HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY: New continent means steps closer to home
BUMMER OF THE DAY: Airport-plane-airport-plane-airport-plane
WORD OF THE DAY: No in seat TV’s
DISTANCE TRAVELLED: 10,312km
Today I leave South America for the final time. Really, this is it. It has been a great 6 months on this amazing continent, I take a lot of fantastic memories away with me and there really is so much to see and do here. I do have to say that Easter Island is a massive highlight for this section, just phenomenal, as well as the Galapagos and Antarctica, let alone the mainland and the overall experience of living and travelling overland in a massive yellow truck for 5 months.
My alarm went off at 4.15am this morning. I had 36 hours of travel to look forward and this will be one of my last BIG travel days of my Odyssey. It is hard to start looking at those kind if stats but as the saying goes all good things must come to an end, I am just lucky I still have exciting things to look forward to, it’s not like I am going home, back to a ‘proper’ job and life as it was before (I will miss that), but to be at the end of my Odyssey that started 13 months ago is a little scary.
The transfer was on time at 5.15am and there were 4 of us getting the 5 minute drive to the airport. As we packed our bags in the back of the van we were given a departure gift of a miniature wooden moai on a necklace. It is not something I would have bought myself, but it looked pretty cool on and was glad that I had a small souvenir for myself. The airport was busy when we got there, but the transfer company timed it just right as there were only 7 people in front of me and the check-in staff was moving people through fast. I was able to check my bag only to Miami where I would have to collect it and then re-check it to Barbados, but the check-in chick was able to give me my boarding passes all the way through and I was also given window seats which was great. The scales weren’t working when I put my bag on, so I am not sure what it weighed, but I would have to say it was at its maximum of 23kg. The top handle has now totally ripped one end and lost its stuffing and the side carry handle is ripped just over half way. I will definitely need to buy a new pack when I get home, but I will be sending Zeme back from Australia with a second bag (I think I have told him this already) so maybe we could use this backpack. We could probably get it fixed cheap in Addis and then Zeme could have it as there really isn’t anything else wrong with it. Hmmm maybe I could get it fixed in Oz and then I don’t have to buy another one at all……. Nahhhhhhhhhhhh. I was surprised that all the shops were open, I guess when you don’t have daily flights and when there are flights you open at whatever hours the planes leave. They were all selling the same stuff I saw yesterday, so I went straight through the security screening and then waited in the lounge for the boarding call. They had free Wi-Fi at the gate so I only had to kill 50 minutes and the call was made. It is a free for all at the gate, but as they don’t have an air bridge they board the aircraft via the front and rear of the plane. As my seat was 28A, I headed straight to the rear. There were lots of people taking photos on the tarmac of the plane (something Oz airports don’t let you do) so I also took 2, but as it was still dark they didn’t turn out that great.
The flight was 4 hours and 10 minutes operated by LAN on one of their 767-300 aircrafts. I really like their planes as they have in-seat TV’s and I find they have plenty of overhead space and they have high arm rests. The only thing is their seat belts are a little on the short side, with me having to really suck in all I had on the flight from Lima but this flight back to Santiago seemed have longer belts as I know it had nothing to do with me losing weight over the last 5 days. We took off on time at 6.55am and it was a shame that I arrived in the dark and we left in the dark as I wonder if you can see any of the moai’s from the air? The 7 moai’s and a few of the other are located right near the airport, so I rekon you might have been able to see something if we had daylight. I was hoping to get a sunrise at least, but that was pretty much a non-event so I settled in and watched 2 movies, one was Young Adult with Charliz Theron and the other was Contraband with Mark Walberg. Breakfast was served at 8am and I am sad to report that I had someone sitting next to me which was okay, I knew my luck had to run out eventually, but she had really long and wiry hair and it was rubbing on my arm the whole way which was getting really annoying. Yuck. The morning departure and the crappy sunrise was made up when we came into Santiago. The beautiful Andes were snow-capped and magnificent in the afternoon light. It is hard to imagine that we drive through them countless times over numerous countries and they really never fail to impress. I got some beautiful photos as we came into land just after 11.30pm. Well 1.30pm once we wound our watch forward 2 hours.
