It seems kind of weird adding to this blog from Buenos Aires. Generally, this has been a “travel blog” and when I am in one place for a long time, it doesn’t really feel like traveling anymore. Especially when I’m not doing much along the lines of touristy stuff or taking many photos. For example, when I spent two months in Madrid last summer, I don’t think I had a single post for this blog. Nevertheless, I am going to try to update this blog weekly or so, just so it doesn’t get too stale.
The first entry from this adventure should be about the 24-hour world tour that was my flight here. In addition to all of the time required, it covered four flights, five airports and four countries. It started on USAir from Raleigh to Philadelphia and then Air Canada from Philadelphia to Toronto to Santiago (Chile) to Buenos Aires. The whole trip seemed doomed to fail from even before the beginning. Four of the five days before my trip began, Ezeiza Airport in Buenos Aires had been closed due to an ash cloud from a Chilean volcano that had been affecting air traffic both in South America and Australia. It was scheduled to reopen the afternoon that I left the States and I could only hope that it would remain open the next day when I arrived.
On top of the troubling air above my destination, not literally on top, I received an e-mail while I was on my way to the airport that all customer service personnel for Air Canada within Canada were going on strike on the day of my flight. The e-mail strongly recommended printing tickets and checking in at home prior to getting to the airport. It would have been very helpful advice had I received before I was in the car to the airport. Thanks for your help, Air Canada!!!
In Raleigh, I was able to get tickets printed to Philadelphia and to Toronto. I was going to be on my own after that. Since it was in Toronto where I would not be able to find any help, I was a little concerned. In Philadelphia, however, I was able to get the rest of my tickets printed from Air Canada customer service since the strike only affected those workers actually (not) working in Canada.
Now, my luck on international flights has been pretty hit-and-miss. Sometimes, I have entertainment options, sometimes I have a big screen in the middle of the cabin with a movie playing in a foreign language, sometimes I get the dulcet tones of the person snoring next to me and nothing else. On my flight from Toronto to Santiago, I hit the proverbial jackpot. I had lots of movies and television shows from which to choose. My seat was in the very back row, so I couldn’t recline, but a few Tylenol PM and a well-timed valium made sure that I got plenty of sleep on the flight. The only downside of the entire flight was at around 1:00 am, when I noticed on the flight map that we were flying over North Carolina and I considered the fact that twelve hours after my voyage began, I was flying over where it started. It was a little disheartening. The things we do for cheap flights . . .
Getting off of the plane in Santiago, I saw a Burger King and a Dunkin’ Donuts and immediately became famished. The airplane food was okay . . . but it was airplane food. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any Chilean currency and there didn’t seem to be any reason to track any down in the mere 45-minutes that I would be in the airport. I checked the flight board and saw that flights were, in fact, going to Buenos Aires. The ash cloud had lifted!!! I re-boarded the plane and made my way to Argentina.
Immigration and customs in Ezeiza Airport is pretty easy. After paying the entrance fee of $140 to get past immigration, I found customs to be pretty much non-existent. I had hired a car to pick me up at the airport and take me to my apartment in Recoleta. It gave me about 45-minutes to practice my Spanish just before moving into my new home.
That’s enough for now. I’ll talk about other things in the next post.
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