Wow… where do I start?? I finally made it to Utila. The island is beautiful and I’m sooo happy to be here! The journey here ended up being a little longer and a lot more stressful than what I had planned for. Things happen for a reason thought, and I'm trying to remember that. I’ll do my best to keep this short, but it won’t be….
Fri Jan 15th.
I had the day off of work to finish up some final preparations for my trip. I went to the Bank and purchased some American currency, as well as some American Travelers cheques. TD was nice enough to find me four packs of $50 cheques, which should make exchanging them much easier.
That evening Lise and Johanna came over for dinner and some much needed mental down time for me. They are going to help my father out while I am gone by staying at my house and taking care of Mackenzie for me. (Thanks to all of you!! You are wonderful)
After they left I got to the tedious chore of actually packing all my stuff… I’ve never had the gift of packing light, and this trip was no exception. I had originally planned on bringing two duffle bags and that was all…. LOL! Ya, so that didn’t work out so well. After about 4 hours of packing, unpacking and re-packing I ended up having to bring both my large hard sided suit case and my large duffle bag. Plus a back pack, purse and lap-top case. (Combined weight of over 150lbs) Checking myself onto flights has been fun!!! My luggage should be considerably lighter on the way home, as I will be using a lot of stuff that I’m brining while I’m on the island. (Sunscreen, Bug Spray, Conditioner, granola bars, etc.)
By the time my father showed up at my house to pick me up at 6am I was completely exhausted both physically and mentally. I forced myself to find time to have a shower before he arrive, but I did have to omit many things that were on my list to do.
Due to increased airport security this past month on flights to the USA originating outside of the country, I wanted to give myself at least 3 hours to get through security. This turned out to be a wise move. From arrival at the airport until I reached my gate, it was about 1h and 45minutes of security and line-ups. We were only allowed to carry on one personal item (mine was my laptop case) nothing else!! Each person was subject to a full body search, which was interesting. I’m used to traveling with Lise, who for some reason always attracts the security guards. I’m used to standing quietly by while she gets felt up, but this time it was me. The Security woman was very professional, and yet VERY detailed. She even ran her fingers under the underwire in my bra… HELLO! With that behind me I patiently waited at my gate to get onto my flight. We departed at 10:15am…. A good day and a half after I had last slept.
The flight to Orlando was uneventful and I slept through most of it. (Well, I thought it was uneventful, but more on that later) Once I arrive in Orlando I picked up my rental car and headed to Down Town Disney for lunch. I had had a rough few days and I knew that Mickey could help to make it better. I didn’t actually go into any of the theme parks, just had lunch at the yummy sandwich shop that I love!! (Earl of Sandwich I think it’s called)
From there I had planned on hitting a outlet mall to see what they had to offer, but given my luggage issues and the fact that I was beyond exhausted I decided to just head out to my Hotel in Coco Beach. I had gotten a deal on a room at the Four Points in Coco and was not disappointed. The hotel was beautiful and was very close to the ocean. After checking in I figured out how to put the top down on my car and I went out to explore the area. I found a beautiful spot to park with beach access and I allowed myself to unwind watching the ocean waves and the moon… until it was time for me to pass out in bed.
Saturday January 16th began as a fairly uneventful day. I picked up a frappichino at Starbucks and headed over to Ron Jon to see if I could pick up a rash guard or two. (a type of t-shirt that surfers wear to protect them from the sun.) I was happy to find a few that worked for me! YEA!! They are more than suitable to wear while diving, and provide 50spf!! From there I headed back to the Hotel to pack up and get ready for my planned drive down the coast to Miami for my flight that evening to San Pedro Sula, Honduras… That’s when everything went wrong. Well, things had actually gone wrong the day before, I just didn’t realize it until now. Where was my passport??? I had it yesterday at the Toronto Airport….. but where was it now?? Panic set in. I unpacked all of my bags and sorted through everything. It was nowhere! (thanks Mom for answering THAT phone call!! I needed someone to listen to me freak out!)
