- This week I get stuck in the country with just three flights a day, somehow manage to mess up
making a coffee machine coffee, and I get the latex glove
treatment on a Caribbean island, all in my quest to get home from Suriname. Well, good morning from Paramaribo, the capital city of Suriname, South America's smallest country. And it seems that Suriname might not just be South America's
smallest country, but also, potentially the country that's
hardest to get in and out of, as I'm finding out today. See, today I was supposed to be flying from Paramaribo to a place
called Belem in Brazil, which apart from having
the best place name in the whole of South America, well, it was one of only three flights that leave Paramaribo,
and indeed Suriname today, because there was that flight and then two flights to Amsterdam and the airline that operated that flight, Fly All Ways, fly not very often at all, because they contacted me this morning, and told me that my flight was canceled. And I'm stuck here in a country that seemingly has no escape. You see, the country of Suriname
is a pretty isolated place, aside from the two daily flights across to Amsterdam about a 10 hour flight away. There's about three or
four international flights every day from the whole country. It's really, really hard
to get in and to get out. Every other flight today
is completely fully booked. Most of the flights
tomorrow that I've seen so far are completely fully booked. So I don't know how long I'm gonna be stuck here in Paramaribo. I'm supposed to be heading to Brazil, and then heading up to the US
via some Caribbean islands. That's all gone for a burton now, 'cause I don't think
there's any chance on Earth I'm gonna get to Belem in
time for tomorrow's flights. But I'm gonna head back to
my hotel and have a look and see what my options are, and see if I could find a
way out of this mess, really. It's a little bit like
the "Hotel California." You can sort of check into Suriname, but you can never actually leave. So then Suriname the smallest
country in South America. It's got one international
airport at Paramaribo, the nation's capital city. But despite this, there's only a handful of flights a day from Paramaribo. Aside from the daily flight
to Amsterdam with either KLM or Surinam Airways, there's
only a handful of flights. Surinam Airways sends a 737 to Aruba, and Copa fly to Panama
City a few times a week. Surinam Airways also fly
to Georgetown in Guyana. And then there's a
handful of other flights that only fly on one or two days a week. There's also the flight
to Belem in Brazil, that goes a couple of days a week, that I was booked on
before it got canceled. Because there's so few flights, whatever flights there are
get booked up really quickly. I looked at taking a flight
to Georgetown or Panama City, but both were completely
sold out for over a week. It seemed my options
to get out of Suriname were pretty limited unless
I fancied a round trip across the Atlantic to
Amsterdam and back to the US which wasn't particularly appealing after just arriving from
Amsterdam the day before. Well, I have some good news. I have managed to find a
flight out of Suriname, that's actually got seats on it, and takes me to somewhere where
hopefully there's a chance of me getting a flight onwards to the US. The bad news is it's not
for another two days, so I'm sort of stuck here,
but hey, two more days here. I dunno, it's not the
worst place to be, is it? I suppose. - [Narrator] Two days later. - All right, it is go time. It is 2:00 AM, and I've
managed to get myself a seat on a flight out of Paramaribo
at 5:00 AM this morning, which means I've had no sleep. I'm absolutely exhausted, but hopefully this is
gonna take me somewhere where I can get a flight back to the US. Hi, good morning. All right then, heading to the airport. Hopefully enough time. It takes about an hour to
get to the airport from here, in Paramaribo, fingers
crossed we've got enough time 'cause my flight leaves
in about two hours. Thanks very much. Thank you, have a good day. All right, so we're at the airport. My flight leaves at 5:00 AM,
flying on Caribbean Airlines, up to Port of Spain, hopefully
to be able to connect onto something back to the US. Hi, good morning. - [Clerk] Hi, thank you. With us? - [Noel] Yes, indeed, yeah. - So you have a lot of... - [Noel] Oh, yeah, sorry. - [Clerk] You have Surinam Airways. - [Noel] Yeah, Azerbaijan. - [Clerk] I'm gonna take it off, sorry. I'm gonna put in Caribbean Airlines. - [Noel] Aw, I was
collecting those as well. - [Clerk] Oh, do you want them? - [Noel] No, you're all
right, I was joking. - Okay, this is your lounge pass. - [Noel] Okay, okay. - [Clerk] To use in the lounge, and this is your boarding pass. - [Noel] Perfect, thank you very much. - [Clerk] You're welcome,
you have a good flight. - [Noel] Thank you. Hi, good morning. Perfect. - Welcome-
- Thank you. Come through to the Sudoku Lounge here. Paramaribo airport, which
is okay, it's quite nice. As lounges go, it's quite nice, actually. And the airport's a bit ramshackle. It's a bit like a warehouse
in the middle of the jungle. A bit basic, but the lounge is okay. This is quite nice up here. There isn't much here,
it's about the size, probably even smaller than
East Midlands Airport, back in the UK, got some coffee at least. Okay, well that's our flight. Might as well finish my coffee
and then let's get going. - [Announcer] Caribbean
Airlines now advise their business class passengers
and passengers seated on the emergency exit rows. Please keep your bag forward and warning- - [Noel] Thank you. Hi.
