Day 1: Lloret de Mar - Barcelona Airport - Frankfurt Airport - New York (Go from JFK Airport to Newark in New York) - Guatemala City - Antigua
Today is or has been a special day, considering that half the world has celebrated Christmas Eve dinner tonight, we have to say that we have celebrated a snack Christmas Eve that would allow us to return home at a reasonable time, not to sleep, but to rest a few hours before we set off, at 3 in the morning, to the airport of El Prat. Today begins our trip to Guatemala and Honduras. Today Christmas day we will cross the puddle to know one of the destinations with which we have been dreaming for so long and we will spend a few hours in a city that we will know in a few months and that is that in a few hours we have to go from JKF airport to Newark in New York to resume the day of flights and get on the third plane of the day, on the way to Guatemala City.
At this time of the morning the highway is practically empty, although as we supposed, after 10 minutes driving, we find a police check that forces us to wait 10 minutes until we get the 0.0 they are looking for part of a small reprimand for not carrying the driving license, something they tell us, is a reason for a fine, but that they will let it go for the first time and for going on a trip and not wanting to carry so much documentation on it. Without further setbacks we continue and it does not take more than an hour to reach the airport of Prat in Barcelona, finding us at the door of the T1 to our friends of Aparca & Vola, who as always will take care of our car these days and have come to pick you up at through his premium service, which includes a door to door essential, especially when it comes to flights like this, in which the time and hours prevail are not too comfortable to be moving from the parking lot to the terminal.
Prat Airport on December 25 at 5 in the morning
With the backpacks on our shoulders we approach the Lufthansa counter, company with which we will make the first 2 flights ahead, Barcelona-Frankfurt and Frankfurt-JFK in New York, and that is when we made the reservation, as we explained in the preparations for the trip to Guatemala and Honduras, the scale initially was going to be one in Houston, but after a time change it became a first stop in Frankfurt of 2 hours and a later one of 5 hours in New York, in which we will have to go from JFK to Newark. You can already imagine that we have one day as complete as possible to reach Guatemala that we will try to take it as calmly as possible.
After billing some backpacks, we have to say that they are almost half empty, and that is that every day that passes we are more aware of the little that is needed to travel, we approach the security controls to spend them almost alone. Today, December 25, the Prat airport looks almost deserted, almost lifeless, if it were not for some travelers who, like us, have chosen this day to cross the skies of the world.
Prat airport corridors
Our first flight from Barcelona to Frankfurt is already announced on the screens, on time as we expected and, above all we wanted, taking off at 6:55 in the morning getting on our way to what will be the first stop of this special adventure that awaits us. next days.
The flight gives us the first minutes incredible images of a full moon over the snowy mountains that create a landscape of the most special, and then show us an incredible sunrise, in which the sun and a full moon seem to fight each other, in positions faced over the snowy mountains.
Flying over the world
Could there be another better way to celebrate Christmas? Definitely not.
We landed punctually in Frankfurt at 9:15 in the morning, at which point it is time to put the batteries to find what is our boarding gate for the second flight of this trip to Guatemala and Honduras, which takes off at 10:50 and will take us to New York in 9 hours, we must change from JFK airport to Newark in the 5 hours we have of transit until our third and last flight to Guatemala City leaves, this time operated by United.
Frankfurt Airport
After passing a couple of passport controls, we spent one last at the boarding gate, taking a surprise and that just put our electronic ticket in the scanner skips a ticket notifying us that we have changed the seat.
Our face is a poem and we checked in at all times trying to have the first rows of the plane to leave before given the connection we have in New York and more telling the notices that have given us the long lines that They are mounted on immigration control.
We entered the plane, we will not deny that with the face of few friends, although the smile does not take long to appear and Lufthansa has made us a upgrade to premium and we are located in double seats, in emergency exit and with option of hiring wifi for 12 euros 24 hours. This flight, already before starting, we assume that it will happen quite quickly. There is no better way to start the trip than this!
Premium class in Lufthansa
The Frankfurt-JFK flight passes quickly and it is because of many inconveniences, which in this case have been 0, a flight is always a reason for travel, either one way, at which time we are glad why it is the beginning of a great adventure like the one back, with which despite finishing a trip, it reminds us that we can continue traveling, as Cristina told us on the return flight of our trip to Alsace 15 days ago.
We landed punctually in the JFK airport at 13:50 and after a half career we arrived at immigration control, where after leave Our footprints, in a process much faster than expected, we go to collect the backpacks to the luggage belt.
While we wait for our backpacks we receive a message from Blacklane announcing that our chauffeur is waiting for us at the departure gate to take us from the JFK airport to Newark, from where our flight to Guatemala City leaves and we have to say that having this service has been a great relief and more counting that we only had about 3 hours if we discount the controls and the waiting time that the company marks .
Our car for the JFK transfer to Newark
How to get from JKF airport to Newark in New York
There are several ways to raise the transfer from the JFK to Newark:
- Bus: The bus is the cheapest option. When we looked at it, it was priced at $ 27 per person. The only drawback is that we had to make a bus change in Manhattan for what 5 hours (which in the end are a couple less, since you have to count luggage collection, pass customs, controls….) We were fairly fair.
- Blacklane: This is a private transport that ensures you, upon payment, have a car at the airport gate and take you to the destination with all the comforts in a first-class car. At the moment when the car arrives at the meeting point they send you a message to give you the driver's data, with their phone number in case there is any setback, to be able to contact you. The transfer of JFK to Newark It comes out for about $ 120-130. Yes, it is twice as much as the bus, but if you consider distance and, above all, time, it is worth it and much more when you want to go safely and not risk losing your flight
- Cab: As we could find out, the transfer between JFK airport and Newark, it costs about 125 dollars.
