the way out is the way in -- to Ecuador

Three weeks until I fly to Ecuador and last night I finally took care  
of one of those little essential things -- got a return ticket.
Ecuador won't let you in unless you can show you can leave.

I was talking to my son about his New York internship and advising him  
to write down his goals before he left. At least with me, I will set  
goals in my mind, acheive them and not even remember they were goals.

So one of my goals was to feel more comfortable as a traveler. I never  
wrote it down, but I need to do that.

Last night as I was looking at the three legs of my trip home, I felt  
much more at ease evaluating the merits of different departure times,  
airports and legs.
I almost forget a few months ago how much less confidence I had in  
doing that.

I knew I wanted to fly out mid-morning -- so I didn't have to wake up  
and get ground transportation in the twilight.

Did I want to transfer in LAX and have a 16 hour duration trip or Las  
Vegas and SFO and have a 22 - 26 hour trip. Normally one would lean  
towards the shorter flight, but LAX has a reputation as a travelers  
hell. When our family returned from Mexico through LAX, one of my then- 
yougnsters labeled LAX, "the bad place."

So a call to a friend who travels a lot. She said LAX wasn't great but  
getting better. And she said, with my new TSA pre-clearance Global  
Travelers card, I should sail through customs.