Quito, here we come!

Mai and I went through a roller coaster of emotions as we waited for this vacation to eventually materialize. We felt excited, anxious, and nervous. Our vacation was originally scheduled to take place in October, but because of complications with our visa application, it was moved to December. We had briefly given up hope, but we dug in our heels, waited patiently, prayed, and presto! We obtained our visas (just two days after our original departure date!), and rescheduled our trip before the year ended.
 
On the evening of December 4, 2022, Mai and I met at the entrance of Manila Airport's NAIA Terminal 3. Due to the unfortunate fact that I had overpacked, there were some hiccups with my bags as we checked in for our flight. Mai assisted me with rearranging the things on my carry-on so that everything would fit within the allowable check-in baggage weight. Thank you, Mai!
 
A photo of us finally settled on our flight.

I had been to Europe before, but these flights (Manila-Bangkok-Amsterdam-Quito and v.v) were my longest. We believed we had sufficient preparation to travel for almost two days (including stopovers). Despite this, we still had nausea and dizziness from time to time throughout the flights, which made for a very tiring experience for us. Yet, of course, our excitement outweighed the tiredness. As we had two layovers, we decided to take advantage of the option to purchase lounge access in Amsterdam to relax and have some light snacks while we waited for our flight to Quito.
 
At the KLM lounge, as we get ready for our flight to Quito!

We knew this once-in-a-lifetime adventure would be one of the most fantastic and memorable experiences of our lives, so we were eagerly looking forward to it. And indeed, it was! Thank you to Adventure Life, our local team in Ecuador, and Monserrat for making this trip possible.