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Published: October 14th 2017
Where do we catch the bus
Santiago Airport Terminal. WIFI baby!Day 1
We were assigned seats at our checkin, thats a good omen for a great start to an adventure. Air Canada 550 , Airbus 319 service Vancouver to Los Angeles. About 30 open seats on a 120 seat aircraft. Wait a minute , Kate gets a middle seat and I get an aisle, that means a little less than a great start, maybe now a really good start.
Tip: Kate and I pack only carryon bags. She holds the highest certifiable
level of perfect packing available. Most airlines, certainly Air Canada , will allow you to check your carryon at the boarding gate , no charge. If the flight is stuffed with people they will make a request, but otherwise just ask.
Of course the last time we checked bags, we got on the flight and the luggage did not. That meant 3 days in Barcelona with only our emergency bag. You know , medications, electronic devices , money and passports. Everything else can be bought at destination. Don't let a late bag ruin your bucket list vacation.
The A319 has two rows of three seats with a single center aisle. The third
Metro Santiago
All makes perfect sense at 0500! person , our rowmate we'll call them , had really bad BO. I cant think of any other way to put it
Talked with the flight attendant and moved to the back row. So these seats do not recline which is why they were available, a way better choice. Back up to a great start.. Nice flight, I spent many hours piloting this aircraft type and always feel comfortable with its ride and performance.
Had a good look at all 6 volcanoes on the route South to LAX.
On the arrival now into the City of Angels, we will be back.
Recognized the Captain , who I had worked with many times. Had an opportunity for a quick visit. He did good work. Clear announcements, nice operation.
In LAX we deplaned and then walked the length of the terminal to the International section. This is where things started going South for us. Always trust your gut instincts. I choose to use the free 45 minutes of Wifi offered. Even mentioned to Kate that I needed to buy Boingo's 24 hour service. Of course I didnt!
The Chilean Airline LATAM has a check in procedure thats a little more convoluted than most. We were not registered as we had believed and besides the flight was full. I had checked it earlier and it was showing 14 seats available. Thousands of people occupying every inch of territory, super loud public address system, no breakfast in my belly, not picking up the WIFI and Kate working the phone for 2 hours trying to get us registered on a later flight.
Made the jump to United, Airlines , which had a LAX to Houston to Santiago flight available.Just not much time to organize it.
Super sweet operation. Purchased the tickets online, back the whole length of the LAX Terminal to United's section and Bobs your Uncle. Im writing these notes from 35,000 ft just getting ready for descent into Santiago. Everything about United was aces, good seats decent meal, pleasant Flt Attendants. Bye bye for now.
1 hr 45 minutes to clear Chile Immigration and Customs. Easy peasy, just long lines of travelers.
A few options to get downtown, we chose City Bus to Metro Station to our Hostal.
A steep learning curve, but a good adventure. Kim turned the wrong way leaving the Metro , that cost us a half hour. Minimal bickering though , which is uncommon!
Hoetel is right in downtown core directly beside the Argentinian Embassy.
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