Departing Aus. 9 March 2023

Early alarm. Hot room. Short and broken sleep. Into the shower, final pack, out for courtesy bus (and set off Spot) at 5.20am. To the airport by 5.50.

We had the easiest check in ever. Straight through Qantas – a lovely lady. Then to customs – all pretty straightforward. I got frisked cos I forgot my lip balm in pocket. Mary, Phil and Steve had extra bag check. Hardly any queue, straight through passport control and into duty free.

Found a great little cafe for breaky- Urban Providore. It was empty when we arrived. Not long after it was checkers. The three people staffing it were lovely. We had sat in the bar next door but breaky options were limited. A walk around the corner and we scored. My granola was good, as was fruit toast and avo smash.

Boarding was delayed due to late plane, but nothing major. Onto plane and who is sitting in first row Business – Dylan Alcott. I’m currently listening to him read his autobiography ’Able’ said a cheeky hello and that I am listening to him read his book – he asked if I was enjoying it. Love seeing a celebrity!

No sound in my entertainment unit, so I spent the trip reading the Qantas flight mag which is always good value.

Just made it through international transfer at Auckland and we have a few hours to relax. Four hours actually.

With time to kill. We sat around for a bit, Mary and I walked around the shops and then the fellas went to find the transfer desk. We all went a waited at the unmanned desk. Nothing happened, then several people came in and out and asked if we needed help and intimated that someone would be out to help us. Eventually someone did, only to advise that we needed to go to the gate for our boarding passes which would be open 60 minutes prior to flight. Off we went. The LATAM airlines people were there and helped us out with boarding passes for both the leg to Santiago and onto Buenos Aires. Our seats are four in a row this time, so Steve not separated. Our next flight is a longer one 10 hours 55. So def time to attempt some sleep and movies etc.

When I sat down I realised the seat was wet. I asked the hostie for something to sit on. She did better than that and simply ripped the seat out and brought back another. Top job. There was a long delay to get our headsets, so movies were delayed.

We all managed some sleep, and are rather confused by which time zone we are in. We were fed dinner (beef and mashed spud for me) and breakfast. Then we arrived in Santiago at 1.20pm on the 9th, having left NZ at 6.30pm on the 9th.

The landing into Santiago had some views of the Andes with snow on them and ground temp at 28 degrees. We are all feeling a bit whacked. Tired of the masks and needing to walk.

Sitting around the gate after another set of security check – easiest yet – didn’t need to remove anything from bags. Simples. Had a nice Frozen Yoghurt. Topping up power and off to buy water. Another hour before our final leg today to Buenos Aires. 25 hours so far since our 4:30am wake up at Cilom’s in Melbourne.

Onto the last plane for this day. We fly out over the Andes from Santiago to Buenos Aires. I have the window but the better views were on the other side (NB on our way home we need ABC seats. Or AAA to all get a view) but nevertheless I’ve captured the pictorial end to a very long day.

So after approx 32 hours of masks and travel since we awoke at Ciloms on the 9th we land here on the 9th at 6.30pm. A bit stuffed.

Finally posting this update from our lovely room at Dazzler Wyndham by Polo in BA. We had the easiest ever experience through immigration to baggage carousel where ours were the last bags bar one. No wait at all. We can’t quite figure it out. We had our longest queue so far at immigration but hardly any to talk of so it remains a mystery. Then customs just scanned our bags and waved us through. No travel entry declarations at all and sadly no stamps in passports. Then out to find our transfer sign held by Priscilla and off in our own little mini van to our hotel. The Dazzler by Wyndham Polo is close to the domestic airport for tomorrow.

Had a most delicious and enjoyable dinner just up the road from Hotel at La Catedra – highest recommendation for food and service.

Signing off to sleep. Goodnight.