Peru & Ecuador. Machu Picchu and a Galapagos cruise with a side of southern USA

[Gladstone Tim]

Loving this smckay …the insights, reflections and experiences. Thank you!

 

[smckay]

Day 17 - Saturday

What a night. Rock and roll most of the night. Plus engine noise. Plus waves crashing against the hull. No sleep in Cabin 3.

When researching this cruise I did notice a number of catamarans on offer, and forum talk seemed to prefer them. I can now say that I think a cat is going to be less affected by the small swells that are pretty well present all over the Islands. Little things like moored for meals the boat will have a side to side rock that does get to me some times, especially as we’ve only been on decent sized ships previously.

But the Cat fleet seem to be lower rent propositions with itineraries that didn’t suit.

No breakfast set up today due to the Stupid O’clock start but we did get poor muzac played too loud at 0530.

Up and at them as they say so by 0600 14 of the 16 pax (the French females have declined all water sports) were on the back deck suited up to swim with the fishes at Chinese Hat off the Island of Santiago. Which is very aptly named.


If you are Snorkelling at this time, the dumb thing to do is to put a test finger or hand in to the water to assess the temperature. So, being dumb I tested the water. And as the memes go, it was at that time he realised he had stuffed up.

Last one in the water and it was very refreshing. But the water life was good and we saw many fishes, sea lions, and topography.

We were in about an hour floating, swimming and looking and by the time we returned back to the boat I was cold enough to get in the shower. Except said shower contained MrsMacca who protested the intrusion.

Breakfast was then served which was a leisurely affair as all we had to do today was to go and gas up the boat back in Baltra. Our Naturalist gave a talk on the evolution of Galapagos which I half tuned into and then it was lunch time.

Today we had beef roast, pork riblets, chicken pieces and some rather tasty smoked jalapeño sausages. Plus salads and cheese.

The chef excels with his salads, they are always fresh, very tasty and not really repeated.

The meats were all tender.

During lunch the top 1% turned up. If not familiar with the term top 1%, seek out Kennedy Steve on YouTube.


After the boat was fed and so too the passengers, we then went over to Santa Cruz Island for a bit of a Zodiac ride through the mangroves. This was better than expected as the drivers shut off the engines and then paddled us around for an hour or so. We saw turtles, baby sharks and fishes.

Coming out of the cover we sat and watched the Blue Footed coughies feeding. These are quite large birds that cruise the skies at heights of about 50-100 metres and when they spot a fish they dive and go straight into the water. Quite impressive when you see both the action and the speed.

After 2 hours we were back to the boat for briefing and dinner but not before watching a romantic sunset.

Treats provided today were empanadas with a choice of chicken (which looked and tasted like beef) and cheese.

Dinner was Italian themed- spaghetti, meatballs, salads but no garlic bread.

It was also awkward for some. Turns out Ernesto our German self-confessed bird nerd can speak fluent French and after one of the French ladies got in his photo zone he dropped a pleasant ‘thank you’ in French.

Which escalated into a bit of a word match with husbands defending ladies honour and accusations of photo real estate being corrupted by each other. This was relayed to us after the fact by Ernesto so we missed all the action.

Knowing this I tried to manipulate the table we had been sitting at to have 2 chairs free but the others were happily ignorant of the emerging international crisis and Ernesto and his wife had to sit amongst the least favourite group.

It’s been a bit of a trend to try to avoid seats at the unFrench table but now it’s become a pro level game.

The lights in the cabins do not go out. They stay lit to a very soft night-light like brightness which in theory is a great idea for nocturnal movements, but in practice it keeps the cabin too light for us and is a bit annoying. They even stay on in the shower.

The boat is not large but has 9 cabins. In case I’ve not revealed it, it is Royal Galapagos Natural Paradise. The main deck which our cabin is on has the dining area with 2 tables of 8, and this also has a brewed coffee station and a espresso machine that only the bar tender seems to use, a bench with sugar laden snacks for that quick energy fix, which also houses the wine then down two steps to the lounge and bar.


The junior suites are probably good value as they are larger, lighter and have doors opening to the balcony out the back. We were offered a deal on one of these but took the cash discount over the upgrade.


Lights out at about 2045. Been a big day and all the over-50’s passengers are feeling the 6th day of action.

 

[smckay]

Day 18 Monday.

The final full day.

Well, what a night. Rock and Roll hit Natural Paradise big time overnight.

Whilst not waves, we had some big fat swells and the boat was rocking side to side and rolling front to back. Plates, cups, glasses were crashing to the floor all night long. It sounded like a Greek wedding. Not that I’ve been to a Greek wedding but I have seen the highlights reel.

Obviously, breakfast talk all revolved around the drama with some excitement. Adding further to the table talk cabin 2 air conditioning had leaked into Cabin 4 directly underneath and caused a rainfall of water. The lady from cabin 4 is a very blunt knife and was a bit concerned. I nearly spat out my muesli when she asked her hubby if the maintenance people ought to be told about an air conditioning issue in their cabin the day before. Hello, there’s 11 crew on the boat and 2 of them are maintenance so I think they may be across it.

Breakfast today consisted of a spicy sausage cut into coughtail pieces, chicken tamales and fritters of tortilla flour - which tasted better than I’ve made them sound.


Hankering for some cereal as well a few bits of snag and reconstituted tortilla, I used the last of the plain yoghurt on the boat and MrsMacca too’ Clare of the strawberry yoghurt. Not sure what the plan is for tomorrow.

On the zodiacs at 0830 for a nature walk around Espanola, particularly exciting as it has the only pink iguana in the island group we set off for the landing site.

Which was right beside this.

Cormorant II hit rocks about 0330 on March 6 2025 and has stayed there ever since.

What is very interesting, actually concerning is there are no booms around it to retain contaminants (unless they have been discharged already) and there is visible oil on the rear of the vessel.
As it is operated by the same company as our boat, information from the crew is tight. But one crew member said he thought the captain was asleep.

