Air Turbulence

I got to the airport at 6:30am. There were 4 people there - none of them worked for the airline. At 6:45 there was no change, and by 7 I started to get antsy...my flight was at 7:30 and the staff had only just started to trickle in. We 4, who had been there since the crack of dawn, stood in line as others started to come in...waiting, waiting...no word from the airline. Porters were bringing in heaps of luggage too - and making a column parallel to our queue.

At 7:30 the security guy who checks your papers and carry on for liquids before you check your bags set up his little station....and the American tourists belonging to the column of luggage came in too. People at the head of my queue went OFF. I can´t say for sure what they were saying, but I´m pretty sure it was along the lines of, "I don´t fucking think so!" The official started taking the Americans first and then things REALLY got heated. The Americans kept saying, "No problema, lots of time...relax!" not realising that the airline had cancelled our flight and that we had now been waiting, with no notice or information for the past hour and a half.

By the time my turn came I was ropable...very little sleep, cancelled flight (and missed connecting flight as a result), loud queue jumping Americans...I was not a happy camper. I stepped up to the counter and rudely asked the guy what the hell happened to my 7:30 flight?! Poor guy...welcome to 2012! I waited at that counter for 20 minutes while he tried to sort out my flights.

In the end, instead of Iquitos - Lima - Guayaquil, landing at 3:30pm, I got Iquitos - Lima - Quito - Guayaquil, arriving at 6:45pm. I was going to spend my day in airports and airplanes. Sigh. By the time boarding time came round I was a lot calmer and I was glad that I had the chance to apologise to the fella from the counter - it wasn´t his fault his company cancelled my flight.

The flights were boring and uneventful...the only cool thing of notice was the videos that they showed on the flights. They were from Just for Laughs -Gags. My Canadian friends will know what I´m talking about. At first you could hear the odd giggle here and there, slowly, as others tuned into what was playing, you could hear full on LOLs. Ahhhh, Canadians making the world laugh with their gags - its our gift.