Wed/Thurs/Fri – 22/23/24.10.14 – Santiago – Sydney – Melbourne – Moe.

Up at about 6.45, fiddled and blogged and packed and blogged, showered and breakfasted and checked out and blogged, then final pack, bags taken away and down to the lobby at 10am for taxi to the airport for our 1.35pm flight. Arrived and checked in by 11.00.

Costanera centre, with sun
shining behind.

Morning view, farewell Santiago.

The Metro station.

Drinking the last of new fave drink
before we go through security. 

Waiting in a queue. God airports are
the biggest waste of time. Passing
through Chilean immigration.

We both had remaining Chilean Pesos burning a whole in our wallets, so we parted at duty free, to meet later in the lounge. I blogged again and when Suzie arrived I went to spend the very last of the Peso’s.

Boarded at 12.55ish – oh boy I could get used to turning left onto the plane rather than right. Plenty of room, no worries with overhead lockers, you basically have you own, no jostling for room near your seat. Set up devices to charge and generally phaffed around. We have received our PJ’s and amenities bag with freebies kit and socks, oh and I almost forgot our Champas. Selfies done and dusted, good to go. Our hostie is Lionel and he is lovely. Aussie papers have just arrived, getting all the goss on Gough and that poor kid with ISIS. Have had a little facebook news, but really no time to go into things deeper. I think we turned a TV on twice…

On board and champagne in hand.

Plenty of room.

Leg room galore.

PJ's on and ready to go. It's great, your clothes don't
get all wrinkled and yuk.

It’s weird to hear the Aussie accent of the Captain and crew and to stop saying Gracias etc. We have had an announcement 5-10 minutes delayed due to a technical glitch in the cockpit. Given the delay, we have donned the PJ’s and Captain has just announced, replacement of part did not fix the problem – now in discussions with maintenance team here and staff back in Sydney – another delay, but at least we are comfortable. I am ready the Australian which is broadsheet…and I can! Time for another Champagne.

2pm, now 25 minutes delayed and technical hitch still not fixed. Latest announcement that as part of troubleshooting process they are going to shut down the electrical system for a short while. I’m just sucking up this business class, after our last 9 flights have been in economy, which makes you appreciate this more.

2.20pm problem sorted with the reboot, just like any technological problem, when in doubt, shut down and start again…same with planes it seems. Still 15-20 minutes till we can go, will be late into Sydney, despite trying to make up time on the flight.

Finally off the ground about an hour late.

Lots of smog over Santiago, but some interesting farmland patchwork and great clouds over the coast…enough room here to have big camera out, takes a much better picture through the window than I thought it would.

Taking pics, cos I could. Some of the planes at
Santiago airport.

Air Mexico tail.

Lionel, doing the safety stuff, he looked after us
very well.

Turning onto the runway.

That pink colour is a pigface looking plant,
brilliant pink from above.

Little boxes in a pattern.

Smog over the valley and Santiago, snow capped
Andes in the background.

Flying over the Chilean coast.

Great patterns on the ground.

Amazing cloud patterns over the
Chilean coast.

More cloud patterns.

Ordered our lunch and light dinner.

LUNCH:

• Prawn Salad with tofu, shredded cabbage, ginger and shallot dressing.
• Roast pork with slow cooked capsicums, pan fried polenta and spinach.
• Selection of cheeses served with accompaniments.

LIGHT DINNER:

• Lamb shepherds pie.
• Caramelised banana cheesecake with mango sauce.

Had a bit of a sleep after watching The Bucket List, then some podcasts and snoozing, woke to watch Frozen, then a slightly longer snooze, before waking up. Nice cuppa tea from Lionel, then he mentioned we were flying over NZ, really clear view of the mountainous terrain and some snow capped peaks. I think we were flying over the North end of the South Island, not many cities to be seen at all.

Flying over NZ.

It’s getting a bit tricky now 2.10am for our bodies, but it’s 4.10pm at home, so need to stay awake in order to sleep when we finally make it to Melbourne.

Touched down in Sydney at 6.45pm (4.45am in Santiago) So almost 14 hours on the plane.

Off and into pick us Suzie’s duty free and grab last minute bits. Bags are getting really heavy now, but we are almost done. Sydney was hot, very hot, air con was not coping. The luggage carousel was terrible, way too small for the large plane, the bags were jammed in and really hard to lift off.

The Heads at Sydney.

The Bridge.

Bridge, Opera House and Darling
Harbour.

Sydney city.

Into customs where we both had things to declare, two different guys, I got mine through, Suzie lost her some of hers.

Then the pain of moving via bus from International terminal to domestic terminal, still hot.

Our last plane was a pretty old one, a bit crappy comparatively, but still business class, so at least a bit more room.

Keith is coming to pick us up in Aunty Sue’s new car. Going to be a tight squeeze with all our luggage, we reckon, but photos have been sent so Keith can work out the logistics.

Off the plane after a bit of a delay in terms of traffic congestion at the airport, but we think we were out to meet Keith about 10.45 and home to St Kilda about 11.20.

A big hello to the dogs then make up my bed and hit the hay.

So it really is all over, I now have the day in Melbourne, plans to catch up with Bronwyn and Mike and Mike’s Dad, Colin, who arrived in Australia the day after we left, he leaves soon, so taking the opportunity to meet him. Then Sue and Emma are coming down and we are off to Les Mis, before heading home to Moe tonight.

Managed to stay awake for BOTH
acts.

Out of theatre and into car about 10.45, home to Moe just before midnight I think.

Got the luggage in and dumped, Snug and Aero were busy snoozing, seemed happy enough to see me. Janine has done a magnificent job of house and pet sitting. So considerate, she had left a coffee scroll and other food for my breaky etc tomorrow, just lovely.

Dumped the luggage. Bonded
with the critters.

Got the clothes out and soaking in the bath.

First load on and a load that Janine had done out
on the line.

Picked some roses, had a cuppa -mmmmm. Real
teapot tea, gotta love my T2 French Earl Grey.

Finally into bed a bit after 2am, but feeling better for having made a start on the unpack.

And now it's back to reality, with time to reflect and absorb over the weeks and months ahead.