We breathe easy when we see our backpacks arrive in the luggage belt and without wasting any more time we go in search of our private transport with which in about 20 minutes we enter Manhattan, feeling like inside a movie and not being able to stop looking at back and forth from the window, seeing scenes and scenarios as recognizable as the famous buildings with the emergency stairs or the street signs that we are sure we will savor in much more detail in a few months when we return to this incredible city but not in passing as today, if not to be a few days and discover it thoroughly.
JFK airport transfer to Newark
We took it for granted that Christmas today, New York would be lonely, because nothing could be further from the truth and we were very wrong, since it has not taken more than 5 minutes in Manhattan to see us stuck in a good traffic jam, which has given us taken to the end, more than 1 hour and a half to reach Newark, when the usual time to travel the 50 kilometers there from JFK airport to Newark They are usually done in about 60 minutes or so.
New York streets
We arrive at Newark airport When it is 4:30 in the afternoon, where after checking in the luggage and passing the security checks, we go to the boarding gate, which by the way change several times, to wait for our last flight flight to Guatemala City. We have to say that the first impression of both Newark and the terminal in which United operates, as well as the management of it in the checkin process (we were not allowed to do it online) and then the experience of the plane with which we will go to Guatemala, it's totally painful. Any local airport that we have used in Asia, manages flights much better.
Minis airplanes, overbooking on most flights, delays, errors in ticket management ... come on, we have seen what we have seen, we will think about it and long before traveling again with this company.
More practical information to prepare your trip to Guatemala
- 10 essential places to visit in Guatemala
- 10 essential tips for traveling to Guatemala
After 5 hours, which we spent practically like canned sardines, we finally landed in Guatemala City, thinking only of quickly passing immigration controls and meeting with the driver that Guatemala Destinations Tours, the agency with which we have hired all the transports This trip and we will talk about tomorrow, has sent us to take us to Antigua, to the hotel Meson del Valle, which will be our accommodation for the next two nights.
Nothing leave the plane we look at the only office that there is how the change is and they tell us that they give us 6.74 quetzales per euro if we change 1000 euros. Counting that the change is at 8.24, we consider that it is not a very good option and we leave it for tomorrow in Antigua, although the boy warns us that it will be very difficult for us to change euros to quetzales, since we work with dollars and Not with euros.
Change of euros to quetzales in Guatemala
As we mentioned before change to quetzales at the Guatemala City airport it is totally discouraged as they offer a very unfavorable exchange rate. In our case they gave us 6.74 quetzales if we changed 1000 euros, but 6.24 quetzales if it was less than that amount.
In Antigua you can go to Banco Agromercantil, in one of the corners of the Central Square, the only bank in the city where euros change to quetzales. The change is quite favorable, in our case at 8.20 quetzales per euro and without commission fee. The maximum that can be changed is 500 euros per person per day.
If you want to change dollars you will not have any problem, both in banks and in hotels, where they usually change (with less favorable change) a maximum of 25 dollars per day.
After our subsequent experience, we recommend you if you do not want to pay commissions when taking money from ATMs abroad and always have the current exchange, use the N26 card to pay and the BNEXT card to take money, our two favorite travel cards.
You can find much more information in the post of the best cards to travel without commissions.
We pass immigration control after a few minutes of queuing and we go straight to pick up the luggage, hoping that this time will pass quickly and be able to rest and it is that after so many hours and knowing that tomorrow we have a most complete day, no We see the time to get into bed and rest for a few hours.
Before leaving the airport they do an exhaustive baggage check, checking the labels with the boarding passes, something that we consider very important and we have not seen in almost any airport and right at the exit is Enrique, the person who receives us with a smile and will be accompanying us part of this travel through Guatemala and Honduras, as a driver in this area of the country, when we do not use local buses or shared vans.
Book the best rated tours and excursions in Spanish from Antigua by travelers:
- Lake Atitlan + Boat trip to Santiago
- Excursion to Copán
- Excursion to the Pacaya Volcano
- Guided tour of Antigua
- Chichicastenango Market and Lake Atitlan- Many more excursions and tours here
We get into a fully equipped and very comfortable van and in the middle of the night, it is already after 12 pm, we are on our way to Antigua, from the Mesón del Valle hotel, where we arrived after 40 minutes, an intense talk with Enrique about Guatemala and A few curves, which Enrique already warns us, can be converted in more than three hours, if there is traffic.
Enrique also tells us that on the roads in this area of Guatemala we will only find curves and slopes and that is that this area is not like Petén, which is a flat area and we can spend many minutes on the road without finding a curve or a change of level.
It is one o'clock in the morning when we say goodbye to Enrique until the day after tomorrow that we will go to Chichicastenango and Lake Atitlán and enter the Mesón del Valle in full darkness, only accompanied by the moon, where after checking in and entering our room, we have nothing else to do but lie down a while until 7:00 in the morning, at which time we set the alarm clock to begin to know Antigua, the first stop of our trip to Guatemala and Honduras.
Day 2: Antigua: Central Square - Santiago Cathedral - Convent of Santa Clara - Convent of Santo Domingo - Church of Carmen - Convent of the Capuchins - Church and Convent of La Merced - Arco de Catalina