At that moment I couldn’t piece it together, but after calming down I think I know what happened. I had my passport when I boarded the flight from YYZ -> MCO. I would have needed it to get on the plane, which meant that it was in my hands when I sat down. Because I didn’t have a purse with me, and only Lise’s lap-top case (which has only zippers) I figure that I must have slipped my passport and boarding pass into the pocket of the seat in front of me……. And then never retrieved it before getting off of the plane. I wouldn’t have needed it to get out of the Orlando Airport, as I had already cleared US customs in Toronto.
I contacted Air Canada (both customer service, and their directly number at MCO) I also contacted the customs officers and Baggage department at MCO with no luck…. OK…. Now what?? Not knowing what else to do I loaded up my car, checked out of the hotel and drove back to the Orlando Airport, hoping that I would somehow find it there. Without going into all of the details, it was nowhere to be found. The Air Canada reps that helped me were wonderful, and made a bunch of phone calls for me. They were also quite honest and told me that the plane that I had flown in on was only on the ground for 40 minutes, and most likely the pockets were not checked. Chances are my passport is still traveling the world in the pocket of seat 19A of an Air Canada 321. After exausting all options I filed a police report with the Orlando Police Department (there is a story that goes with that, but I’ll save that for another blog) and then to the American Airlines ticket department to try to put my flight to San Pedro Sula on hold. (They were able to do that for me, for a small fee.. YEA!) I reserved a seat on the Tuesday night flight, but didn’t confirm it as I wasn’t sure if I’d have a passport by then or not. I also went to the National Rental car window to extend my rental car, which was due to be dropped off in Miami that evening. I also decided to rent a GPS unit while I was at it… I didn’t need the added stress of trying to read a map at that point!!! Plus after Tasha & my previous experiences in Miami I knew that it was a wise option.
From there it was off to a Starbucks to find internet and to try and sort out the rest of my reservations. There was my hotel in San Pedro Sula for that night which needed to be altered, and my flight the following day to Utila, which I would miss. After all of that I still needed to get myself to Miami, as that is where the Canadian Consulate was. It was a long drive after a long day, but I was happy to find a LaQuinta to pass out at that evening.
Monday January 18th was Martin Luther King day in the USA, which lead to some fears that the Canadian Consulate might be close, but luckily it was not. Lynette was the rep from the Canadian Consulate, who soon became my new best friend. I had to complete at TON of paperwork, get photos taken, as well as I needed to name 4 people (who I was not related to) but who had known me for more than 2 years. (Well 2 people had to know me for more than 2 years, and 2 had to have known me for more than 5)
Tiago & Christine from Daybreak became my 2-year people, and Tasha and Mr. Conde became my 5-year people. Lynette called each of them and explained the situation and asked them to describe me and confirm that they knew that I was a Canadian Citizen. Each of them was wonderful and answered all of the questions that Lynette had.. (Some of you also provided additional information, such as info on my tattoos and the exact formula for hair colour!! LOL – Thanks Guys!!) Then I just had to wait. Lynette wasn’t sure how long it would take, she was estimating anywhere from 1- 3 days (as the Canadian Government was very busy assisting travelers how were in Haiti when the earthquake hit. – Completely Understandable, and definitely a priority!!) But to our surprise, I received a call from Lynette around 2pm that day, saying that my passport was ready and that I could pick it up at 8:30 the next morning! YEA!!! I can’t believe that it was ready about 6 hours after I started the paperwork! YEA CANADA!!! I owe a hug Thank You to Lynette who moved quickly, and to everyone who answered his or her phones to help me out! I’m now referring to this as the Liz Wilson Canadian Consulate Trivia Game!! LOL
Tuesday January 19th I arrived at the Canadian Consulate around 9am and was out of there quickly with my new, white, temporary passport in hand. YEA! From there it was off to the Miami Airport to fly to San Pedro Sula. I was able to get on the 1:20pm flight with American Airlines and was in San Pedro Sula by 2:30pm local time. (3:30 Toronto time) Security at the San Pedro Sula airport was in full force, (machine guns and all) and we had to have all of our baggage re-screened before we could be cleared through customs. (which I expected) Once outside of the airport I was approached by an airport rep who asked if I needed a Taxi. I did and we talked about how much it would cost to the Hilton Princess (my home for the night) $16 US was the fee & I was ok with that. I agreed and the next thing I knew two children were taking by bags to a non-descript car… Concerned, I went back to the airport rep and confirmed that that was the car that I should get into … It was… Ok ! My driver seemed friendly, but his English was about as good as my Spanish is, so it was a quiet ride. I was only slightly concerned that I was being kidnapped when he started driving into the mountains. :o) I remember thinking “If I disappear now, my parents will KILL me!!“ LOL (not so funny at the time) In hindsight, I really shouldn’t have been concerned. As soon as the driver realized that I didn’t speak Spanish he kindly switched the radio to an English station.. (no need to put me at ease if he was kidnapping me…) The brain really does do some funky stuff when you can’t communicate with the people around you.
