"Terminal"

"14/06/2010"

Early start to the day as the frantic panic set in to ensure that I had everything for my trip. I always have a massive panic that I've forgotte basic essentials and I did pack everything at the last minute the previous night.
Leaving for the airport and I'm feeling emotional. I'm not going to see my mum for the next 5 weeks. As I say goodbye a lump comes to my throat. I've had worries about this trip. It is very ambitious and with the recent flooding in Guatemala anything could happen.

We arrived in Miami Airport around lunchtime and having neogiated the ill-signposted airport and highlight complex passport control, wondered what to do with the rest of our time...we ended up stepping out of the air-conditioned airport and into the heat of Miami. We were actually in Miami!!! We headed along the Hway joking about yellow car as numerous taxis past us. Having discovered that the actual city of Miami would take 45 minutes to get to, we decided to satisfy ourselves with the storm clouds, the view and the airport waiting room. We chilled outside in the heat for a while, people watching. A minibus full of Brits pulled up. Topless, rowdy and as Andy put it "lads on tour, misbehaving". We Brits never put on a good show overseas. Later we saw another minibus pull up with "The Hilton" on it. Again, Andy joked about Paris Hilton being spoilt and about the success of the companies.

Waiting in Miami was hard going. There was very little to do execpt and eat, and that was very expensive. Both of us were feeling very tired from the early start, so the wait between connections seemed mindlessly long. When we finally were ready to board we had difficulties understanding the Spanish/American at the boarding gate. Whether they were communicating in English we couldn't tell. Eventually, however we'd boarded the American Airlines' "tacky" plane bound for Guatemala. I was exhausted and could not wait to reach the hostel.

We soon realised that this was not to be a smooth journey, as we flew into the storm clouds looming over Miami. There was extreme turbulence in some parts, as the tropical storm clouds that had caused such devastation in Guatemala only a week ago continued to gather across the Central American sub-continent.

Gazing out of the window we watched the sun set onto the sea - the red glow created absolute beauty, but also reminded me if the volcanic eruption of Pacaya in the previous week. As darkness fell, the turbulence increased and we realised that it was going to be stormy in Guatemala. The pilot circled for ages around Guatemala City, before beginning the descent. We were about to land when the plane jerked up again. The pilot said he couldn't see the runway and that he was going to try the North runway or head to El Salvador for more fuel. Unfortunately, the storm continued to grip the entire city and so the plane was bound for El Salvador. I was very anxious by this point. What if the plane didn't have enough fuel to get to El Salvador? It's not that far from Guatemala, why would the weather be any different there?

Fortunately the journey to El Salvador was a mere 25 minutes and we were landing by the time we were up in the air. We were grounded, and as soon as we landed we began the long LONG wait for fuel. Apparently we had to wait for one other plane to refuel before we could, so I reckoned we'd be grounded about an hour - maybe more.
About an hour later, the pilot announced that they'd reached their scheduled time of working hours and so we'd be staying in El Salvador, but AA would but us up in a hotel for the night. The chaos in the airport was immense as two flights waited for their accommodation to be sorted. I was desperate for my bag as I needed to take my medication, which I'd stupidly put in my bag. The two of us hadn't a clue what was going on as everything was in Spanish. We were very dehydrated and absolutely exhausted. All I wanted to do was sleep.

I did find it slightly comforting that two other English girls had been in the exact same boat as us with their lengthy flight from Heathrow. No-one else it seemed had been up 20 hours. After about an hour, I finally had my bag and the buses had arrived to take us to find our accommodation for the night. I could not WAIT! Another passport stamp and we hit San Salvador road, trying to stay awake enough to enjoy it. Eventually, the minibus pulled up at non-other than the Hilton! Having joked about it earlier in the day, it seemed slightly surreal to be pulling into a top class Hotel...for free. The buffet was less to be desired, perhaps because we were keener to get to our room. The two double beds guaranteed what was to be the best nights sleep of our whole trip. The bed was so comfortable, a lovely end to an exhausting day!