We had been given stern instructions to only apply insect repellant on the boat not on the island due to contamination (advise ignored by the French crew) but they are happy to allow an environmental disaster happen in real time.

BTW I think it will be a write off. As stated, the engine room hatch is open and waves are going in, the main saloon has sliding doors ripped out of their frames, most doors including the bridge are open, some of the comms masts are broken and it just looks a mess. They have a fishing boat nearby as security and when we left the island a zodiac did dispatch over to make sure no one was lifting anything valuable. It will be a difficult salvage as the waves are reasonably large and constant and it is stuck on the rocks. Some big waves are not even moving it.

Again, another warm and high humidity day.

But mere metres from landing we see sunning himself a pink iguana, on the beach are 2 sea lions, and one is in the middle of the trail entrance kicking back then once you have another scan there are iguanas all over, crabs are scuttling around and birds are nearby. Talk about under promise and over deliver.


Photos taken we set off on the trail. The briefing from last night pointed out that the rocks were very rough and random and should only be attempted by agile human beings. If you could not handle the first 50 metres just like a game show you were out. They were not too bad with plenty of sand and space between them but some points were a bit gnarly. If you could get in and out of a zodiac off the back of a boat, and do a wet landing then you would be fine. If neither of those then your choice of holiday should be revised.

Lizards abounded on this island. In fact there were so many I nearly trod on some as they literally littered the ground. Lava lizards are dominant here and have different types. We were probably given a description but I was too far back to know (see day 17).

Birds also call this island home. I’ve not been to a place where albatross just plop themselves down any old where to nest or rest. You also really need to watch where you are walking or you will literally walk on a lizard.

The animals are not scared of us, rather then watch us with a bit of a wary look. However this place is quite heavily trafficked with tourists I suspect there may come a time where they see us as danger.

But today no such issues. As we walked in a loop around the island we saw multiple bird nests, or simply places where they rested. Albatross, blue footed coughies, small birds they were all hanging out here.


One of the most awe inspiring sight was standing well above a natural rock pool on a cliff and viewing the daily happenings in the sea iguana world. They were floating around, lazing, eating algae, trying not to get battered by the waves coming in and generally just living. The odd one out was a fish who had managed to get in, possibly by a large wave. I don’t think he is getting out of there as there was no clear passage for a fish to swim out.


Crabs are also all over the place from brightly coloured versions to a rather dull rock colour specimen.

Moving on we went through the vegetation of the island looking at birds, lizards, albatross in the path and insects.

Back to the start point with nothing broken or dislodged, a few quick snaps of the seals playing it up for the humans and back to the boat for lunch. Arriving at 1115 we had until 1230 to rest up.

Treats today were empanadas and yuca bread and went down a treat.


I suspect most people had a siesta as the boat was very quiet after boarding and the next activity was to be snorkelling at 1330 but a pod of dolphins decided to turn up and played alongside. There was a lot of them and as it was raining I kind of stayed in side which was a shame as a I took an excellent shot of one dolphin emerging from the water whilst just behind him one was fully curved out of the water.

Lunch today - the last one on board - comprised potatoes, root vegetables, snapper in a cream sauce and a chicken lasagna. Salads were bucket loads of avocado slices in a lemon dressing with onion, small red tomatoes with basil dressing and cucumber and a Caesar salad with most of the Caesar stuff missing. Dessert was a simple fresh fruit mix that was actually fresh fruit.


The snorkelling activity promised a bit as the site was supposed to be good. The rain persisted as we zodiac’ed out and jumped in. The spot we got in at was a fair distance for:t he island we were going to and in much deeper water than we’d had before. But, the water was clear and still and we could see very well.

It was cool and the idea was to float with the current and not expend energy. Being in deep water really doesn’t give you great viewing as the fishes we want are close to the rocks. We did see a ray float by, and just about I was about to give up we turned towards the island and started seeing a good variety. The fish were not a colourful as other sites and some were the same but it was interesting and better than being in a training course.

After roughly an hour, and a drop in body temp of about 1 degree we clambered back into the zodiacs for the ride back to the boat. 20 minutes after getting on the next activity was due at 3pm; a walk and look at the beach. As it was still raining, we were tired and a bit depleted we didn’t go and spent the time starting to pack our bags.

5pm sharp Gustavo started his briefing but with the added extra of showing a presentation of pictures and videos he had taken over the week. It was very well done and had some good scenes, especially the pictures snorkelling where he looked up and shot us floating above fish, all in a black and white sepia tone. Normally shooting into light just makes a big white flash but this was well done.

He also gave it to all of us as a present which was nice, he would have spent some time cutting the clips and formatting it all. Even if it was a template there would be work in selecting the pictures and videos.

We also received a nice certificate stating we had crossed the equator, and the crew had determined the nick names we should have. Unsure if they were referring us by them during the cruise but it was a nice touch. I was given the name of white tipped shark. MrsMacca received the opposite wing named black tipped shark.

All of us were named after the animals seen on the cruise, so I think nothing personal was intended.

The French received blue footed and red footed coughies (birds) for the ladies and the man got a turtle and shark for the men. Kinda on the money.

Next was the cruise director briefings on tomorrow’s disembarkation. Our bags are to be outside our rooms by 0730 and everything we want taken to the airport can be left outside the door. So we just need a backpack or handbag to tide us over for the morning. The flight leaves at 1300 so we’ll be off the boat at 0845 meaning 2 hours to peruse the town.

The last activity is a 1 hour walk on San Cristobal Island tomorrow starting at 0600. Supposed to be easy and as it’s early hopefully we won’t sweat a lot. Not wanting to do 6 hours travel all sweaty.

The last dinner was not anything special with choices of rice, beans & onions, turkey, crumbed shrimp, and salads. The turkey was so tender and moist you really don’t think it has been made on board. Our chef Oswaldo knows how to cook that’s for sure.

Dessert was ice cream bowls.

And that was it. Nearly 8 days done, lots of walking, swimming , looking, pictures and bumpy nights.

 

[smckay]

Day 19 - Tuesday.
Last day on the boast and end of the Galápagos Islands.