My next flight wasn’t till 7.35pm, so I had a good 6 hours to kill at Santiago International. As this was a domestic flight we didn’t have to clear any customs and I could have left the airport if I wanted to as I didn’t have to pay the arrival visa of 61USD that I had to last time as I wasn’t on an international flight. But by the time you fluff around with taxis and the likes I couldn’t be bothered and I have been twice now to Santiago city itself so I was okay to spend the time at the airport. The domestic terminal is in the same building as the international terminal. You just need to catch the lift or walk up 3 flights of stairs to the departure counters and customs formalities. Last time I was here the customs queue was 200 people long, today there was one man in front of me!! Woo hoo. So I sailed through customs and this is one of those places that once you have been security screened you find yourself straight inside the duty free shop that you HAVE to walk through, very smart. I didn’t and couldn’t fit anything to buy even if I wanted to, well till I got to the Kipling Bag section where I stopped ‘just to have a look’. I LOVE Kipling bags. They are expensive, but they are hard wearing and very good quality, so I don’t mind paying the money for them. I got one in London in July last year and I recently bought one in Venezuela. The thing that caught my eye was their roll bags. This could solve my packing room issues buying one of these bags as an extra carry on or replace my backpack as I feel having a roll bag, a backpack and my handbag maybe a little too many items. But then I think back to when I left Australia and the ensuing 3 months of flight travel, I travelled with my backpack, a handbag and a saddle bag and never had any issues. I just feel bad having that much hand luggage. Anyway, I just left it as it was. I can always buy another bag on my way somewhere. But as these things have a way of planting a seed, the more I thought about it the more I liked the idea and they had a roll bag that matched the colour of my handbag and everything. Anyway I found a restaurant where I could chill for a few hours and I ordered lunch and spent the last of my Chilean pesos. I was able to kill time till 4pm and then thought I better move on and free up the table. The airport is pretty cool. There are a lot of duty free shops and a lot of food outlets as well. I walked to one end, found my gate and passing Dunkin Donuts I stopped and bought a drink and 2 donuts and thought I would just ‘check’ the price of the roll bags. Just checking, okay. So I went back to the duty free shop and spent around 30 minutes looking at the bags, there were 4 different styles, but all around the same price. I really was in a quandary on whether to buy one or not. So I left and walked to the other end of the airport and passing back past the same duty free shop I decided to buy the damn thing. I felt guilty going back for the third time, they probably thought I was doing something dodgy, so after another 30 minutes, checking the dimensions, which ones were cabin approved and the capacity of each one, plus of course the very important decision of colour, I bought the 30L which extends to 33L blue to match my handbag I bought in Caracas. It wasn’t cheap, but I justified that I would get my monies worth and I really did need to spread some stuff out for all my US flights with their security so tight I would have to be taking things in and out of my bags and as they were things would just not go back in the same way with my current situation. Seriously all my bags were packed to zip bursting capacity. So I left the duty free shop for the fourth time finally with my new Kipling roll bag and I felt great about the purchase. I had an hour before the boarding of my flight, so I needed to find somewhere that I could unpack my backpack and condense everything to just 2 pieces, my handbag and my new roll bag with the plan of fitting my backpack in the roll bag till I got to Barbados to reshuffle everything. Well the good thing is that everything fit into the roll bag and I still had some room (not much) to spare. The thing that didn’t fit was my backpack and I just wasn’t ready to throw it away yet. After extending the new bag, shuffling a few things I managed to zip the sucker with the backpack inside and the damn thing would stand up on its own, it was overloaded and top heavy. I sat and though about it for a few minutes and then a brainwave hit me, why don’t I put my handbag in the backpack and wallah I am back to 2 pieces. Man I am a smart cookie and I was able to take a few things out of the roller to lighten the load. This is now the perfect solution for the rest of my trip and totally happy now with my new purchase. I just need to be a little more organized to have my air necessities out before I get on the plane (small camera, IPod, book and writing pen and pad) in my flying pants pocket and everything else can go in the overhead. So it will be more imperative that I board early to get my bags on first, as there isn’t enough room for all the roller bags that people take on the flights and it really is a first in best dressed basis.
20 minutes before boarding my name plus 11 other people was called over the PA system. You know when you hear your name but you’re not expecting it, you’re not sure if it was you that they called. My first thought was that I was late for my flight, but I was at the gate and everyone was still there, so I lined up with all the other people and they just wanted to input my passport details (heading to the US your agent should do this) and then they re-issued my 2 boarding passes I got in Easter Island onto American Airlines paper, same seats. There was a micro second I thought maybe it could be an upgrade, but with that many people lined up I had to laugh, as if!
