October 28th & 29th – End of tour, travel home.
Explorer tour official ends – Shopping around Lima
No wake up call this morning, the tour official ends today. Five of the group members will be leaving this afternoon so we had a chance to meet for lunch at Yamis, a local restaurant near the hotel. After our good byes, I walk down to the square near the ocean front. Many shops and restaurants to choose from including many of the modern franchises that I see back home. Some of them include a Tony Roma’s, K.F.C., and even a Hooters Restaurant. Two other group members are still in Lima for the night and we decide to meet for dinner back at my hotel. We walk back to the square and pick one of the many restaurants for one last good meal.
October 29th 2005
Spend the day in Lima – Flight back home
Flight to Edmonton
Lima to Toronto - Air Canada
Flight # 81 Depart 10:40 p.m. / Arrive 6:40 a.m. next day
Fly Time – 8:00
Toronto to Edmonton - Air Canada
Flight # 123 Depart 8:10 a.m. / Arrive 10:25 a.m.
Fly time – 4:15
Tried to sleep in this morning but no luck, getting up early on most mornings has set my sleep pattern. Most of the day is spent walking around the main streets of the hotel area. I made sure to stay where it was safe, I did not need any thing to happen on this last day. I spend most of the day at the square and decide to try out the local Tony Roma’s. The menu is not quite the same as back home but it was close. The day seemed to drag on a little as I just waited around for my flight. I finally had a chance to send a post card, the last day and now I send one! It costs $5.50 Soles and I was a little surprised at this price, other things are cheap but not sending a letter back home.
Back at the hotel to get my Luggage out of storage and have a taxi take me to the airport for $14.00 U.S. I could have booked a shuttle for a little less but it was nice to have the car to myself. My flight departure time was 10:40 PM but there was a small delay, off by 11:00 pm.
October 30th 2005
Arrive back in Canada
Land in Toronto a little behind schedule and after the bus ride over to the customs area it was starting to look like I may miss my flight. After getting in the slowest line and then claiming my luggage I indeed missed my flight by just a little. Another flight was leaving in two hours and it gave me a chance to stretch after 8 hour flight from Lima. In the end I made it back into Edmonton and then home by 2:00 pm and then I was asleep by 2:05! It was a lucky thing that I woke up once to set my alarm for my morning wake up call for work.
This turned out to be another great adventure and I was certainly glad to have experienced it all. Explorer is a great company and affordable. There is other companies that offer the same trip with better accommodations and transportation but, of course, you will be paying much more.