Not a bad sleep, as we motored North with the current leaving at 2000 and did some boat surfing, so the ride was acceptable, arriving in San Cristobal about 0100. Around 5am the boat came alive and the anchor was raised and we moved for some reason.

The day dawned a bit dark and cloudy so whilst the alarm went off around 0545 we lay in our comfy warm bed and debated the pro’s and con’s of hauling ourselves off the boat.


MrsMacca had twisted her elbow and torn some tendons a few years back, and whilst enjoying the beach and waves at the beach bar (and wondering what the poor people were doing) she got dumped by a wave and landed on her ankle. So she’s been hobbling a bit with an ankle strap, and decided that the risk vs. reward factor was too high so decided to sit it out. For me I wasn’t fussed, Gustavo had already told us we won’t see anything thing different in wildlife.

Breakfast was nothing special either; bacon, chicken tamales, tortilla fritters and fruit.
I went a bacon sandwich x 2 and then thought I ought to balance it so had some fruit.

Whilst we were at breakfast the room crew had been in and reconfigured our room to single beds. No time wasted here.


The bed was actually quite comfy. Being 2 queens the regular seam in the centre wasn’t an issue and what sleep we did have was comfortable. 2 pillows were supplied but both were a bit too soft and plump for us.

The bed covers were light enough to be homey but warm enough to keep us toasty when needed.

The room did get hot without the air con running so it was on most of the time, usually around 22-24 degrees.

At 0830 the call went out to leave the ship so we all assembled for the last time and boarded the zodiacs for a short run to the dock. El Capitan was there to see us off, and probably no surprise the bar tender was too. Some people got to know him very well and left a bit of currency with him.

On the way over I asked the second mate if a catamaran is a benefit. In his broken English and my broken Spanish I understand that in calm speaks they are good but in rough water the waves smack the bottom of the boat making noise. As most Cats are 2 levels I would risk going on one to be a bit more stable. The engine noise and crew noise are the unknown factor but.

Arriving at the dock we were greeted by sea lions by the metre. We could have stayed here on land and walked to the sea front each day. They were everywhere. I watched 2 smaller ones play in a small pond behind a break wall. These two were having great fun twisting and turning, biting and grabbing each other with their fins and making an enjoyable way to waste some time.

With a couple of hours to kill we hit the tourist trap of Main Street.


I am a tee shirt aficionado and buy tee shirts with a motif from every where I go. So the hunt was on for a suitable souvenir. After looking at a few shops we determined that they all have the same stuff so it came down to colour and price. The cheapest we saw for a tee shirt was $10USD for the run-out styles in limited sizes to $35USD for a custom on-the-spot print. Most shops ran between $14-16 with some creeping up to $20. So, I bought a nice version for $14 off a side street shop.
We also saw the local fish trading in action. Cuppla blokes in a Ute, toot the horn and the shopkeepers com exit for the day’s specials.


1045 swung around and we hopped the bus for the literal 6 minute drive to the airport. The bags had been delivered to the airport seperate and so the Sous Chef was sitting there all alone guarding them.

Check in was pretty easy - through security (forgetting the toothpaste tube in carryon, but being allowed through) on to the tourist commission to have the $20USD tourist fee card cancelled (but returned so a nice reminder) and then out to the single large in-cooled gate area.

Right beside the exit from security and tourist there was a nice Priority Pass sign. So, gave them the membership number, and went into the air conditioned space. It’s a small joint with a 48 person capacity, no self serve stuff at all. You need to wait for the hostess to come over and tell you what you can have (tea, coffee, water, iced tea, chicken sandwich, chocolate cookie but nothing else. You gots to get your wallet out for that option.


Later that night in Quito MrsMacca was checking her card and saw that she’d been charged $55 (AUD? Too scared to clarify) for the pleasure. She then realises she gets 2 free entry per year and we used them back in somewhere. As a non-frequent flyer she knew we got into a PP lounge gratis, but not that it was on a LATAM flight in PE and we were entitled.

Lucky all lounges now on are One World so all bank accounts are safe.
The iced tea was tasty, the chicken sandwich also but not 55 bucks tasty.

Boarding commenced and we were again in Avianca Plus seats so got to got on first and score some overhead bin space. Others were not so lucky and so started the bag shuffle.

Avianca give you nothing in terms of refreshment, the miserable sods so we sat for the first leg to Guayaquil bolt upright jammed into our space. No one was on the aisle seat for this leg so at least we had leg room as the bags went under the empty seat.

In Guayaquil I cracked open a bag of potato chips filched from the LATAM Santiago lounge, and a can of ginger ale lifted from the Hobart lounge. Can’t say I don’t get value from these lounge visits.


After a scrum resembling humanity finished boarding we were off for the short 30 minute hop. The crew were on auto pilot as they announced Premium Economy seats were free and you could upgrade for points or cash. By the time you finished paying we’d be on the downhill slide.

The airport is a strange design. Arriving pax walk around the outside of the terminal, in our instance from one side to the other but crossing over the doors for departing pax. At one point we were stopped so a wheelchair could be pre boarded. Makes you wonder, they do not check boarding passes at the door so what’s to stop the dazed and confused jumping another plane for a free ride?

Moving along, our bags came out within the first dozen and we went out to the arrivals hall to find Emily, the excellent company rep waiting there for us with a sign.

Of the 14 people on the boat, the Germans stayed in San Cristobal for further Bird Nerd stuff, the two American friends jumped on a Cessna from San Cristobal to go to one aunts place somewhere in Ecuador, one American couple were going on a tour from Quito, leaving 3 couples and the French. One American couple were staying that the Wyndham airport as were we, the Victorians were headed back to Quito city to stay at the Swissotel as they had left their large bags there and only took small cabin bags for the boats (some smart thinking there).

The French left the situation without a word or sighting.

The Wyndham is mere minutes drive from the airport and has a 24 hour shuttle that runs each half hour, on the hour. It’s another Chinese special bus with about 14 seats.


Emily accompanied us to check in to make sure all was good. She is a very good representative of Royal Galapagos.

