Starting off

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8^thSeptember

Up at 4am. Graeme took me to the airport so was there around 5.30am. Had to wait until 5.45am to check in but that was very quick. Luggage was booked straight through to Buenos Aires as I had printed off my boarding pass for the second leg.

Had hours to kill so went and had breakfast and logged on to check out the wi-fi process. This little thing works well..

Went through customs about 8am. Had to practically empty my backpack to pass through security but I suppose that’s what you have to do these days.

Plane was late so we didn’t leave until 11am (flight supposed to leave at 9.45).

Great flight and it was a quick flight as we arrived only 10mins late. Must get great tail winds going East. Absolutely unreal coming into Santiago. The plane follows the Andes mountains all the way up South America to Santiago. A pity I didn’t have a seat on the right hand side of the plane.

It’s quite cold here – only 11degrees and lots of cloud. Very quiet airport for an international airport. Not a lot of take offs or arrivals happening here. One thing to look out for in Santiago airport is that nothing is announced in English – Spanish only.

The plane ride to Buenos Aires was good. The scenery spectacular – the plane follows the Andes south and then turns east and crosses the Andes but the pictures don’t do it justice. It’s hard to get them into perspective with a photo out of a plane as they are massive and so high. We were flying way above the clouds and mountains just stick out the top. It felt like the plane was just above the mountain tops.

The plane arrived early to Buenos Aires and I was collected at the airport by the tour guide and taken to the hotel. Downtown is 38km’s from the airport and the road is massive. The only road to downtown from the airport is a toll road that is at least 6 lanes wide on each side. Seriously - no-one uses blinkers at all on the roads unless going around a corner. The streets in Buenos Aires are all one way and at least 3 or 4 lanes wide not counting the kerbside lanes. Some of the streets don’t even have line markings but it all seems to work fine. Everyone just changes lanes all the time.

Have checked into the hotel and I think I gone back in time to the 40’s. Still the bed feels very comfortable. Going to bed soon as haven’t been to sleep since I left home.

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