- Hi, thank you. - [Noel] Thank you.
- [Attendant] You're welcome. - And in true Suriname
style, the plane is about a 10 minute walk away across the apron. Good morning, how are you? Thank you very much. 3A, thank you. - Third row, on your right.
- Thank you. All right, they're much sooner
than I thought we would be. Welcome on board the Caribbean
Airlines, Boeing 737, it's not a Max 8, it's
just a Boeing 737-8. This is business class. Look at the leg room we get here. There's a screen and everything here. We look through that in a little while. It's only about an hour
and a half flight I think, over to the Port of Spain,
which is not in Spain, it's in Trinidad, which
isn't too far from here. But hopefully from there we can get out on another flight back to the US, 'cause there's a few
flights a day from there. And they do use these flights
on some quite long routes, by the way, six hours I think, is about the longest up to New York. So this sort of leg room is decent for the long flights up to New York. But it's even better for
a short flight like this. I need, I still need coffee. I never got to drink my
coffee in the lounge. So they've boarded the flight, like an hour before the
flight is due to go. It's 20 past four in the morning. We're not due to be going till five. I'm not quite sure why it
takes an hour to board a 737, but it doesn't read,
'cause we're all on board and we've still got 40
minutes until we leave. But the good news is I've
managed to get a seat on American Airlines out of
Port of Spain, up to Miami on a flight that leaves at 7:00 AM. We get in at half five,
the flight leaves at seven. So fingers crossed, an hour
and a half in between flights which you might have enough
time to hopefully check in for a flight up to Miami. So the good news is we've taken
off about 30 minutes early, and it reckons that we should be landing into Port of Spain about
35 minutes early as well. So fingers crossed we might
actually have a chance of making this connection
I've booked up to Miami. I've then gotta get a flight from Miami, across to Houston, hopefully. There are a few flights a day from Miami to Houston with American and United. So fingers crossed. But let's cross that
bridge when we get to it, I've gotta get to Miami first. Get a light continental
breakfast on this flight. Just a couple of bakery items, hopefully some coffee coming soon. But this is nice to get
something, up all day. All right, that started already
sent down into Trinidad. We should be on the ground pretty soon. Hopefully enough time
to get this connection, if I'm still awake by then. - [Pilot] Hey, this is- Welcome to Trinidad, this is the Piarco International Airport. On behalf of captain thank you for flying with
us, and enjoy your morning. Once again, thank you. - Thank you, ladies, thank you. So we've landed in Trinidad, about 30 minutes ahead of schedule, which means theoretically it
gives me an extra 30 minutes to get my flight up to Miami. There's an American Airlines
plane on the next gate. I don't know if that's my flight. But I need to go and check in first. It's not a through flight, so I need to go through immigration, check in again and come back through. All right, through
immigration, through customs. That was slightly drawn
out process but nevermind. Need to go find where the check-in is now, and hopefully we've got time, check in 'cause I need a wee as well. I don't want to do that and waste time before I get checked in. So let's go. And the sign says proceed
to gate four immediately. Will do as soon as I can
get checked in, come on... Good morning, how are you? Thank you. - So, I don't have any bags to check in? - [Noel] No bags, just carry on, please. Yeah, thank you. - And the destination- - [Noel] All right, perfect. - Okay, so both your
boarding passes are here, and you can proceed to gate
four as soon as possible. - Wonderful, thank you
very much, and as well, thank you very much, thanks. All right, we're checked in, and I've got four Ss on
my boarding pass, yay! Probably 'cause I booked
it like this morning so, that probably explains it. Anyway, let's go and
head through security, and my four S security, extra
extra security, love it. Now, getting four Ss on your boarding pass isn't usually a good thing. It means you've been randomly