We received a room on the top 4th floor, but despite asking for a quiet room (reinforced by Emily’s Spanish) we got a room facing the 4 lane highway. When will it end?


The room was large, King bed, large ensuite and walk in shower but it had traffic noise. Too over it to do anything we put up with it. It turned out they did look after us - the road noise went down to about a car an hour after 10 pm where the rooms at the front would have the noise from the export site across the road that were receiving trucks loaded with fresh flowers all night.

We went down to have a bite in the restaurant and faced a dilemma. Do we go burger and chips for 21 bucks or the full buffet for 29 bucks? Jet lag, sleep lag or just plain stupidity took over and we both went the buffet.

Plenty of choices, rice, verges, baked potatoes, pasta, spicy chicken and beef in mushroom sauce was just one line. Then we had turkey - probably dry as heck as it was sitting under a heat light uncovered - a DIY pizza station, turn left and there was breads, some cheeses and about 10 mini cake choices.


In the centre of the room was ceviche and salads. Drinks included were iced tea - not as good as the $36 version at San Cristobal - and mint flavoured water.

So a few platefuls of the assorted goodies and we were done.

Lights out at 10pm and alarms set for 0250.

 

[smckay]

Day 20-Wednesday.

After a sort of decent sleep, although I am still swaying in time with the waves, we woke at 0250.

Downstairs at 0325 we were the only ones on it until 0329 when 2 different groups turned up.
The hotel does provide a basic offering of food and drinks but nothing gourmet and certainly not to your Doctor’s recommendation

It’s literally a 3 minute drive to the airport.

We did manual check in as there was an issue with MrsMacca ETSA. It is a year old and didn’t get picked up by the American Airlines system but the efficient check in bloke soon sorted it. We were flying business on AA932 to Miami so used the special people line. But the push in mentality existed even here and we had a tour group basically push their way ahead of us until Checkin Mate told them to get back in their queue.

Security and immigration was easy. Laptops/iPads out, shoes off, scanner picked up my glasses hanging from my collar but that was a fast pat down and go.

Without lounge access we hung out at the gate and I bought a 12oz coffee for $6.24 which was very good. I need to find some Ecuadorian coffee to drink.

On time we were called. Gate lice are a worldwide thing and well before time queues had started to form, but I guess in this case they were simply trying to get on first to get a prized overhead bag spot.

The level of intensity of folks trying to board a plane in the America’s needs to be experienced. The aisle is nowhere for the person who just wants to get something out of their bag, if you are not facing the rear of the aircraft, they will walk over you.

The plane was a 737-800 Max which seemed to be newer. The cream plastics were still cream not the dirty cream brown of a well worn plane. Business class gave us 2 individual seats with a wide centre console. The seats are leather and wider than economy as expected and whilst I have read on some forums the seats are not rated, I thought they were fine for this 3:30 long flight.


The Business class cabin was looked after by a very nice African American who made sure we had pre-flight drinks of water and (sugary) Orange juice. No champagne here folks.

Whilst we were rolling to take off, he was working the cabin taking breakfast orders. I had reserved an egg dish before time, and before the unhappy incident with eggs in Perú, so I was stuck with them. MrsMacca found the pre-ordering process too confronting so ended up with a fruit, muesli, yoghurt option which she would have taken anyway so nothing lost there.
The scenery out the window was just as spectacular as in the inner regions.

Hot drinks were tea and coffee, her and him respectively. The drinks came out first and were only lukewarm.

The hot meal was actually very nice, and better than anything QF serve’s. The egg slice had potato on top and was enjoyable whilst the sausage actually had flavour that you could taste and identify as beef. I’ve had worse snags in better places.

Fruit was fresh and firm and we had the choice of a warm croissant or scroll bun to accompany the butter and jam.

All in all it was a decent breakfast.

The flight was pretty uneventful, we crossed Cuba about 1030 which made me think of rum coughtails. Landing into Miami seemed quick, a loop out to sea, lined up the airport and banged in straight down.


Then the hiccups started. Our allotted gate was full, so the Captain said we were facing a 10-20 minute wait but they were working an another gate. Well, that gate came through but it was the opposite side of the airport. In a terminal under construction. And the few minutes we spent driving around in a plane resulted in many more minutes walking back to immigration.

But we had an air bridge to use so one up on the local Aussie achievements I’ve experienced.

I’d tried to smarten up and use the Mobile Passport Control app to try to reduce through time at immigration. The last time we came in at LAX from LHR it took about an hour to clear immigration.

So the record has been set in MIA. We arrived at the start of the queue tapes at 12:50 and were through by 12:52. No grilling, no hassling, no feeling like we were crim’s. To be fair there were not many in the queues but 2 minutes is a dream.

But remember that gate waaay over the opposite side of the airport? Well our bags needed to get from there to here, being carousel #4 and that meant a Long Wait.

Priority tags mean little here, we watched at least a dozen in tagged bags go past before we saw one Priority bag.

Then, off to Customs. Bit of a hack here, as we were transiting we simply took our bags around the corner and dropped them on a conveyor belt after they had been scanned. Not sure how they police all the bad stuff you not supposed to bring in under that system.

Another quick security check then we were free in the terminal seeking out the Admirals Club. By luck we arrived and departed form Terminal D so we had no transit issues. In some ways it was good not to be Platinum as the Flagship lounge was like over at gate 30 in terminal D and we needed to be at Gate 4. At least that’s what I 5old myself as I trudged along going “I used to be somebody”.

Anyways, D15 is where we found the Admirals Club and went on in. The next flight was American 2756 to Raleigh-Durham in domestic First, so our boarding passes got us through the doors.

It’s a big lounge that curves around. There is only 1 hot food station opposite the bar. Today they had chicken, rice and beans to make your own burritos so I gladly sourced the ingredients. They had a Pico Gallo which was goddam good. I shouldn’t be surprised that the USA Mexican food is sooo good but I am always glad it is so. Too bad we can’t do it here.

