So the Adventure Begins
After nearly 20 hours of traveling, we´ve finally made it to our hotel in Puerto Iguazu.
Everything has gone well, except for a two hour "minor" set back. We made it to LAX with no problems and lots of time (thanks Jamie), there was practically no wait at TSA, our flight departed on time and we had great seats. Our arrival and transfer in Santiago also went rather smoothly, as did our journey through customs in Buenos Aires. Our luggage was the first off the carousel and although the airport from which we were to take our third flight of the day was across town, that 45 minute trip still left us with a great buffer before our final flight.
Well, we were overconfident! Because all seems to be going well, does not mean all "will" go well. First, we were informed that our flight to Iguazu was slightly delayed. The original departure time was supposed to be 2:30 and it was pushed back to 2:40 . . . not a problem, right? We were at the airport at 12:30, but we were willing to wait. However, we were not allowed to pass through security into the main terminal until our flight had posted its gate and this was not going to happen as long as the board said "estimated time of departure, 2:40." Apparently, when you are still estimating the time of departure, you cannot determine where the plane will be parked.
Joe and I milled about watching the flight information board intently. We even tried to play stupid with the security guard, saying that we didn´t understand the instructions because they were in Spanish . . . it didn´t work. At one point a riot practially broke out between the security guards and passengers. Everyone seemed to be upset that you could not get to your gate until it was posted on the board. This was most upsetting, understandably, for folks who had flights that were cancelled at 10:30 am and were waiting to get onto a subsequent flight. I can say with assurance that my understanding of Spanish is limited, but I got the gist of "move the hell out of the way, or you´ll be sorry!"
Once the melee had been quelled, it still seemed that our flight hadn´t determined where it would depart from. The board continued to flash "estimated time of departure, 2:40" well past 4:00 pm! I understand that waiting is part of traveling, but it would have been nice to hear from someone about the whereabouts of our flight. There were no Aerolineas Argentina agents or customer service representatives available anywhere! Finally and with no warning or announcement, the flight information board changed at 4:15 and Joe and I went scurrying through security then immediately lined up to board our flight. They bused us out to our plane and at about 5:00 we finally took off . . . yay!
I know, I know, I´ve gone on much too much already, so I´ll summarize from here and say that we really like our hotel and we´ll post photos of our room as soon as we can. For dinner tonight, we had huge beef steaks delivered to our room from a restaurant in town. The meat was really great!
--Christine
Everything has gone well, except for a two hour "minor" set back. We made it to LAX with no problems and lots of time (thanks Jamie), there was practically no wait at TSA, our flight departed on time and we had great seats. Our arrival and transfer in Santiago also went rather smoothly, as did our journey through customs in Buenos Aires. Our luggage was the first off the carousel and although the airport from which we were to take our third flight of the day was across town, that 45 minute trip still left us with a great buffer before our final flight.
Well, we were overconfident! Because all seems to be going well, does not mean all "will" go well. First, we were informed that our flight to Iguazu was slightly delayed. The original departure time was supposed to be 2:30 and it was pushed back to 2:40 . . . not a problem, right? We were at the airport at 12:30, but we were willing to wait. However, we were not allowed to pass through security into the main terminal until our flight had posted its gate and this was not going to happen as long as the board said "estimated time of departure, 2:40." Apparently, when you are still estimating the time of departure, you cannot determine where the plane will be parked.
Joe and I milled about watching the flight information board intently. We even tried to play stupid with the security guard, saying that we didn´t understand the instructions because they were in Spanish . . . it didn´t work. At one point a riot practially broke out between the security guards and passengers. Everyone seemed to be upset that you could not get to your gate until it was posted on the board. This was most upsetting, understandably, for folks who had flights that were cancelled at 10:30 am and were waiting to get onto a subsequent flight. I can say with assurance that my understanding of Spanish is limited, but I got the gist of "move the hell out of the way, or you´ll be sorry!"
Once the melee had been quelled, it still seemed that our flight hadn´t determined where it would depart from. The board continued to flash "estimated time of departure, 2:40" well past 4:00 pm! I understand that waiting is part of traveling, but it would have been nice to hear from someone about the whereabouts of our flight. There were no Aerolineas Argentina agents or customer service representatives available anywhere! Finally and with no warning or announcement, the flight information board changed at 4:15 and Joe and I went scurrying through security then immediately lined up to board our flight. They bused us out to our plane and at about 5:00 we finally took off . . . yay!
I know, I know, I´ve gone on much too much already, so I´ll summarize from here and say that we really like our hotel and we´ll post photos of our room as soon as we can. For dinner tonight, we had huge beef steaks delivered to our room from a restaurant in town. The meat was really great!
--Christine
Comments
TITO BEBENG AND TIA ELEANOR