selected for extra screening or more likely you've just
booked a last minute flight, into the US a few hours
before as I had in this case. Now this often means extra delays. Something that I could do without today. But as it turned out, at Trinidad, the enhanced screening
line meant I could skip most of the regular line
and it was even quicker. Good morning, thank you. Do I need extra touching today? All right, thank you, have a good one. All right, so my extra security
screening not only meant that I got to skip a little
bit of the queue, as well, like at security but also
got touched up as well. So it's a win-win. So now, down to the gate, 'cause they again are
boarding in really early. We're like an hour before,
and they've just called saying we need to go straight to the gate. So let's go and get to gate number four for our ride over to Miami. I got down to the gate where
my flight was already boarding. The bad news was that my
four Ss were coming back to haunt me as I needed
touching up one last time, before I got onto the gate. - Okay, so you have- - [Noel] All right, thank you. Oh, they've already done my
extra search but is that okay? - [Employee] Yeah, that's it. - [Noel] Yeah, okay. Okay, so where? - [Employee] Down there.
- Down here, okay. All right. Hi, they've sent me here. I've already had my extra
search, but I don't know. - [Security] Here, you all right? - [Noel] Yes. - [Security] Right, right to me. - [Noel] Yeah, okay. - See your backpack, please.
- [Noel] Hi. - [Noel] Backpack, yeah, again. They did all this stuff,
the security as well. All right, thank you. - You're welcome. - [Noel] Thank you. All right, thank you. - [Security] Enjoy your flight. - [Noel] This way, all right, thank you. - Good morning. - Hi, good morning, how are you? Good, thank you. I made it. I made it on board. American 737 Max 8, back to Miami. I just want to get back now. Hopefully not a long flight. I dunno how long it is,
three hours or so maybe? I don't know, but we're on it's way back. That's the important thing. - [Pilot] Miami will be
three hours and 32 minutes. We will be flying in and
out of our Boeing 737 Max. - [Announcer] Welcome to
your American Airline flight. If you haven't already
fastened your seatbelt, insert the metal end into the buckle. - I'm airborne from Trinidad heading back to the US,
back to Miami at least. And then we've got a couple
of hours in between flights there to go through global
entry and everything, and get back through TSA to get assigned from a flight over to Houston. Now normally, American aren't my favorite airline in the world. They've always been very hit
and miss for me in the past. But today they weren't actually too bad. We got a breakfast service,
well, a pot of oatmeal at least, as we flew over the Caribbean
on our way back into Miami. As the American coastline came into view, I was just glad to be getting home. This had been a crazy trip
around Europe and Kazakhstan, before coming home via South America. I just had one more leg
to make it home to Texas. - [Pilot] On behalf of
your Miami based crew, at American Airlines, we
want to welcome you to Miami. - [Attendant] Thank you
very much for flying today. - Thank you, bye-bye. Welcome to Miami. That's me ride over from Trinidad. That's quite a nice fight actually. I enjoyed that with American. Not very often I say that about American. Not my favorite airline,
actually they were pretty decent today and the crew were really nice. Let's get through immigration, and I'll make our way to
our last flight of the trip. That was all really straightforward. Straight through global
entry in about 30 seconds, and then straight through pre-check, and clear in about another 30 seconds, and back outside again here at Miami. Nice and easy does it. And I'm gonna try and find a lounge. I've got about three hours
till my next flight outta here, so I believe there is a lounge somewhere. I'm just gonna see if we can find it. How you doing, good morning, how are you? I've just come off an international
business class flight, but also I've got BA
status as well so hopefully one of those will get me in. - BA will get you in. - [Noel] Okay, let me, I
don't think it shows on, it shows Ruby on there.
