Monday 6th February 2017
Waking earlyish this morning, before 7 am, a nice dawn greeted us.
We needed to be fully packed and ready for Eddy, Sara (and of course Clemente) to collect us in the rented Renault, which we'd arranged to have for an extra day so that we could say our goodbyes at the airport and, we hoped, it would be easier (and a little cheaper) than a taxi.
Packing our bags was a good deal less stressful than when leaving Black Watch because we had a 3 kg higher limit on our large cases and had left much 'stuff' with Eddy & Sara that we'd brought from home. In fact we had something like 18 kg spare in total between the four bags (two carry-on & two in the hold).
A bit more wine seemed like a good idea!
Eddy & Sara arrived in due course, a bit later than originally planned due to Clemente having tooth troubles. As I'd checked in on line and confirmed our seats though, it didn't look as though there'd be a problem time-wise.
After saying goodbye to many of Eddy's nice colleagues at Hostal Providencia, we squeezed our bulky luggage into the boot (trunk over there I suppose) and set off, having established that there was a supermarket en-route where we could top up on our wine supplies, though 18 litres was probably a bit OTT!
Well, we got to the supermarket and got a couple of extra bottles of wine, 1½ litres of white for Barbara & 2 litres of the cheap carménère for both of us ........
And then there was THE PROBLEM !
To cut a long story short, we had to transfer our luggage to a taxi, by which time our last check-in time was getting uncomfortably close. It wasn't how we'd wanted to leave Eddy, Sara & Clemente, with whom we'd had such a lovely time. There wasn't even time for a farewell selfie.
The taxi driver did a good job and got us right to the departures terminal as quickly as possible, though first we had to repack our bags with the new wine acquisitions and re-weigh them to ensure all were still inside the limits.
Then we found the check-in desks for Alitalia, and some very long queues. My heart sank! It had been a somewhat stressful morning, but, I remembered, we had Premium Economy tickets. I enquired at the Business Class check-in if we could go there and indeed we could - no queue, straight through.
☺☺☺☺☺
I was very pleased I'd chosen the Alitalia Premium option instead of American Airlines standard economy at the same price, when I booked the flights what seemed like months ago now, but was only just before Christmas.
We didn't have to wait very long before our Boeing 777 was ready for us get aboard.
It got even better when boarding started, as we got to board first with the business- and first-class passengers. Very nice seats with good legroom and plenty of overhead storage space. The entertainment systems were good as well; I ended up watching three newish films altogether.
In due course everyone was settled down. Our cabin staff were very nice and offered drinks before take-off and then we hurtled down the runway in a southerly direction before making a 180° turn to pass west of Santiago.
This photo (taken from the first, lowest arrowed position) looks across Santiago which is shrouded in haze beyond the hills, but the Andes rise spectacularly in the background.
And a bit of video of the same; nice quiet aircraft.
Then we continued climbing and turning to the north-east, heading into the Andes. The views just got better and better.
We weren't flying over the Andes but through them, even though we were still climbing. Distant mountain tops were clearly above us and nearby peaks were not that far below us. I was very glad it was a daytime flight and clear weather and knew that the flight crew could see where we were going.
Seventeen minutes after take-off we were very much into the heart of this part of the Andes when a particularly spectacular peak came into view alongside us at about the same height.
I thought it merited a bit of video as well:
This turned out to be Aconcagua, which is (quoting from Wikipedia) "the highest mountain outside Asia, at 6,961 metres (22,838 ft), and by extension the highest point in both the Western Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere". An 'easy' mountain to climb apparently!
We had left Chile's airspace well before our close encounter with Aconcagua which is in Argentina, then, leaving the Andes, flew on over the Argentine plains and the forests of Paraguay and a great deal of Brazil before getting to the Atlantic as it was getting dark.
The Premium Economy Alitalia service was excellent, highly recommended. A pleasant way to end such a lovely holiday.
Tomorrow Rome, Heathrow and home.
We needed to be fully packed and ready for Eddy, Sara (and of course Clemente) to collect us in the rented Renault, which we'd arranged to have for an extra day so that we could say our goodbyes at the airport and, we hoped, it would be easier (and a little cheaper) than a taxi.
Packing our bags was a good deal less stressful than when leaving Black Watch because we had a 3 kg higher limit on our large cases and had left much 'stuff' with Eddy & Sara that we'd brought from home. In fact we had something like 18 kg spare in total between the four bags (two carry-on & two in the hold).
A bit more wine seemed like a good idea!
Eddy & Sara arrived in due course, a bit later than originally planned due to Clemente having tooth troubles. As I'd checked in on line and confirmed our seats though, it didn't look as though there'd be a problem time-wise.
After saying goodbye to many of Eddy's nice colleagues at Hostal Providencia, we squeezed our bulky luggage into the boot (trunk over there I suppose) and set off, having established that there was a supermarket en-route where we could top up on our wine supplies, though 18 litres was probably a bit OTT!
Well, we got to the supermarket and got a couple of extra bottles of wine, 1½ litres of white for Barbara & 2 litres of the cheap carménère for both of us ........
And then there was THE PROBLEM !
To cut a long story short, we had to transfer our luggage to a taxi, by which time our last check-in time was getting uncomfortably close. It wasn't how we'd wanted to leave Eddy, Sara & Clemente, with whom we'd had such a lovely time. There wasn't even time for a farewell selfie.
The taxi driver did a good job and got us right to the departures terminal as quickly as possible, though first we had to repack our bags with the new wine acquisitions and re-weigh them to ensure all were still inside the limits.
Then we found the check-in desks for Alitalia, and some very long queues. My heart sank! It had been a somewhat stressful morning, but, I remembered, we had Premium Economy tickets. I enquired at the Business Class check-in if we could go there and indeed we could - no queue, straight through.
☺☺☺☺☺
I was very pleased I'd chosen the Alitalia Premium option instead of American Airlines standard economy at the same price, when I booked the flights what seemed like months ago now, but was only just before Christmas.
We didn't have to wait very long before our Boeing 777 was ready for us get aboard.
It got even better when boarding started, as we got to board first with the business- and first-class passengers. Very nice seats with good legroom and plenty of overhead storage space. The entertainment systems were good as well; I ended up watching three newish films altogether.
In due course everyone was settled down. Our cabin staff were very nice and offered drinks before take-off and then we hurtled down the runway in a southerly direction before making a 180° turn to pass west of Santiago.
This photo (taken from the first, lowest arrowed position) looks across Santiago which is shrouded in haze beyond the hills, but the Andes rise spectacularly in the background.
And a bit of video of the same; nice quiet aircraft.
Then we continued climbing and turning to the north-east, heading into the Andes. The views just got better and better.
We weren't flying over the Andes but through them, even though we were still climbing. Distant mountain tops were clearly above us and nearby peaks were not that far below us. I was very glad it was a daytime flight and clear weather and knew that the flight crew could see where we were going.
Seventeen minutes after take-off we were very much into the heart of this part of the Andes when a particularly spectacular peak came into view alongside us at about the same height.
I thought it merited a bit of video as well:
We had left Chile's airspace well before our close encounter with Aconcagua which is in Argentina, then, leaving the Andes, flew on over the Argentine plains and the forests of Paraguay and a great deal of Brazil before getting to the Atlantic as it was getting dark.
The Premium Economy Alitalia service was excellent, highly recommended. A pleasant way to end such a lovely holiday.
Tomorrow Rome, Heathrow and home.
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