Finally, South America!!

I have arrived in Santiago Chile!!  After many gruelling days of flights, long layovers, and general exhaustion – I arrived in Santiago yesterday (August 12).  I am very confused as to what day it is, and the time!  I will get used to it in a day or two I am sure!

 

 

My flights took me to Tianjin China, Seoul South Korea, Los Angeles California, and Santiago.  Tianjin was the first night and I slept in the airport with probably 50 other people.  It’s not the best sleep I got, but at least I had about 4 hours of sleep there.  On to Seoul! 

Seoul airport is the most beautiful airport I have ever seen in all my travels!  So many things to do.  The airport and the city of Seoul offer free city tours, and since I had a layover of 9 hours, I took advantage of two of them.  I saw two temples, and the Korean war memorial.  And then, probably the best part (which is a little sad for me to admit haha) was the free showers in the airport!!   Yes, after sleeping in an airport and knowing that I had two VERY LONG flights to come, I took advantage of the free shower facilities.  I would love to spend more time in Seoul when it was extremely hot and humid, and see more of the city.  It looks very beautiful!!

 

Next stop ~ LAX – aboard a Korean Air flight.  A very impressive airline – comfortable, decent food and very friendly and helpful staff.  This was an 11 hour flight – but it wasn’t as bad as I anticipated.  I was so tired and probably slept for about 7 hours of it.

 

LAX is just a big American airport, with lots of guards walking around.  I was not impressed with the airport OR the prices there.  So expensive!!!  And the line ups to get through security and customs – the customs guy was very nice but it took a long time.  I was glad to get out of there.

 

LATAM was my final flight to Santiago.  Service was good, food was good (stuffed cheese pasta AND cheesecake – yeah I was happy to have cheese again!! ), AND a LOT of turbulence.  Of course that is no fault of the airline.  There was little sleep for me that last flight, probably due to a combination of anticipation, excitement, turbulence and being tired of being in planes.  About an hour, maybe 2 – and it was a 13 hour flight.  I was happy to hear that we were descending into Santiago!!

 

So I have made it.  I am set up in a nice studio apartment for the first leg of this trip.  I have had a very good night’s sleep and am ready to see the city!!! I am excited to get out and explore this intriguing city that I have chosen as my first stop!!

 

I still feel like it’s a dream that I am actually in South America.