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Tim Version:
* Flying to Caracas, Venezuela, via Lima, Peru, I got offloaded in Lima due to arriving late and missing my conencting flight.
* Forced to spend the night for free at the Ramada Hotel, with free 3 course lunch and dinner and a gym, free internet and all the comforts. Missing the connecting flight, not so bad after all!
The version with 2 double beds, free internet, a gym, and some 3 course meals:
Leaving São Paulo (Brazil) for Lima (Peru) as the first part of the 2 flights I needed to take, I'd already had a fairly sleepless night in the airport when they told us 20 minutes before we were meant to leave that due to bad weather we wouldn't be leaving until 10am. Unfortunately in that airport there is no free WiFi, and the chairs all have metal handles between each seat so it is lousy to try and sleep there! While not annoyed, I did get a bit of a "here we go again" feeling as nearly all my flights have been late and I never seem to be able to connect with the connecting flights heh. This time, no different.
The delay already meant I would miss my flight in Lima to Caracas of which there is only one per day so I thought I had a night of sleeping in the airport there ahead of me.
The flight itself, and LAN as an airline, great =) I'd highly recommend! Iberia, not so good... LAN, great. The flight was good with good food and a couple of good movies, though getting my first beer was a bit of a mission and trying to get a second was a lost cause! When I got to Lima I met up with the LAN representatives waiting to meet those of us who needed to change our connecting flights, and instead of what I was expecting of "Sorry but you just need to come back tomorrow", I instead was given a voucher! My Spanish is terrible right now, and the guy giving it too me only spoke that, but when another worker noticed I looked a bit confused they converted it to English and my face light up! A hotel voucher! I knew the hotel from seeing it last time passing through here and it was nice... really nice. Free food, free hotel,
and a really compfy bed in a quiet climate controlled room, with me seriously needing sleep. It was a wicked surprise and after my complementary 3 course lunch and 3 course dinner and a quick gym workout (which showed me I've got a LOT of work ahead of me when I get home to get back in shape!) I slept sooo damn good. Missing the connection had turned into a blessing! For a business person or those with a reasonable amount of money, probably an inconvenience and an average hotel... for me backpacking, the most luxury I've had in 9 months heh.
Back in the airport the next day (MY BIRTHDAY 13th of May) my flight was on time, I felt rested and happy, and as the plane taxied out and took off for Venezuela I got that travel excitement again! Another new country, back to trying to speak Spanish again, and the climb at Roraima I cannot wait to do! Not to mention I was now going to a country famous for beauty queens and having the world's highest waterfall =) Oh yeh, and one more thing I discovered it has - The famous thunderless lightning! I'd seen
documentaries on this before but didn't know where it was, and it turns out its where I'm heading! Perfect!
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