Pheebs and I embarked on our month’s trip to Ecuador and the Galapagos by leaving Basingstoke on a coach, destination Heathrow and a hotel for the night. The reason was because it was New Year’s eve and we had to catch the 7.25am flight to Madrid and then Quito. We managed to get there in one piece and have some food before hitting the sack for some sleep. Several hours later the alarm went off and we got up to catch the bus to the Airport. From there we caught a plane to Madrid (2 hours) where we waited for an hour before catching a 12 hour flight to Quito. The flight was bearable with people asking me where their seats were, who was in the toilet and standing in front of the TV whilst we were watching a film! Once we got there we got a taxi to the hotel where we met our tour leader Carlos and the rest of the group. We sorted stuff out for the tour and Pheebs and I headed to bed for a much needed sleep, although Pheebs did not really sleep, due to the high altitude.