Boarding was at 1413 so 10 minutes before we strolled to the gate and waited for boarding which started right on time.

Our Hostie had a watch with a Koala picture in it so we gave her our best Okker. Pre flight drink orders were an experience.

Remember that run you down in the aisle mentality? Well this lady wasn’t playing that game and she stood behind the bulkhead in row 1 and called out to each row “You wanna drink”? And then we all played the confirm what we asked for game as she wasn’t quite sure what we asked for. There are 5 beers available. Bud Light, Dos Equis, Truly, Heineken and Goose. I asked for a Dos. Huh? Dos. Dos Equis. Oh, you want a beer? Hard work.

And no one must drink Gin and sparkling water as that took a few goes too. Thankfully she bought the drinks to the seat rather than stand at row 1 bulkhead and fire them over the top of us.

Take off was uneventful and we were soon soaring over Miami and looking at the sights.

Being a short flight we were only offered drinks and snacks. As we were taking a rental car after the flight I kept off the beer and went to ginger ale remembering after the first sip how weak Canadian Club ginger ale is.

Landing in Raleigh-Durum is an experience. This is a big airport and we seemingly walked a long way to get to baggage control.

And it had some funny food options

The bags had been tagged OneWorld priority but that meant nothing to the baggage handlers in MIA but here ours were out within about 20 bags.

We went over to Hertz to pick up our rental. Less rental than small suburb. This bad boy was actually very well priced compared to the Econo-boxes and cost $573USD for the 4 days including a $150 one way feee to leave it at Washington.

It was bigger than I expected as last time I was in the US I had a Ford Explorer, but this is the next size up. V8, power everything including the 2 rows of rear seats, space to actually stretch out.


So we heading south east towards Smithfield for our first night. We’d pre-booked a Country Inn & Suites for the night.

The joint wasn’t bad, very friendly clerk checked us in, gave us a 10% discount voucher for most of the local restaurant’s but in the end we just hit Zaxby’s for a burger as we were tired and it was 1930 before we ate.

The night was quiet for a change and we slept well.

 

[smckay]

Day 21 - Thursday.

Up at 0800 for the regular cheap motel breakfast. Thin patties of some sort of meat, Feggs (fake eggs) and sugar laden other stuff.

I stuck with a waffle and yoghurt.

On the road in the Small Town towards Hilton Head Island in South Carolina to stay 2 nights with a couple we met on a river cruise last year and whom we had stayed in touch with.

The initial plan was a bit of a jaunt down the side roads to see rural America. When we travel we prefer to keep away from big cities as they hold no appeal.

So it was we aimed for the coast and ended up in Wilmington. The beach beckoned but all the roads were no or little parking, and they had the large ‘dunes’ keeping the waves in the ocean side, so we saw nothing of water.

In the middle of all this I had a dumb idea to buy a small travel laptop so I can manage pictures on trips. All I need is a small screen, a USB port and a keyboard.

As luck would have it, Walmart had such a thing which was perfect, as it even had a full size SD card reader built in. The selling point? $139 tax included. Thank you.

But they were sold out. And in every one of the 4 more stores we checked were sold out too. Dammit.

After lunch at a small joint called Leland we realised (realized) our timing was severely wrong and we had no hope of making Hilton Head by 1630 as planned.

So, we pointed the front of the Small Town southwest, stomped on the loud pedal (that’s a drag racing phrase, whack it in you tube and subscribe) and set cruise at 80 miles an hour on I95. And watched the rest of the traffic go past and the gas gauge go down. We even had the Po-lice roar past at least 10 mph faster.

Speed limits are a suggestion here. Normal procedure is 10 mph over the posted limit and up to 20. My personal record is 80 in a 55.

If you’ve ever wondered how them big wrecks happen that you see, with multiple cars involved and pieces flying off everywhere the reasons are simple

1. They drive fast
2. They drive far too close to each other. Braking distance? Something other countries do.
3. They hog the outside lane and seem oblivious. We even watched an older couple (code for what are you still driving?) sit in the outside lane whilst an ambulance crept up on them from 3 miles away with lights and sirens, only moving - to the grass verge on the side - when said ambulance was about 6 feet off their rear bumper
4. They cut across multiple lanes due to the outside hogs
5. Even with an empty road for as far as the eye can see, they will pull onto the freeway from an on ramp and straight into the left hand lane and do the speed limit.

But I digress. Hilton Head Island duly appeared in our windscreen some 4 hours later and we lobbed just on 1830. At least we made it, which is hopefully the same for this little tacker


Our new BFF live on a plantation which is a name for a gated secure community. Plantation is a contentious word in American history and there was a community vote to delete it, but the majority voted to keep it as it held no historical residue and the land was in fact an old plantation.

Dinner was held here and it was a real Southern dinner; pork ribs on the grill/slow cooker, corn cobs, pasta salad and corn bread. The extra time in the Primo wood cooker did the ribs no harm and they were tender and juicy. It also helped that they were super-sized with more meat than bone unlike ours.

We also took in some local beer which in US standards was quite a tasty drop.

Their house is smaller by the district standards, but still managed a double garage, 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a retreat, games room, dining room and front and rear verandahs.

Our hosts are keen tennis players and we arrived right at the end of the State titles which they were both in so it was an early night.

The Small Town has some neat tricks


Question; Tell me you are in small town America, without telling me you are in small town America

 

[smckay]

Day 22 - Friday

Waking up to an empty house at 0845 we had a leisurely breakfast.

Once our hosts arrived back, hot and sweaty as it was very humid, we went on a tour of the island. Being and island obviously there were ocean side places of interest so we went to one community area with a centre, boardwalk, tennis court and space to relax. The beach is more shell than sand as there are a lot of oyster grounds about so many shells dot the smaller beach.


Then we were off to the other side of the island to see the harbour area and golf course that is used as a cool-down after the US masters. Hilton Head is a major golf destination with something like 40 courses dotted around. They are very unobtrusive as there are a lot of tree’s around which hide them. In case you are wondering, the termites love the heat, humidity, rain and masses of tree’s and pest controllers do very well thank you.

