-Lori
The Puddle Hopper - 15 seats!
The Utila Princess Ferry.
The suitcase broke right after it
came off the ferry.
Ready for a month of fun!!!
Utila bicycle taxi.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
We have arrived on the Island!
After 39 hours of traveling....2 commuter jets, 3 taxi rides, a hotel stay, a puddle hopper, a ferry ride, and a short walk...we finally made it to Utila! Our friends, the Mills (they've already been on the island for 2 months) met us at the dock and we are now settling into our new "home" for the next month. Spanish classes start tomorrow at 8am. More to come later...
-Lori
The Puddle Hopper - 15 seats!
The Utila Princess Ferry.
The suitcase broke right after it
came off the ferry.
Ready for a month of fun!!!
Utila bicycle taxi.
-Lori
The Puddle Hopper - 15 seats!
The Utila Princess Ferry.
The suitcase broke right after it
came off the ferry.
Ready for a month of fun!!!
Utila bicycle taxi.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Lori's first thoughts on Honduras
1. Barely anyone speaks English here and there are NO pay phones in the airport.
2. The local Hondurans were crowded waiting for people to exit customs at the airport (there were hundreds of them!)...it was very strange. We practically had to push through them to get to the taxi. It was like you see in Hollywood when a mob of fans are waiting for a celebrity.
3.It smells like marijuana (I know the smell from my building apartment in L.A.)
4. Our taxi driver, Francisco was really nice. He is coming to pick us up tomorrow to go back to the airport.
5. If you ever get stranded in San Pedro Sula, the Metrotel is a nice place to stay. And showers are good no matter where they are after you've slept on the airport floor for 2 hours!
Honduras is very green!
Our hotel in San Pedro Sula
Outside our hotel in San Pedro Sula
At this moment Kate and I are laying on the bed, rationing 20 ounces of water and bag of pretzels that have to last until tomorrow. Don't know where Mom and Leah are. They left to explore the surroundings of our hotel an hour ago...should we be worried?!! More to come...
Lori
2. The local Hondurans were crowded waiting for people to exit customs at the airport (there were hundreds of them!)...it was very strange. We practically had to push through them to get to the taxi. It was like you see in Hollywood when a mob of fans are waiting for a celebrity.
3.It smells like marijuana (I know the smell from my building apartment in L.A.)
4. Our taxi driver, Francisco was really nice. He is coming to pick us up tomorrow to go back to the airport.
5. If you ever get stranded in San Pedro Sula, the Metrotel is a nice place to stay. And showers are good no matter where they are after you've slept on the airport floor for 2 hours!
Honduras is very green!
Our hotel in San Pedro Sula
Outside our hotel in San Pedro Sula
At this moment Kate and I are laying on the bed, rationing 20 ounces of water and bag of pretzels that have to last until tomorrow. Don't know where Mom and Leah are. They left to explore the surroundings of our hotel an hour ago...should we be worried?!! More to come...
Lori
Utila Here We Come... Maybe
After the mishaps on Friday, our adventure has finally begun. The first phase went without any major complications. We got to the airport at 3:30 am to find the airport doesn’t open till 4:30. We had an interesting guy behind us in line. I think he was a five year old trapped in a 55 year old's body. He basically talked to himself out loud for an hour. Once we were through security with all the bags, my mom and I had to go back out and park the car then take the shuttle back. We got back to the gate with about 10 minutes to spare. We landed in Miami on time.
Since things went fairly smooth all morning, we had a glimmer of short lived optimism. : O During our 3 hour layover Mom, Leah, and Lori promptly fell asleep on the airport floor (EWWW). I went off in search of a power outlet and a wifi signal. When I got back I realized all hope of making our connection in the next city was over. Our flight to San Pedro, Honduras was delayed for two hours due to mechanical issues. Since I couldn't find wifi in the airport, we couldn’t make alternate travel arrangements. There was an upside!! When the plane finally left we got to sit in first class.
Lori sleeping.
Me trying to kill time.
Mom and Leah sleeping
In San Pedro, we hit the ground running trying to catch our connecting flight, which didn't happen. WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. Plus sunscreen exploded in one of the bags.
We couldn’t find anyone who spoke English and there were no more planes leaving until the morning. We finally found a taxi to take us to a hotel and two Spanish speaking bellhops carried eight 40 lb bags up the stairs to our room. They did it in two trips.
Hopefully the final phase goes better (which means it doesn’t turn into a phase three, four and five). If everything goes as planned we will catch the 2:30 plane to La Ceiba tomorrow, then the 4pm ferry to Utila tomorrow evening. If we miss the ferry we will be stuck in La Ceiba till Monday and our 8 hour trip will have turned into a three day adventure.
