One adventure down.....

Well I can't upload any pictures right now.   But what a day.......

We left our house around 2:45 am and we headed to the airport. 

Our flight path was to be Atlanta to Miami, on to Tegucigalpa and then to La Ceiba.

When we checked in at the American desk first the lady directing everyone looked at our baggage and saw our 3 made for airlines boxes and said there was a "box embargo" and we could not take those boxes.....aahh!!  We knew of the box embargo a few years ago thanks to our friend, Nadine, but she had gotten a bag to put her box in.  To calm our fears I just went back and asked the lady about the bag option and she just explained that they just started the box embargo again a few weeks ago and we should have gotten a notice and we could not take them when flying into Teguc.  So we head to the counter to figure out a plan and to check in and see what we can purchase or do....but we were told that our flight from Miami to Tegucigalpa, Honduras was cancelled.  American Airlines was great. They put us on a Delta flight skipping the Miami leg and taking us straight to Teguc.  

We were thrilled by that...it meant our luggage had an even better chance of getting there  AND Delta doesn't have the box embargo (FYI if you fly American with boxes YES you can purchase a bag...the lady just thought they were out of them so she wasn't willing to commit when I asked)  So we no longer had to think or worry about our suitcases and boxes!!  Hooray!!    

So we sat in the Atlanta airport until 10 am and headed with no problems to Teguc....and ALL our luggage got there.  

We went through customs with no issues at all and headed to the TACA counter.  And waited and waited and WAITED behind a couple having some sort of problem and were in a major discussion with the one employee working the counter.  We started to get concerned we might miss our flight and were about to say something when that couple finished up and walked off to discuss whatever their issue was (we should have listened to the conversation so we could have prepared ourselves). Before we could chat with the TACA employee and get checked in we first had to wait for a La Prensa (Honduran newspaper) reporter to finish his conversation with the employee.  I laughed something must be going on in Teguc when I turned and saw the cameras rolling toward the counter and such....hmm....another clue ignored out of exhaustion.

finally...our turn...

and we are told "your flight is cancelled"  okay when and what flight can we get on?  

"No more today and none tomorrow" we are told.    (FYI flights run back and forth between these cities all the time all day)

Well I'll move past the crazy hour or so....and on to what happened.  

TACA airlines apparently didn't pay some bills (according to a bi-lingual employee who came to help with us) and they were grounded.  No flights at all.....and because of that all the other airlines flights to La Ceiba were full.   So what did that do??  They chartered a mini-van and driver for us and we drove from Teguc to La Ceiba. They were willing to pay for it all the way to Trujillo, but that put us on the road for hours after dark and we have a "off the road at dark" policy we try to adhere to.  

So here we are in La Ceiba. Our dear friend Brian was here when we landed in Teguc.  already waiting for us to arrive ready to head back to Trujillo where we'd planned on enjoying dinner at his house with his sweet family.  Instead, we got beds at a hostel and will be heading to Trujillo after a much needed night's sleep!!  

Now let me clarify...

We actually had a good day.  No whining or anything for the 7 hour drive.  Our driver found us SPOTLESS restrooms with handsoap and toilet paper even (never take those things for granted...that's a BIG deal in Honduras!!)  

If you look at the map.....because of the lack of roads, etc we drove from Tegucigalpa, to San Pedro Sula then to La Ceiba and then tomorrow morning we will get up and head on to Trujillo. 

 Just look at how much of this incredibly gorgeous country we got to see today.  

And we had another adventure together as a family and we all agreed today that we loved our adventures even when they were a little bit exhausting what memories we created and what fun we had on our chauffeured 7 hour drive.