- You have Ruby? - [Noel] Yeah, I've got
it shows on there as Ruby, but I've got silver now. - Get to enjoy all the benefits. - [Noel] Do you get it, with international business class as well? - International business
class gives you access but for the Admirals Club. - [Noel] Oh, okay. - Flagship is only on certain international like Europe, Australia. - [Noel] I'm business class,
so that would've got me to the Admirals Club, but
this is Flagship, okay. - Correct, now with the status, you're always looking for the Flagship. - Awesome, thank you very much. I appreciate your help, thank you. So because of my little
mileage run across to Gatwick and back when I was in
Amsterdam earlier on this week, at some point, I dunno, I've
lost total track of time, but that got me status
and it got me emerald, I think status, they don't do, Oneworld don't do silver,
gold and all the rest of it, like every other alliance does. They do like emerald, platinum and ruby, and all sorts of other stuff. So I'm always confused. But anyway, BA silver status,
emerald level I think. And it gets you into the
Flagship Lounge here at Miami, which is quite nice, really. They've got some really nice food, loads of little sitting areas around, so quiet as well. Very, very nice. And the food, look at this food. I've gone for some lemon chicken, with some rice for mid lunch today. I've got about three hours here, until all my flight leaves to Houston. So let's sit here. Have a bite to eat, have
a rest, maybe have a nap. All right then, time to head to the gate. Say goodbye to Miami and let's go home. Hi there.
- How are you? - [Noel] I'm good, thank you, how are you? - I'm good, here's your pass. - [Noel] Thank you, have
a great day, thank you. Hi there, how are you? - Hi. - All right, on board,
last leg of the trip. It's time to go home. So here we are then the
last flight of this trip, airborne out of Miami, we are
crossing the Gulf of Mexico, right now, 14 days after
I set off from the US. Yep, that's right. I've covered 26,248 miles on this trip. 20 flights, two trains, 11 videos filmed, 10 countries I've been in on this trip, all around the world. And yeah, it's about time now to get back, and spend a bit of time
at home with the family, resting for a bit, if
there is such a thing. So yeah, I'm gonna have a
glass of rum and Diet Coke on this flight I think to celebrate. I've had some really
good fun on this trip. Some really cool adventures. The Antonov in Kazakhstan
being the absolute highlight. Suriname being another massive highlight, even though I got stuck
there, the flight down there was just absolutely incredible. I've just had an amazing
time on this trip. It's been really, really cool. We got served slightly
more than a pot of oatmeal on this flight and pretty
soon we'd have reached the other side of the Gulf of Mexico and coasted in over Texas, to begin our descent down into Houston. - [Pilot] Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of Miami based flight group, and Miami based flight
attendants, we would like to be the first to welcome
you to Houston, Texas. - [Noel] I'd like to say thank
you to my amazing Patreons for their ongoing support. You can join them at the
link on the screen now, for access to my WhatsApp group, regular Zoom calls with me and much more. - [Attendant] Have a good one, thank you. - Thank you. Right back in Houston. Grateful I went with American, actually. I'm early as well. Right, and head through and grab my car, and my ride back home. All right, so welcome back to Houston. Home at last after a crazy trip, and craziness in Suriname as well. But I really enjoyed that. In the end it all came together, and it just proves that things
always end up working out. Like regardless of what happens, you always end up getting back. There's always a way
home and we've done it. So thanks ever so much for
watching, appreciate it a lot. As always, take care and
I'll see you on the next one. Bye for now.
