Georgetown, Guyana

Today was a transit day, flying from St Lucia (UVF) to Georgetown (GEO). Our flight wasn’t until 4pm so we had lots of time to have a leisurely breakfast. We packed up, which was a bit more complicated than our flight to St Lucia as we were allowed only one checked bag, and the rest had to be carry-on safe.

Drove through the cute village of Choiseul one last time, and continued past Vieux Fort. Filled up at the Rubis just outside the airport. Didn’t need the gas receipt per the attendant - the rental folks just looked to make sure the tank showed as full.

We had trouble finding the car return entrance, so stopped outside arrivals and asked the Sixt folks. They just processed the return there, which worked out great for us as we didn’t have to haul our luggage from the rental lot.

Heather had checked earlier that the airport was air conditioned. We’ve previously been stuck waiting outside terminals in some hot countries, so wanted to know before showing up three hours before our flight. It was nice in the terminal, however we had to wait 30 minutes for the British Airways counter to open. Used the time to catch up a bit on my blog.

Once through security, the departure area was super crowded. The departure boards showed all five flights for the day leaving between 2:15pm and 2:43pm. (It was similar for arrivals - five flights in the day, landing within 30 minutes of each other). You’d think they would try to spread it out, even just a little.

Had a roti in the food court upstairs, it was pretty good. Figured that would tide us over until we got to our hotel in Georgetown.

It was slim pickings for souvenir shops, there were only three, outnumbered by liquor shops. For our souvenir case, we bought a mini hot sauce by Baron, (the brand I really liked, it’s served in most restaurants) and a little St Lucia parrot.

Our flight was the last of the five to depart, so we waited upstairs in the food court, which has a nice view of the runway and surrounding hills. Watched our British Airways plane land. The flight originates in LHR and most of the passengers stayed onboard, continuing on to Guyana. There were only ten or so of us that boarded in St Lucia. The flight was about 75% full, so we had no issues finding space for our carry-on, albeit a couple rows behind our seats.

The flight was 20 minutes quicker than advertised - we landed at GEO after 1h15. I was too engrossed in watching the start of John Wick / The Ballerina that I didn’t even realize we were approaching until the wheels touched down.

We were amongst the first passengers in line for immigration. Unfortunately we hadn’t filled out the online arrival form (I hadn’t found that during my research), so we had to go back in line. Awkwardly completed the rather lengthy form on our phones while moving forward in the line with our carry-on.

It was mostly automated once we submitted the form. Scanned our passport, had a pic taken, the doors opened, and then a final review (and stamp) by a human, and we were in! Actually it was just me that had the automation - there were no VIPs so Heather and few other passengers got routed through the VIP line, which is a fully human process.

We waited about 30 minutes for our luggage. We could see in the app that it was here in Georgetown, so weren’t panicked. Finally we realized our luggage had brought in separately, not around the conveyor, probably all the St Lucia baggage was the same. Oh well.

It was quick through customs (they just asked how long we were staying and then waved us through). We exited the arrivals area and found our driver with our name on a sign.

We completely forgot about our plans to get cash (Guyanese dollars) in our eagerness to get on the road. Fortunately we didn’t need any this evening.

It was a long drive to the hotel, over 90 minutes. The oil boom in Guyana has fueled a huge infrastructure build-out in the country. In a few years there will be highway all the way from Georgetown to GEO. Currently though, the first half from the airport towards town is a big construction area. Felt like home in Toronto. Once we got to the highway, it was smooth sailing. Our taxi driver was excellent, really friendly and informative.

We arrived at the Grand Coastal Hotel around 8:30pm. Checked in, quickly freshened up and then went down for dinner. From what we had read, the kitchen here is excellent. Both our dishes were tasty - Heather had the house fried rice, and I tried the grilled trout.

It felt like a long transit day, maybe cause both the drive to the airport in St Lucia and the drive to our hotel here in Georgetown were longer than the actual flight.

For those counting, (Gerry and Tanya), it’s country 107 for me and 67 for Heather.