Machu Picchu - Galapagos - Oct 6, 2025 - the return home

October 6, 2025 and epilogue

Today began like many other travel days.  Up before dawn and then off to the airport.  Luckily there was very little traffic.  Once we were checked in and our luggage on its way we made our way through an immigration check and then on to the ‘Punto de Control Carlos’, which is an Ecuadorian ‘Checkpoint Charlie’ (TSA check point).  We boarded the plane and in only a little over four hours we landed in Miami.

The line at Miami customs was incredibly long and slow with only two lanes open (out of about thirty).  Gigi asked where the Mobile Passport Control lanes were since there was nobody manning them (they are supposed to be quicker as you fill out the immigration form on a phone app).  Once we were told where to go we hustled to those lines.  It only took about five minutes to clear.

BUT WAIT!  YOUR CUSTOMS EXPERIENCE IS NOT OVER YET!  Yes, I was ‘randomly’ selected for a secondary screening.  The first question was, “When did you land in Lima?”  I answered correctly.  Then I was asked for the name of the hotel in Lima.  “I don’t know” was my answer.  The customs agent looked confused and asked “Huh?”  I had to explain that Lindblad / National Geographic arranged the hotel and when the bus stopped we all got off and went inside.  He seemed OK with that information.  Then I had to tell him how long we spent in Peru, how long in Ecuador, what we did, what we saw, and did we travel anywhere else.  Once he was pleased with my responses he let us go.

But the adventure is not over.  We then retrieved our luggage and were exiting when a second agent asked for our ‘orange slip’.  We didn’t have an orange slip as the first agent didn’t give me one.  He said OK and let us go on.  We found our luggage and as we were attempting to leave yet a third agent asked for my ‘orange slip’.  I explained that the interviewing agent didn’t give me one.  He asked for the agent's name.  I told him that he didn’t tell me his name so I had no idea what it was.  I described him as younger than me (that didn’t help much), with dark hair, black jeans, and a scruffy goatee, beard sort of thing.

So back upstairs we went so my story could be verified.  While waiting at the elevator a random agent came around the corner and said, “have a good one, fellas”.  I responded with “you too”.  The third agent and his partner gave me a sideways look.  “I guess he wasn’t talking to me”, I quipped.  Agent three thought that was funny and suddenly had a good sense of humor.  He found the interviewing agent who told him he just forgot to give me the ‘orange slip and that we could indeed leave.  Agent three escorted us out.  We thanked him for the escort and for his patience and went on our merry way.

I never did get my ‘orange slip’.  I wonder if I should call and ask for it.

Our flight to Kansas City was uneventful as well.  After we sat on the runway for about half an hour waiting for a storm to pass we finally took off.  The rest of the flight went as expected.  We touched down some 25 minutes late.  We finally arrived home around 12:30 AM.  By the time we got cleaned up and ready for bed it was after 1:15 AM.  It was a long day.  But it was good to finally be able to sleep in our own bed.

This adventure is over except for laundry and photos.

We are looking forward to our next adventure.

Epilogue:

This adventure was good.  We saw some things that we had always heard about and went to some places we had never been.

Machu Picchu was my favorite.  Perhaps the Incan Revenge had something to do with Galapagos being second on the list.  We didn’t really know what to expect with either so both were a welcome surprise.  I was expecting more green in the Galapagos, but since they were in the dry season I suppose the lack of greenery could be expected.

The biggest take away from this trip is to NOT drink ANY water in South America unless it has been treated or is from a bottle.  That in itself was an adventure!