Flying is not super fun right now. Our flight out of Boston left late, cutting our 2.25 hour layover down to just a 40 minute layover. It didn’t matter much since Atlanta didn’t have anybody to load the luggage onto the 2nd plane, so we sat at the jetway for nearly an hour. Delays like that are frustrating, but I also know how hard it is to hire anybody right now, so I am also empathetic toward the airlines (sort of). We took off shortly after 11pm, had a mediocre midnight dinner on the plane, then tried to sleep.
I am very curious how the people who design airplane seats think humans sleep. I, for one, do not sleep sitting upright. This flight had one of the newer planes in which the seat back reclines and the seat bottom also tips, allowing very flexible passengers to get into a position that is halfway between sitting upright and being uncomfortably reclined. Still, it is an improvement over the standard seat. I managed to get a few 20-30 minute chunks of sleep, mostly because the middle seat was empty and I took some of that space, but I cannot say that I landed anywhere near rested.
We found our driver easily and headed to our hotel. I knew we would land tired, so I booked a hotel for the night before to ensure that we could check in when we got there in the morning, and I confirmed that with the proprietor beforehand. I *thought* I had booked an apartment hotel – one that would have a front desk and the like, but alas, that was not the case. This building looked like a true apartment building where people live. We didn’t have the apartment number and the security guard had no idea what to do. I had no patience for this kind of business given my level of sleep deprivation, so after half an hour of trying to reach the proprietor, I booked another hotel and had the first cancelled.
After dropping off our bags, we beelined for the cafe in the new hotel. Sitting down for food, coffee, and water was just what we needed. Once we were refueled, we headed out into the city to get some provisions. I’m a total sucker for foreign grocery stores, so we went to 2 different ones so I could stock up on insanely cheap Chilean wine and alfajores, and of course, Anna-Sophia had to pick out some wretched kind of gummy product.
Santiago is beautiful. It has a contemporary feel to it, a bit like downtown Medellin. It is incredibly clean, and today is unseasonably warm (high 70s) for winter. Like Medellin, Santiago is surrounded by mountains, but these are MOUNTAINS, fully deserving of being described in all caps. The Andes seem to form a bowl around the city and provide stunning views at every turn. Flying in to Santiago was unlike any other flight I’ve been on – the plane seems to skim the tops of the mountains, and then it drops from the sky onto the runway in an amount of time that is much too short.
After a much-needed shower (and nap for Luke, of course), we will find a relatively early dinner before we all crash. Chileans eat like Spaniards, at reasonable hours, but I don’t think a 9pm dinner is in the cards for us tonight given the jet lag and early start we have tomorrow to see those Andres up close and personal at El Colorado ski resort.
Vacation Days 