the plane much earlier than I had, and probably had gone through Global Entry to get there before me) to be standing at the carousel waiting for our luggage to start coming up.

There was a bit of a concern when our plane backed out from the gate in Houston to leave for San Antonio.  It stopped, and the pilot explained that we were waiting for diagnostic data to be reviewed and approved.  Maybe every time a place is ready to take off, they do this as part of making sure that all systems are operating properly.  But we sat there for maybe 10 minutes waiting.  I kept thinking, "Something is wrong and they are going to cancel our flight or have to do repairs before we can leave."  But the pilot eventually announced that the diagnosis was completed and that the crew should take their seats for departure.  What a relief.

My sister was at the airport to pick me up.  On the way home, we had a Mexican breakfast--my first Mexican food in 10 weeks.  Everything at home was fine, but one problem quickly occurred.  I turn off water to my toilets when I leave.  Within a few moments of turning on the water to the toilet in my bathroom, water started spewing everywhere.  The hose had burst.  What a disaster that would have been if it had occurred when I wasn't at home!

Spending Update for Each Country and for the Whole Trip: 

Spending for Colombia:  I spent 1,982,460 pesos (3000 = $1 so $660.82 in pesos) and $686.03 in dollars on credit card charges for a total of $1346.85 over 35 days for an average of $38.48 per day.

Spending for Ecuador:  I spent $1409.07 (they use the US dollar as their currency in Ecuador) over a total of 38 days for an average of $37.08 per day.

Spending for the Whole Trip:  I spent $2755.92 over 73 days for an average of $37.75 per day for this trip through Colombia and Ecuador.  I don't usually include my airfare on figuring daily costs of trips; often it is free because of using points.  But I paid $807.94 for my airfare for this trip bringing the total cost of the trip to $3563.86 for a daily average of $48.82.