The hotel was beautiful, and aside from putting mustard on my BLT (who puts mustard on a BLT???) my stay was delightful!!
Today, Wednesday January 20th I awoke to find more bruises on my body that I’d like to admit. Traveling is hard on my body, in weird ways. My shins are black and blue from repeatedly bumping into various luggage carts, I have a huge welt on my outer right thigh from bumping into something (can’t remember what but it hurts!), oh, and I have this very strange bruise pattern on the inside of my left arm… I must have pinched it in my sleep??? Not really sure? I guess they will go well with the depth-squeeze bruises that I often get from diving… people may be concerned that I have some strange blood disease!
I checked out of the Hilton and headed over to the airport at around 11am. The flight was scheduled to 2:30, but with the flight changes that I’d made and my extra luggage, I wanted to be one of the 1st people to check in, and I was. An extra $10 for the flight change and an extra $40 for my baggage and I was good to go.
The plane was a 15 seater, and was completely full. I took some photos and some video; hopefully I’ll find a strong enough Internet connection to post them soon. The smell of gas on the plane was overwhelming!! Luckily once we got to altitude the pilot opened the front windows to let in some fresh air… I was very happy that he had. About 25 min later we were in Le Ceiba.
Once in Le Ceiba we had to go back into the airport and wait to be called for the flight to Utila. Some people were also going to Roatan on a separate flight. When they called the flight to Utila I noticed that only 4 people had stood up. Myself and a woman with two children. Was that it?? Thankfully it was, as the plane that we were about to board only had 5 seats in it. One for the pilot, and 4 for us. (I think that it may have even been smaller than the plane that Andy and I jumped out of years ago!) 15 minutes later we were landing on the island. I think that I got some great photos and video, hopefully they will turn out as well as I think. I was actually able to focus the camera over the pilot’s shoulder!!
So here I am now on Utila. :o) Hotter than hell!! I’m checked into a dorm room at the mango inn for the night. (Luckily I’m the only one in it.) It’s a small room with two bunk beds and a fan. I plan on looking for an apartment tomorrow!! I also stopped by the Dive Centre to meet everyone and to have a quick tour. It all seems like quite the blur, and I look forward to meeting everyone again tomorrow when I have ½ a chance of actually remembering their names. While there I found out that my course will begin on Monday. This is good, it will allow me some time to find an apartment, and to have a tune-up dive tomorrow. Friday I plan on doing some real diving (assuming that I’ve found an apartment, as that is priority #1 for now)
The internet on the island is definitely sketchy. I’m currently at the Mango Inn and it keeps coming and going. I was luckily able to get a Skype call into my parents to let them know that I’m alive and well, as well as I got an e-mail out to some friends.
Ok, well that’s about it for now. Thanks again to everyone who listened to me panic and who were there to laugh with/at me when I needed that!! This is a looooong post, congrats if you made it this far. Now let’s see if I can connect to the internet to post it….
