Different pictures of animals from this trip

I'll try to get captions,  but it doesn't seem like the mobile app supports them.

Great independent traveler report for the Galapagos

I think that I am going to be taking a lot of advice from this guy, but I definitely want to be able to snorkle with big fish as well, ideally hammerheads, whale sharks and giant manta rays.

A great independent report on traveling the Galapagos on a budget.

Bought our tickets to the Galapagos

Today, we bought tickets to the Galapagos Islands.  I had been going back and forth for a while about the airlines and in the end, went with LAN Chile, who I have flown with before and really enjoyed.

TAME is largely the cheapest airlines, but I read a lot of horror stories about their service, about not allowing non-Ecuadorians on the planes until all Ecuadorians were on first (this is apparently a typical practice, though I didn't experience it the last time I was in the country).  Most concerning were the number of people who said that the flights were often delayed or cancelled without notice, customer service was non-existent and refunds were next to impossible.

Of course, I don't want a refund, I want to get to where I want to be going around the time I hope to be there.

AeroGal had only slightly better reports for a bit more money, so I decided that I would go with LAN. Amazingly, after buying the tickets, they gave me a 20% discount and I have no idea why, but it made them $50 cheaper than TAME in the first place.