AA boarded us in sections, so I had to wait for the second call to get my butt and 2 bags onto the plane. There was a manual check off all bags on the air bridge as we boarded the flight. There were 7 tables all set up and every single person got searched. I felt bad when she opened my backpack and there was a handbag in there, it looked dodgy, but she just checked the bag and then I was onto the plane. I thought it would have been a bigger plane for a 9 hour flight but American Airlines operate a 767-300 with the configuration of 2x3x2 and the overhead space on these are crappy. The roller bag would fit in long ways and had to be turned on its side, and luckily I got in when I did as there were people that had to put their bags 6-10 rows behind them. Sitting in the 2 seats I was living in hope for around 10 seconds that my seat next to me would be free when an older lady turned up taking the seat next to me. Dang it. The other downside was that there was no in-seat TV’s on this flight, 9 hours and no TV’s. I should have checked with Beth if LAN had planes that operated this route, they definitely have newer planes and the flight was pretty full. There was a spare seat on the row beside us and one behind that, but how do you tell people to move when I wasn’t prepared to move away from my window, the seats were just begging to be taken and no-one moved even after the plane was all locked up and ready to go. What is wrong with people? As it turned out I am glad I didn’t ask the old duck to move as she was in a frail state of mind but more on that later.
The flight time was 8 hours and 20 minutes and the single movie that they showed on the flight started 30 minutes after take-off and was the newest Sherlock movie, which really is quite old now as Kate and I watched that at the movies in Buenos Aires in January. They did provide free headphone, of the bud variety and the ones that you can keep for other flights, they are normally 2USD to purchase on domestic flights. I stuck to listening to my IPod till dinner was served which was a choice of chicken or beef. I was told by someone on my Madagascar flight that his mate worked in the airline catering business and always told him to stay away from the chicken dishes with the length they sit etc…. I’ve never had a problem but for some reason I remembered it on this flight and opted for the beef. The old duck started to talk to me then. I’m normally not a talker on flights, but I got the impression she wanted to talk and I was right. She had been in Santiago visiting her sick sister that has lung cancer and her husband had died 8 weeks ago and she was sad, missing him and I got the impression that he was the man around the house. She really was a sweet lady and had been married to this man for 39 years, no wonder she missed him. We talked about my mum that had passed and the breakup of my marriage, but I told her that things do get better and that she had to keep going as she told me there were days that she couldn’t even get out of bed. We talked about Zeme and my move to Africa and she said that I had a positive outlook on life and that I was very brave. I told her we can’t change things that have happened, it’s how we deal with it afterwards and that I am sure that her husband wouldn’t want her to be sad and she smiled at that and said no he wouldn’t. She really was on Struggle Street and as we were getting off the flight she thanked me for talking to her and that she was going to try and get into a few new things at home to keep her busy, just like I had done.
The moon outside my window was amazing. It was the biggest, brightest moon I had ever seen and I have seen FB posts about it being the perigee full Moon which would be as much as 14% bigger and 30%brighter than other full moons of 2012. Yep I would agree with that. I was beautiful. The overhead lights didn’t work for the flight, which was a little bit of a pain as it was a night flight, but in saying that by the time dinner had been served and collected it was after 9.30pm, so I decided it was for the best and I got some shuteye for 5 hours and woke at 3.30am for a light breakfast of fruit and a hot bun before finally landing at 4.30am into Miami. WELCOME TO THE UNITED STATES. Well I was only here for 5 hours, but I have literally arrived in the USA.
I was hoping arriving into Miami that early that it wouldn’t take long to get through customs but there were 2 flights behind us and I do remember last time I was here that Miami don’t have the one line and go to the next available booth, you have to pick a line and hope that you get a fast line. Well you guessed it I got the slowest line. I always pick people in other lines to see who gets there first and there were people coming off the other flights that were beating us through. Our guy was so slow which was strange as he was a young fella. Well where did I have to rush off to? I had 5 hours to kill; I may as well stand in a customs line for 50 MINUTES!!!! The guy was actually quite nice and I think he was hitting on me a little as he asked when my next flight was and when I said 10am he said you would have time for a coffee then?.......um yes…..but he didn’t follow up with an invitation. He was pretty cute in his black uniform and shiny buttons!!! But I was stamped into the country through to the baggage carousel where my bag had been taken off and was sitting with only 3 other bags from the whole flight, I told you I was in a slow line; I sailed through immigration and out into arrivals.
