?> {"id":1580,"date":"2009-11-17T18:16:43","date_gmt":"2009-11-17T23:16:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.twofatbellies.com\/?p=1580"},"modified":"2009-11-18T22:17:33","modified_gmt":"2009-11-19T03:17:33","slug":"galapagos-wrap-up-and-return-to-guayaquil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.twofatbellies.com\/2009\/11\/galapagos-wrap-up-and-return-to-guayaquil\/","title":{"rendered":"Galapagos Wrap Up and Return to Guayaquil"},"content":{"rendered":"
We left the Galapagos early on a Saturday morning and flew back to Guayaquil so we were able to spend the whole day in the city before our flight back to New York the next afternoon. Overall we had such an amazing time in the Galapagos, and I highly recommend taking a tour with Lindblad Expeditions<\/a>. The entire staff was friendly and helpful, and they really take care of you the whole way through.<\/p>\n They had arranged for someone from the hotel to pick us up from the airport when we first arrived in Guayaquil, someone was at the check-in desk to greet us, and they took care of arranging our flights to the Galapagos and back, even picking up our boarding passes for us so we never had to wait in line to check in. Our luggage magically made its way to the ship and back, and even though our AeroGal seats were coach, we always had access to the VIP waiting lounge.<\/p>\n I’ve already raved about the naturalists on board that led all of our hikes and snorkeling adventures, but the crew members on the National Geographic Endeavour were also tremendous. The ship is small enough that we got to know a lot of the staff, like the crew that drove the zodiac boats back and forth from the landing sites. One person on our tour left his camera battery in his room on the ship and one of the crew members immediately retrieved it and brought it to him on the island. It\u2019s little things like that act of kindness that made the trip such a great experience. Every time we entered the dining room someone greeted us by name \u2013 try to imagine that happening on one of those giant cruise ships like the one we took to\u00a0Alaska<\/a>.<\/p>\n Several people on our tour had taken other trips with Lindblad Expeditions and loved every single one. I wish we had taken our trip to Alaska with them, and even though I had the greatest time our honeymoon in Egypt, I can\u2019t help but wonder if I might have enjoyed it even more had we gone with Lindblad instead. I sincerely hope that this trip to the Galapagos will not have been our first and last voyage with Lindblad Expeditions.<\/p>\n Back in Guayaquil, we headed to the Malecon again after dropping our stuff off at the hotel. We started on one end, where the artisan market is located.<\/p>\n \n