Mr Host is a golf nut and so chose this place for the golf. Whilst not a member of a club he pays around $50-70 per game at various courses. I’m not sure golf is the priority as it is mandatory to take a flask of Fireball whiskey with you, and a shot is called for at appropriate times. Such as a swing and a miss, a poor shot, a good shot, or just because.

The harbour is a tourist joint with shops, restaurants, big and little boats and a nice jetty to contemplate the view.

We thought we’d take our hosts out to dinner as a thank you so an Italian joint was booked, but somehow we got around to big ol’ fat steaks on the grill being a good idea so we settled on another night in. Which was fine with us.

Sam’s club is a similar concept to Costco - I think it was started by ex-Costco people- but that was a Big Drive away, so we turned in Krogers driveway which is another massive got-everything place.

Whilst I scanned the beer aisles (note the ‘s’) our hosts went seeking beef. And beef he sought. 3 big prime rib Angus steaks. The regular pre-packed section didn’t meet his expectation so he had some cut.

3.72 lb.
$19.99 per lb
$74.36.
USD

But they were cut thick about 1”.


Meanwhile the beer search was not as productive or fast. With a lot of choices and the desire to test them all, I moved away from the six packs at about $14-18 each to the mix and match section which offered $10.99 per flite and many many choices. I think I did good with the final decision.

Back at the house, which was air conditioned 24 hours, the steaks were seasoned with about 6 different spices and left to come to room temp.


At around 1745 we started the Primo grill. This was a large oval one which I hadn’t seen before and Primo was not a brand I was familiar with. I have decided I will splurge on a wood smoker as it does what I want from a bbq in terms of slow cooking, smoking and grilling along with pizza capabilities.

The Primo is US-made and backed up and was rated over the other brands like green egg and Komodo Joe. Our host nearly fell over when I told him I’d be cashing a check for $2,300 to buy his model Down Under.

I got a first hand introduction on how to light the fire for grilling, what and what not to do and the issues to look out for.

After about 40 minutes the fire was deemed sufficient and on went the steaks. With the flame touching the grill the steaks came out my ideal way - charred on the outside and juicy pink on the inside. And they were tender, like damn tender. I don’t mind paying decent money for good steak, and at 25 bucks or $40AUD each these were as good or better than pro cooked steak I’ve had. The boys took a full piece each and the girls had a half of the 3rd one.

The beers were good too, dispelling that you only get Bud Light quality beer.
We’d also bought caramel ice cream for $4/quart which was good too.

With both tennis and golf scheduled early the next morning it was lights out for all.

 

[smckay]

Day 23 - Saturday.

We headed North towards Washington DC where we had a flight from DCA to LAX on Monday 19th, to meet QF94 to MEL, thence QF1291 to HBA. The plan for today was to tourist our way up to around Richmond Virginia which would be our stop for the night, but nothing yet booked. Following the coast sounded good but it meant an 8 hour trip and would have been achievable with a bit of time management.
Just out of Hilton Head we gassed it up.


But the desire to buy that damn laptop snookered me and we wasted about 2 hours trying to see if every Walmart miraculously had one on the shelf. They didn’t.
Exhibit A


Again, we realised our plans for travel were wrong, so we headed off the coast towards the inland interstate which gave us more Rural America than planned. Quite a few small 2 lane roads, slow pokes, small towns (the real ones, not Chevy Suburbans posing as) and settlements in some random-seeming places.

We spent the rest of the day on interstates doing 70mph plus, watching the atrocious driving and looking at the road building happening.

Doing 70 in a 65 and an 18 wheeler passes you.


The Americans don’t hold back on infrastructure, we saw an extra lane being added which went on for literally 20 or 30 miles, both sides of the road.

Which meant slowing for the roadworks. But, we are not in Nanny Australia with 40Km/h speed limits here. No, we were ‘forced’ to do 55mph most of the way with brief dip’s to 35 or 40.

Police were also not visible. We saw 2 driving, possibly another 3 on the roadside but only 2 seemed to be doing sped trap work. Which just meant the people did 10 mph over the posted limit not 15+.

Saw a couple of minor crashes, mainly rear enders, which is not at all surprising. We actually saw more billboards from ambulance chasers touting for service after injury in a car wreck than we saw busted cars.

Around 1830 we were close to Smithfield where we had stayed the first night. I thought DC was an 8 hour drive still as my travel-addled brain hadn’t registered that we were no longer on the coast and we had made time. I blame it on trying to keep 2+ tonnes of America’s finest on the black stuff whilst all around me is chaos. So we kept on truckin’. And finally at 2030 I pulled into a dingy Quality Inn. With a very dingy wife. Actually it was more pi55ed right off. Which I found out about shortly after the room door closed. Which was our second room, as the first one stunk like an ashtray.


US motels to used o be cheap and nasty. Now, they are no longer cheap but getting nastier. $80.32 with tax got us a ground floor room with the bathroom sink outside the room for the shower and the toilet. A window air conditioner that was less window rattler and more room-rattler.

But, it was a room to sleep in so we did. Luckily no rednecks arrived or left in the early a.m.’s and we slept OK.

 

[smckay]

Day 24 - Sunday

Breakfast was typical but worser. Fegg rounds, a product claiming to be beef patties, sugar-everything, some bagels and bread. I’m trying to forget it so won’t elaborate further.

Today we had time, due to my SNAFU from last night so we thought to do some shopping. I like the US clothes, for me they are well made and last. Being a 5-shirt guy the Gilden brand shirts are very good, they are double stitched, soft, cut well, sized well and are common.

Walmart was today’s shopping destination and we found a super centre. No laptops in stock but I did buy some Wrangler work/yard pants for $29.99 and scored a US polo association dress shirt for $5. It was marked down to $13 but scanned at $5. Have to love a score. I also bought a Dickies tri-fold RFID leather wallet for $16. Cheap insurance when travelling.

We also had a last ditch effort at finding a laptop, this time at Best Buy. Like most US shops it makes most of ours look small.