Until our next adventure adios amigos.
By Kathryn (representative for Weber World Travels Inc.)
Since things went fairly smooth all morning, we had a glimmer of short lived optimism. : O During our 3 hour layover Mom, Leah, and Lori promptly fell asleep on the airport floor (EWWW). I went off in search of a power outlet and a wifi signal. When I got back I realized all hope of making our connection in the next city was over. Our flight to San Pedro, Honduras was delayed for two hours due to mechanical issues. Since I couldn't find wifi in the airport, we couldn’t make alternate travel arrangements. There was an upside!! When the plane finally left we got to sit in first class.
Lori sleeping.
Me trying to kill time.
Mom and Leah sleeping
In San Pedro, we hit the ground running trying to catch our connecting flight, which didn't happen. WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. Plus sunscreen exploded in one of the bags.
We couldn’t find anyone who spoke English and there were no more planes leaving until the morning. We finally found a taxi to take us to a hotel and two Spanish speaking bellhops carried eight 40 lb bags up the stairs to our room. They did it in two trips.
Hopefully the final phase goes better (which means it doesn’t turn into a phase three, four and five). If everything goes as planned we will catch the 2:30 plane to La Ceiba tomorrow, then the 4pm ferry to Utila tomorrow evening. If we miss the ferry we will be stuck in La Ceiba till Monday and our 8 hour trip will have turned into a three day adventure.
Until our next adventure adios amigos.
By Kathryn (representative for Weber World Travels Inc.)
Delayed Departure
Plan: To leave for our grand Utila adventure on Friday morning. We were all packed, excited and ready to go.....Then two problems came up:
1. Thursday night at 11 we found out we needed a notarized letter from my dad giving my mom permission to take Leah and I out of the country. (our flight left at 6 am) Lori and I searched for hours trying to find a place to have a document notarized. We got excited when we found a "bailbond" who did 24 hour notarizations. We called and listened to the recording -- "please leave your name and number as well as the name and number of the person in jail and what jail they're in..." This made us re-think that idea.
2. My mom suddenly had a tooth abcess Thursday night and needed a root canal. Our friends the Mills said Dr. John could fix the tooth on the island, but they didn't recommend it. Check out this link to see why: http://www.aboututila.com/ShopsInfo/Utila-Community-Clinic/Utila-Community-Clinic.htm#MoreInformation
So... Instead of heading off to Utila on Friday, my mom and dad headed off to Kinkos to get the form notarized. Then they hit another snag. They needed a witness to sign the form in addition to their signatures and the Kinos stamp. So what did my dad do? He went next door to Chick Fil A and got a complete stranger to sign the paper for him. Problem 1 solved.
Next my mom got a last minute appointment at the dentist. They did a root canal, gave her antibiotics, vicodan, and steroids and she was good to go. But... we missed our flights for the day so we had to come up with a new plan.
With the problems solved, we went to bed just before midnight on Friday ready to try again the next morning (2 am wake up) praying nothing else would go wrong.
To be continued...
By Kathryn (the representative for Weber World Travels Inc.)
1. Thursday night at 11 we found out we needed a notarized letter from my dad giving my mom permission to take Leah and I out of the country. (our flight left at 6 am) Lori and I searched for hours trying to find a place to have a document notarized. We got excited when we found a "bailbond" who did 24 hour notarizations. We called and listened to the recording -- "please leave your name and number as well as the name and number of the person in jail and what jail they're in..." This made us re-think that idea.
2. My mom suddenly had a tooth abcess Thursday night and needed a root canal. Our friends the Mills said Dr. John could fix the tooth on the island, but they didn't recommend it. Check out this link to see why: http://www.aboututila.com/ShopsInfo/Utila-Community-Clinic/Utila-Community-Clinic.htm#MoreInformation
So... Instead of heading off to Utila on Friday, my mom and dad headed off to Kinkos to get the form notarized. Then they hit another snag. They needed a witness to sign the form in addition to their signatures and the Kinos stamp. So what did my dad do? He went next door to Chick Fil A and got a complete stranger to sign the paper for him. Problem 1 solved.
Next my mom got a last minute appointment at the dentist. They did a root canal, gave her antibiotics, vicodan, and steroids and she was good to go. But... we missed our flights for the day so we had to come up with a new plan.
With the problems solved, we went to bed just before midnight on Friday ready to try again the next morning (2 am wake up) praying nothing else would go wrong.
To be continued...
By Kathryn (the representative for Weber World Travels Inc.)
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