I caught the lift up 2 floors to the departure level and then turned right out of the lift on the hunt for the American Airline counter to recheck my bag. Miami’s International Airport is massive. It wasn’t till I got to Concourse H that I finally found a sign telling you where all the check-in counters were located and I needed to get to concourse D, of course. So I had to backtrack past concourse G, F E, past the lift I came out of and another 10 minutes past that. Once again what am I in a hurry for and I wasn’t sure if the counter would be open to check my bag in 4 hours before my flight. Well this wasn’t an issue, the airport was busy, even at 5.45am in the morning, but there were only 2 people in front of me before I checked in my bag at 23kg and was on my way through security. This is what I haven’t missed in African and South American airports, the security. They really are still on full alert here, which I am sure all for a good reason and they had one of these x-ray scanners, the ones that show your body on a screen. I have no issues with the machine, you walk in, raise your arms above your head, the machine slides the doors back and forth and you’re done.
I had to catch the air-train to get to my section of the gates. I still had 3 hours to kill. So after buying an orange juice and 3 empanadas for breakfast I set up at my gate for 1.5 hours and read and blogged till I had to go and stretch my legs. I walked the whole length of the concourse, which was massive and by the time I returned my flight was gearing up for boarding. I was the last section to get called for the flight so I was worried about the overhead storage, but these bins were larger than the last flight, even though it was a smaller plane a 757 with a 3x3 configuration. Go figure. Even thought it was an international flight there was food for purchase and a movie that was going to be shown but with the flight time of 3 hours and 4 minutes and I rekon about 10 minutes after take-off I fell into a deep sleep and didn’t wake up till they started to prepare the cabin for landing into Barbados. I was so tired and after 33 hours it had all caught up with me on the flight.
I was hoping for some good photos as we came into Barbados, you know aqua blue waters and all that, but the sky was grey and cloudy and as we disembarked again from the front and rear of the plane it started to spit with rain. Um where the hell is paradise? I guess the cocktails will taste the same even if it rains all week. Customs took around 40 minutes to pass through to the baggage carousel. I could see my bag straight away but when I pulled it off the belt the zip to my bottom compartment was wide open. Crap. I had a quick check in there, but as I had been moving things around the last couple of travel days, I didn’t even know what the hell I had in there to know if something was missing. It was then I looked up at the belt and there was a pair of my shoes in a plastic bag and my gloves going around. OMG, well it could have been worse and been dirty underwear or something. So I am not sure what else had fallen out. I waited for a full rotation of the carousel and there was nothing else of mine on there so with it all zipped back up I headed for the exit and to look for a taxi.
WELCOME TO BARBADOS.
Once coming out the first guy to ask if I wanted a taxi I said yes to. I was tired and I couldn’t be bother playing games, I am sure all the Barbadians are all nice people right? So I asked the price knowing that the hotel said it would be around 25USD and he said 20USD so I was happy with that and ‘Dwayne’ drove me the 20 minutes to my hotel. He is pretty smart, he gave me his card and said if I need anything to call and that if it was okay he booked me in his diary for the return trip, well I need one and saves me having to do it later, sure why not. I arrived to the hotel at 2.30pm and was given the great news my room was ready. Check-in wasn’t until 4pm apparently, so thank-you travel gods for looking after me since leaving Easter Island yesterday morning at 6.55am. The resort looks great, I just hope that the weather fines up during the week. My room is pretty cool and it even comes with a kitchenette, I think I just may have to cook one night while I am here.
Room service was ordered for dinner and with free Wi-Fi in the rooms and it is fairly fast I was up till 2am nerding up and I have also finally started working on my Ethiopian blog. Still haven’t decided on a name just as yet, so when it is all ready to go I will give you all the address.
So welcome to the Caribbean. It will be good to be in one place for 7 whole nights, unpack my bags and get some R&R. My whole idea was to just catch rays all week, get a cracking tan before heading to Canada and the States. I didn’t count on this rain thing at all, but let’s see what the next few days hold.
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