Back on the road again, once we started to reach the DC outskirts it all went very wrong. So much traffic that we started this cycle of speed then stop. It felt like a rubber band, we’d be honking along at speed then to come to a stop for a minute and then the cycle started again. It wasn’t until we reached their toll road system. That we seemed to keep a constant yet slow speed.

The toll road here is unique to us: it is a 3 lane road placed between the North and South bound lanes (3-4 each way) and is distance charged. Most cars didn’t use it but those that did paid a maximum of $19 for the peace and comfort of non-stop driving. We saw signs saying the summer reversal started the next week so we decided within ourselves that the road lanes change to go the opposite direction to get the good people of DC to the south faster. Not a bad system if you wish to pay and have the tag to do it.

I’d paid for a data plan for my phone the last trip and we still had limited data left, about 4gb, so we were relying on Google maps off-line to guide us. I doubt any rat-run would have gained us any more time, and as it was we rolled into the Hyatt Regency Crystal City just on 4.30pm which was perfect as we had collected the Small Town at 1650 and intended to return it that day and use the hotel shuttle to get to the airport.

Last time gassing it up, dearest yet ate 3.55 gallon. Previous fills were $2.79 and $2.89. It took about 25 gallons so it must have about a 30 gallon tank.

Our final tally was 1,200 miles travelled, an average fuel consumption of 21.x mpg and an average speed of 50mph. We got 500+ miles from a tank so the touring capability is good.

All done in Small Town style with heated and cooled leather electric seats and centre console, effortless V8 torque and the knowledge that that little snot box is not going to pull in front of me when they want to merge. The driving dynamic needs to be experienced; the electric steering is vague and slow making for some interesting tight turns such as exiting a freeway, when coupled with a total lack of information signs of tightened and direction except for a token XXmph sign to indicate the level of ability needed.

Either the brakes are cooked (the NASA-like control centre told me it had over 60% of brake pads left) or this bad boy weighs some as it was a mission to pull it up.

A few times my shotgun seat felt the need to grasp the seat and door handle and suck in breath during a combined turning and braking manoeuvre. Another few days and I’d be able to spank it, so as bad as your drive is it’s not a Small Town and be grateful.

For me, driving the highways long distance in the US would be best done in a BMW. Comfort, handling, power and designed for long distance drives would be rather nice. Or if your financial statement can’t support it, any later Falcon or Commodore would find you jumping out feeling relaxed, not worn out as we were.

Ronald Reagan Airport is an exercise in doing your head in. Multiple lanes all squeezed into 3, lots of impatient drivers, pedestrians and taxi controllers. But we arrived into the Hertz parking lot to hand back the Chev.

The check in is the now-normal on-the-spot deal where in our case a kid needing a haircut came along with his tablet. I didn’t realise I had not put my Wise credit card into my Hertz profile, so I asked to do a manual return. Luckily he got the idea so write the details down on a card for me; car I’d number, miles, fuel.

But fuel was put as 99%. I objected saying I just gassed it up (got this local lingo down good). His response? I can’t do 100%. My response? Why not? His response? Man it’s just a number be cool. My response? So when I buy your laptop you want $100 for can I give you 99 bucks? His response? Scratch, scratch, fuel is now 100%.

A quick wait for the airport terminal shuttle, on to the Hyatt courtesy bus that runs every 20 minutes from 4.20am and back to our room.


By this time it was past 1830 and food beckoned. Our travel mate Google told us a good pizza joint was a mere minute away behind the hotel so off we went in search of cheese, onion, dough and tomato sauce.

$10.99 saw a 5” vege for her and $16.99 got him a 10” bbq chicken. Were they good? They were better than good. Loaded with topping, soft smooth base and cooked just right.

These were both tempting but No Sale this time

2 left over beers in ice closed the deal and with final packing done we shut off the lights.

The room was a decent size, with a King bead, sofa, table and desk area. In the ‘entry’ was a full sized wardrobe and the bathroom entry. Wifi was fast and had no issue uploading some happy snaps to Facebook. The bed was comfy and firm but the pillows were the small square puffy things that seem to be the latest trend in the US. The air con was loud but the room was too hot without it.

No noise or light came in, but the bathroom had a glass door and the mirror had an LED night light that gave a bit too much light for us. More our issue after spending the past 24 years living on acreage with no light or noise pollution.

 

[smckay]

Day 25 - Monday

The alarm chirped at 0550. Going home day!

Whilst I love holidays, the constant new room every night wears me down. 8 years ago I was diagnosed with Asperger’s which made a whole of things suddenly make sense, especially the constant change of nightly location when we do road trips. This is why we mainly do cruises, as I can cope with the different days but the same room, dining and surroundings each night.

We caught the 6.20am shuttle and the inbound trip was quick and painless. Still a bit of traffic but not I like the jams of last night.

Terminal 2 was our destination but I’d not researched it very well so we missed the priority check in and bag drop and ended up slumming it in the regular queues.

Seems they have made improvements to the check in and bag drop, making me wonder how bag the old system was. First step was the self serve terminal to print your bag tag and boarding pass.

Then shuffle forward to step 2 to have the bag weighed, requiring your ID and boarding pass. If you pass this test by not being overweight you then go over to step 3 which is poorly signed, meaning the taped off lane people have to cope with queue jumpers (cough) who skirted around the outside of the high partition hiding the scanning part, to drop off your bag. Pax are encouraged not to wait for their bag to be processed so you say goodbye and depart.

Then it gets weird. Down a level to security screening and we walk past another self-check and bag drop to the lanes. Huh.

Security was fast if you picked the correct lane. If you are impatient and rush along in the queue intent on getting through quickly you get stuck in the wrong lane. Ask MrsMacca how this works.

Screening of cabin baggage is a FF dream.

Nothing out of bags.

Jackets off.

No trays.

Pockets empty - put the contents into cabin bag.

Belts off recommended but not enforced.

Ankle high hiking boots not an issue.

