July 8, 2024
I had to wake up very early to start my trip. The airport shuttle picked me up at about 3:30, so I was up at 3. Pablo was in the bathroom and made a weird voice. I yelled in fright. He laughed real hard. Mom got up and made me a sandwich. It was so kind of her!
So I said goodbye to them both and caught the shuttle. I forgot my water bottle unfortunately. It was about an hour and a half to get to the airport. We first had to pick up some other people.
I probably didn’t need to arrive so early. I was sitting on some benches for about an hour before the Qantas desk opened. I had to pay for my checked luggage. It came to about $300.
It was covered all the way to Argentina. I wouldn’t need to keep picking it up at baggage terminals. That was good.
The flight to Auckland was about three hours. Then I had to wait at the airport for about four hours. I tried sleeping for a bit.
I was sitting at a table reading my book. I suddenly heard them announcing my flight over the speakers. They said it was the last call, and that the plane doors would be closing soon. I started panicking.
I threw everything into my bag and bolted towards my gate. I didn’t understand why they were saying that. I thought I still had like forty minutes. I saw other people running as well. I thought I was gonna miss my flight.
I got on board and went to my seat. I was assigned by the the window. Lots of people continued boarding after me, so I don’t think I was that late.
I was really impressed with that flight. It was LATAM airlines. I was nervous that it might feel really cheap. Qantas had been really good. They gave us free meals, deserts, and drinks.
LATAM gave everyone pillows and blankets. I guess that’s fairly normal for long flights. The entertainment system was also in much better condition than Qantas. It felt much more modern. The movie selection wasn’t that good, though. I think Qantas was better.
I watched The Departed. That’s the only thing I watched all the way through. I also watched the first third of Before Sunrise. Ethan Hawke’s character really annoyed me. He seemed condescending and arrogant.
The flight was about ten hours long. I slept for about a quarter of that time. The guy next to me was maybe a bit younger than me. He was quite overweight. He seemed to be pretty uncomfortable. He was in the middle seat. He kept fidgeting and spreading his legs apart. He would occasionally stand up to stretch his legs. It was never a problem for me. He never crossed over into my space.
The landing into Santiago was pretty amazing. The Andes were out my window. They looked incredible.
I felt pretty crappy when I exited the plane. I was sleep deprived. I was also stressed because my tickets said that my next flight left in about one hour. I ran to the security check. It went pretty quick.
Afterwards I ran towards my gate. I ran all the way to the end of the airport, only to find it was the wrong gate. I didn’t understand how that had happened. I was sure I had read the correct one. So I had to run to the opposite end of the airport. I was really freaking out. I was sure that I was going to miss the flight.
I got to the correct gate. There was a huge crowd of people boarding. I relaxed, but then I saw that they were boarding a plane going to Lima, Peru. I got suer confused. They were at my gate. I didn’t understand what was happening. I was really panicking now.
I stared at the screen for a long time, trying to understand the schedules. I finally realized that my flight was the one after the flight going to Peru, but at the same gate. I think I was having trouble reading the 24-hour times. We don’t use 16:00 and stuff like that in Toronto.
I also realized that my flight had been delayed by about forty minutes. So the time on my ticket was different from the time on the screen.
I sat against a sloped wall. I was exhausted. I put my headphones on and took a nap.
I awoke a little while later to a voice of the intercom. They were calling my name, and saying to proceed to my gate because my flight was about to leave. My hear started pounding in panic. I stood up and could barely walk. I was shaking so much.
I couldn’t believe I had slept through the entire boarding. I should never have kept those headphones on. The gate was literally right next to me. I just walked over and gave them my boarding pass.
That flight was about an hour and a half. We flew over top of the Andes. It was dark by the time we arrived to Buenos Aires. The lights of the city looked amazing. The place was huge. We flew right over top a huge empty soccer stadium. It was all lit up with lights.
I exited the plane and got my luggage. I met up with dad. We went back to his place and dropped off my stuff. Then we went for dinner.
We had a nice meal in a really cool restaurant. They had interesting photos all over the walls.
A lady started doing the tango just as we were about to leave. I was extremely tired and wanted to sleep. She kept inviting people up on stage to dance with her. We watched for a little while and then left.