All the way south

Easter Island is not big. It's about the same size as Lichtenstein (168 sq km), with a population of just under 5000 people. Despite being a five hour flight out into the pacific, I was expecting a little plane with little or no amenities. I had my novel ready to go. I could barely believe it when our assigned gate was connected to a 787 Dreamliner, one of the best planes in the sky. Despite the amazing transport, this was still with dodgy LATAM airlines, who reinforced the skeptical opinion I hold of them when, after leaving the gate and making our way towards the runway, we had to go back because they "forgot three people". This added an hour plus to our journey time, so I managed to squeeze in three movies on my way across the pacific. The massive size of our airliner was a total mismatch to the tiny airport in Hanga Roa, the only town on the island. I had never left a plane this big by walking on the tarmac before. A sleepy late arrival to a sleepy town slap bang in...

There are a few different ways you can "do" the Galapagos, but from what I read the best way, where you make the best use of your precious/expensive time there, is to go on a multi-day boat cruise, where you sleep on the boat as it travels to the next destination overnight. So that's what I decided to do. When I was booking the tour in the Quito hostel-attached travel agency, a friendly Finn named Marko overheard that I needed to go to the airport at the same time as him the next day, so we agreed to share a taxi. As it turned out, we'd be sharing more than that - we were booked on the same tour boat, and sharing the same cabin. The complications that arose from making a last minute booking meant that Marko and I needed to fly there a day before our tour started, as the daily early flight on the day of the tour was booked out. This meant we had a night to chill out on Santa Cruz, the main Galapagos island, which has a well developed though touristy town named Puerto...