Then we were free to seek out gate D45 after a call into the Admirals Club. It was on the way just beside dunkin’ donuts express so we caught the elevator up.
That fast get-me-there speed again tripped up MrsMacca. Despite flying domestic First this ain’t Qantas so she was refused entry. Her status was enquired of until I took pity and said she’s with me and scanned my boarding pass.

The lounge here was not big like the Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane domestic pubs or J lounges. BNE international would be close but a bit smaller.

Basic food offerings of cereal, breads, charcuterie stuff, oats and drinks.

To my horror the cawfee machine was broke. At least from a low base the day can only get better. We had 30 minutes until boarding so grabbed some light stuff.

Right on boarding time we headed 9 the gate which was the last one in the terminal leg. The Elites had stated to board and we arrived when groups 1 & 2 were called.

Fun fact - with a cabin bag, a backpack and a tiny purse MrsMacca was called out at the gate by staff and told to consolidate her bags to 2 pieces. First time this has happened.

Later we people watched other pax arrive with 2 bags, handheld laptops, coffee in hands and wondered what it all meant. Personally I thought the lady with the 3-foot sized ‘Fro should have been pulled aside but that’s just me.

Despite being the second last in First to board we still had plenty of locker room available so both cabin bags went up, along with my camera backpack. Because I could. Look at me now, Gate Dragons.

Pretty put much as soon as we got to our seats 2D & 2F the cabin lady came and asked us for choice of drink. We both asked for apple juice and in a non-QF style all pax were stopped from entering the cabin until the drinks were poured and she returned. Never seen that before, but they did it for each set of seat drink run, which made it both fast and professional. The potential of lobbing cans across seat pairs was just a dream you wonder if it was real.

Another non-QF feature was no shades forced to being up for take off. Cables to the seat backs were allowed to be left in situ.

As we were taxi-img to the runway she also came to each pax and asked for the meal choice. Just before we hit the runway the coughpit called for crew to prepare for takeoff, the crew hit the jump seats, pushed the required buttons and moments later we were off. A very streamlined and efficient process.

We took off to the North and hooked left nearly immediately after leaving the ground. Bit disconcerting. I missed out on the winda seat but had my GoPro set up to film so watched the take off in dream time from my phone.
We were on a A321Neo today after 737 for the previous flights. I’ve seen chat on forums about the different cabin fit outs of both jets but I really cannot pick any difference. Which is not to say there is no difference in them.

The seats are wide, leather, have an armrest table on the outside and a small storage bin the the centre. A shared drink space is in the middle of the seat pair which has a slide out tray and in the centre console of the seats in front is another drop down tray.

Under this space is room for a small backpack leaving your feet free.

The rear of the seat in front has a small device holder which can cope with a phone and a tablet as needed and has a USB A port fitted. Other power is in the centre console with a full-sized plug unit that does accept Australian standard 2 pin plugs for power, so I put a dual USB plug in there and boosted my iPad and cordless headphones.

As normal, row 1 has no seat back so it misses out on the device holder and USB port. From what I could see the only power was from the centre console.

The meal came out quickly after levelling off for this 4:50 flight. One criticism I have is the limited catering AA offers. This is the second breakfast time flight we’ve taken and both times I thought the choices were limited. Today the choice was an egg omelette with roasted potatoes as a side, or a charcuterie plate. Either of which MrsMacca wants for breakfast. I did pre-order both breakfasts as the omelette option for both flights but didn’t for her as I knew they would not suit.


Luckily the omelette option came with Chobani yoghurt, fresh fruit and a bread so she was able to make something up from that. I’m not sure she’s special, I would have also preferred to have a cereal sort of option for breakfast this morning. Also, the potatoes were too spicy for breakfast and I only had half of both plates as we did a stock swap and I had 2 hot meals and she 2 fruit meals.
I snuck a shot of the charcuterie plate

Coffee and tea were offered before the meals arrived. The coffee was quite strong but not stewed-strong, just robust strong. The tea was hot and acceptable.

Meals done the trays were cleared efficiently. Our hostess is certainly very good at her job. She remembers the requests, gets your requests done fast and is pleasant.

There had been a massive storm that went over the mid west and it was moving East, so I expected a few bumps on the way over, or a wide turn. So it was that the bumps arrived and the turn did not. The seatbelt sign; was lit up and the captain did explain there was some rough stuff he couldn’t avoid it but the turbulence was nothing to comment on and seemed to be typical. I’m happy to fly with an earth strap on, I’ve seen the damage done in rapid descents and it doesn’t worry me.

Snacks and drinks were offered and we collected a few packs of Pistachio’s as they are good. Drinks were supplied in a full sized glass but the hot drinks were in a half size ceramic cup.

The rest of the flight was notable for not being very interesting. Landing in LAX we seemed to go straight in without delay, a bit of a taxi to the gate and then into the terminal. The bag carousel was not very far from TBIT it seemed caked up by my step count of just under 1,300 in the hour after we landed.

Bags came out quickly and we hit TBIT around 1100, found check-in counters B25 through 32 and settled in to wait until they opened at 1430.

Check in was easy, immigration and security was light, although my carry on bag was inspected for a foreign item, which turned out to be a heater core for my car. All brass and pipes but it does make me wonder how it got through DCA without issue?

Straight into the One World lounge which is the same as it was built it seems, with an outdated decor and catering the CWA would be ashamed of.

 

[Seat0B]

I’m not a morning person so don’t come near me till 9am or a cup of coffee. Or both. Or not at all till 10 just to be sure.

Oh I sympathise @smckay, that's me to a T. And I have just booked myself onto an African safari tour for next year ......expecting to feel like I have jet lag for 2 solid weeks.

 

[Seat0B]

possibly as a result of too much focus on devices and cameras being placed in plastic bags and no focus on your basic shoe safety.
As an aside, remember way back to the start? We were advised by Royal Galapagos not to take any plastic bags to the Islands. Something in the machine has gone wrong.

Curious to know who supplied the plastic bags for electronics? Did you withhold a couple for that purpose, or were they supplied by the tour operator, or did you take purpose built protector dry bags?