No Sleep 'Til Bogota!

En route to Colombia:

My apologies to the Beastie Boys for hijacking their party rock anthem for this blog post title, sent from Economy Class.

My Delta MD-88 lands in snowy Minneapolis for my connection to Atlanta.  After Atlanta, it's on to Bogota, Colombia!

My journey to Central America should have begun either Wednesday night or last night. Had I bothered to read my own "Overbooked" (link) post, it would have dawned on me that squeezing in a red eye flight on Wednesday would be pushing it. Then yesterday, my Delta seniority (read: boarding priority) was no match for the paying passengers on any of the Atlanta flights. The late hour of the last flight set me up for an all-nighter to join today's early morning standby list.  No sleep 'til...yeah.

Since then, the destination has changed three times. Trekking in Ecuador (link) is still near the top of my list, and hanging out with my wandering friends in Nicaragua or Costa Rica would have been a nice chillaxing time. Even Guatemala was ruled out at the last minute. It's funny how losing two entire travel days can make even the most reckless of guys reel it in a bit.

Most importantly, I'm hoping to briefly swing back by Portland next week to sweep away Kathy and Lena for the European leg of the trip!  Granted, it's going to take a LOT of charm and persuasion to break them loose from the nest.  I'm up for the challenge.

In the meantime, I'm so grateful for the friends and family who are watching our adorable little 17 month old Lena in my absence. Kathy appreciates the undisturbed study time, and we both miss that sweet little baby!

Two more flights to go! I just landed here in wintry Minneapolis to catch my next flight to Atlanta. From there, it's South America all the way.

Next Time- Central America

Several friends who read last weekend's post about leaving for Ecuador (link) on Friday have been asking left and right:  What's up with the Garth sightings all over town this week?

The answer:  My plans to climb Mt. Cotopaxi over the weekend were foiled by full flights out of PDX.  Plan B, a Chinese weekend in Beijing, also hit a snag due to last minute troubles with documentation.  Such is the life of a standby traveler.

No regrets.  The weekend was freed up to catch up with friends, groove to some live music, and go on a couple of local hikes/trail runs.

When a bachelor weekend of climbing Ecuador's Mt. Cotopaxi falls through, sometimes you've gotta settle for a treacherously icy trail run on the Lower Macleay trail up into Forest Park.

But I also stayed home and knocked out some of those travel-time projects I mentioned on Friday, like a responsible adult?  Right?  (Coyly clears throat).

The only bummer was the timing.  Kathy and Lena were out of town for our sister Cheryl's bachelorette party, so I was a bachelor for yet another weekend.  This cute little face was desperately missed:

Lena bangs on an old laptop keyboard, makes a mess, and flashes another variation of her scrunchy-faced smile of excitement for Daddy.

Rescheduling another international weekend getaway will be a breeze.  My extra vacation days (for flight "bump protection") at Delta were easily cancelled.  Who knows where in the world my next mini-trek will be? Central America? Asia? Europe? South Africa?

If it's South America, then Ecuador or Belize would really hit the spot.

Coming this Friday on BlogSpot...

Crash! Do Jeep Wranglers really have nine lives?

Ecuador or China?

Dobro jutro, 2013!!

That's right, some of you know who I'm talking to.  I'm coming for you later this year!

This is Day 2 of my attempted weekend getaway to Parque Nacional Cotopaxi, Ecuador.  Each of the flights out of PDX have been too oversold to accept standby passengers.  China is my backup plan.

Climbing Mt. Cotopaxi is my first choice, but mountain biking through the volcanic national park might be a good fallback if I run out of weekend in Ecuador.  Although I plan my own tours, thanks to http://mundo-nativo.ch for this photo!

En route to the actual South American adventure, I could use my Galaxy Tab to knock out so many projects during the plane/bus/van rides:  my three full-length sermons for February, the student ministry teaching for next week, a few more credentialing book reports, and a Warner Pacific Alumni Council meeting agenda for Homecoming weekend.
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Yet another flight has departed this morning without open seats.  Beijing, China is looking more and more appealing.  There are open Business Elite seats on our Tokyo flight, tonight's connection to Beijing, and the return trip on Tuesday or Thursday.  My pre-approved "emergency" Delta vacation days (a backup for getting stuck in Quito, Ecuador this weekend) could stay on the books.  Since the additional days fall on Kathy's and my scheduled workweek, childcare for baby Lena is already covered.

The unknowns about Beijing:  Conflicting information about the January 1st kickoff of China's new 72 hour visa waiver program... and pretty much everything else.  I accidentally fell asleep last night without doing a lick of research on Beijing, so I'd better start downloading some free maps and guidebook samples to my tablet ASAP!

10:22 a.m. update:

My original itinerary to Ecuador has been scrubbed.  I'm now listed for today's flight to Beijing, via Tokyo.  Clarification on that 72 hour visa for China still needs to happen, though.  Even when improvising, breaking international law is never on the agenda.


The list of travel time busywork (above) excluded the biggest thing of interest to our readers:  new BlogSpot posts for 2013!  Blogging about some of my unmentioned 2012 overseas trips should keep me busy for a while.

Whatever happens on my trip this weekend, I'll make sure to publish a post or two next week to kick off a new year of Garth's Blog!