Off to Canada: Start of our journey Mon/Tues 18/19 July 2106
18th July 2016 -La Serena Airport
Our world tour started with a bang. On our arrival at the La Florida airport, La Serena , the check in desk was manned by an ex-student of mine, so we practiced a little English- I taught her well .. ha ha.
So she was enthusiastically checking us in when she hit a problem. We were told that Ely's boarding pass for the connecting flight from New York to Toronto could not be authorized. There appeared to be some problem with the US immigration system. What a start! They assured us that LAN staff would be able to sort it out at Santiago.
While we were trying to sort this out at the check in desk, I complained to Ely that i felt a bit dizzy, and then the next thing I knew was I was waking up on the floor , with Ely holding my head and with the airport staff gathered around me. I had fainted! I was soon up but they wouldn't allow me on the plane until I have had a checkup! What a start ehhh! Fortunately the checkup proved I was fine. So finally we were on our way... Thoughts... Is this how it's going to be the rest of the journey? Actually I think in an effort to make sure our carry on luggage was under 7kg, I put on all my warm weather gear so I was pretty hot.
Luggage wise we had a 30 litre backpack each and a small rucksack and that's it for our years journey. Was it sufficient ? We were going to find out soon enough.
19th July 2016
Well off to the airport at Santiago after an overnight stay at our friend's house.
Guess what? They still couldn't give Ely a boarding pass. The other problem that reared its head was the fact that we had to collect our checked-in luggage at New York and go through immigration and customs even though we were transiting to another country and using the same airlines to connect to Toronto. US 'rules' (most idiotic in the world - no other country that I'm aware of does this) requires us to do this and with just under an hour and a half to catch the connecting flight it was not a realistic 9possibility - were LANTAM concerned ? - were they fxxk! In case you were thinking - why had we not given ourselves sufficient time - well we had, as when Ely booked the flight months before she specifically asked about bags been transferred automatically to the connecting flight and LANTAM staff had assured her this would happen. Stress levels elevated again. By the way for your information, if you fly LANTAM via Miami, bags do not need to be collected! (USA!)
We had to resolve the boarding pass issue ourselves, LANTAM staff on the gound were no help at all. Ely rang their telephone centre and somewhere in Columbia or Mexico and they were able to send her a boarding pass via email. We then needed to find somewhere in the airport to print it off and amazingly there was a little shop near in the airport where we finally got Ely's boarding pass.
To de-stress before our flight we manage to get into the business class lounge. So after a few glasses of wine and beers , we were chilled.
Memorable food and drink
Pisco sour, mini-empanadas, avocado sandwich (in lounge)
Thought of the day
(After fainting) Shit! What are we doing! A year away from home! Will I survive!
Our world tour started with a bang. On our arrival at the La Florida airport, La Serena , the check in desk was manned by an ex-student of mine, so we practiced a little English- I taught her well .. ha ha.
So she was enthusiastically checking us in when she hit a problem. We were told that Ely's boarding pass for the connecting flight from New York to Toronto could not be authorized. There appeared to be some problem with the US immigration system. What a start! They assured us that LAN staff would be able to sort it out at Santiago.
While we were trying to sort this out at the check in desk, I complained to Ely that i felt a bit dizzy, and then the next thing I knew was I was waking up on the floor , with Ely holding my head and with the airport staff gathered around me. I had fainted! I was soon up but they wouldn't allow me on the plane until I have had a checkup! What a start ehhh! Fortunately the checkup proved I was fine. So finally we were on our way... Thoughts... Is this how it's going to be the rest of the journey? Actually I think in an effort to make sure our carry on luggage was under 7kg, I put on all my warm weather gear so I was pretty hot.
Luggage wise we had a 30 litre backpack each and a small rucksack and that's it for our years journey. Was it sufficient ? We were going to find out soon enough.
19th July 2016
Well off to the airport at Santiago after an overnight stay at our friend's house.
 |
| That's us with all our luggage for a year. Nothing more. |
Guess what? They still couldn't give Ely a boarding pass. The other problem that reared its head was the fact that we had to collect our checked-in luggage at New York and go through immigration and customs even though we were transiting to another country and using the same airlines to connect to Toronto. US 'rules' (most idiotic in the world - no other country that I'm aware of does this) requires us to do this and with just under an hour and a half to catch the connecting flight it was not a realistic 9possibility - were LANTAM concerned ? - were they fxxk! In case you were thinking - why had we not given ourselves sufficient time - well we had, as when Ely booked the flight months before she specifically asked about bags been transferred automatically to the connecting flight and LANTAM staff had assured her this would happen. Stress levels elevated again. By the way for your information, if you fly LANTAM via Miami, bags do not need to be collected! (USA!)
We had to resolve the boarding pass issue ourselves, LANTAM staff on the gound were no help at all. Ely rang their telephone centre and somewhere in Columbia or Mexico and they were able to send her a boarding pass via email. We then needed to find somewhere in the airport to print it off and amazingly there was a little shop near in the airport where we finally got Ely's boarding pass.
To de-stress before our flight we manage to get into the business class lounge. So after a few glasses of wine and beers , we were chilled.
Business Class Lounge lizards
Memorable food and drink
Pisco sour, mini-empanadas, avocado sandwich (in lounge)
Thought of the day
(After fainting) Shit! What are we doing! A year away from home! Will I survive!
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