Flights to Rio
First day, 25th Dec, Xmas day, half way to Rio, at Santiago airport
damn i missed my flight! now i have to stay here for another 6hrs!! Cannt blame anything one but myself:-( was getting too comfortable in the lounge…
i have a feeling this is not good to be a smooth trip. things have already gone wrong a few times, since i left sydney this morning. But as usual, as if some angel´s been looking after me, plus i always try harder, things always turn out to be ok:-)but i have to remind myself, not to rely on good luck!
My flight from sydney did not start smooth. i arrived just a little over an hr at the Sydney airport, LAN counter, i was told all staff travel (anyone working in travel, standby discounted tickets) are handled by Qantas, at counter E. There wasn´t anybody waiting when i approached, but was told to come back at 10 (my flight departs at 10.45). when i returned, there was a loooong line. Worried about missing the flight, i approached the check in staff, but was told they´re not checking in LAN standby yet, so i had to wait in the queue. By 10.15, i had to approach him again, as there´s no way i could make it following the queue. then he told me to approach his supervisor, who´s on the phone sorting out another couple of pax to Santiago. i waited another 10min, he called my name and gave me my boarding pass, i ran, without noticing that he checked me in economy class till i was in the line of customs check point. i had no time to go back, had to try my luck at the boarding gate. the LAN staff at the gate was very helpful, i knew there were seats in business class, she said the Qantas staff did not realise my ticket was in business class, typical! 
she then told me first she couldn´t do anything for the flight from sydney to auckland, but can change it to business from auckland to santiago. Eventually she managed to book me all way through to santiago in business, i was soo happy, and gave her a Merry Xmas kiss!
On the plane, i sat next to an interesting lady, who´s a very active middle aged traveller, especially into trekking tours. We were telling each other the most interesting travel stories. She´s meeting her husband in Santiago, going on a trekking tour at En Atacama, and then to Bunos Ares cruising to antarctic. She told me a wonderful walking tour she did in turkey and how she researched 90 hours for her itinerary and was able to explore alot of remote areas where tourists don´t normally go, they also chartered a boat with another couple to those hideaways where only boat has access to, and interesting market shopping for food for the boat chef to prepare. I asked her to email me the special itinerary so that we could suggest to our clients too. Hope she will!
its not too much a torture waiting in the LAN lounge actually. its the second time i´m here for long hours, last time was on the way back from Rio to Sydney. Food here is simple, but nice, rasberry juice is not sth. you can easily get in Sydney, its simply devine! and if u need to sleep, there´s a seperate area, with lie down chairs. The internet area i´m in is private, spacious, big enough table to put yr bags, food, drinks. I´ll just have to treat it as an office for 6hrs and get some work done, so i have more time for fun later!
Later that night
I didn’t realise there’re other costs of missing this afternoon flight! not only there’s no biz class on the evening flight, it goes via Sao Paulo, which adds another 2hrs to the already looong trip!
when i finally arrived at airport at 2am, my luggage did not arrive! its getting worse, by the time i arrived at the Luxor Regente, there’s no reservation for me! Its all prepaid through an agency in Florida, there’s nothing i could do but let the staff to freeze 2nights costs on my credit card, before they could look into it tomorrow… AND, the hotel is shit! 4 star??? NO WAY! 3.5 the most! I later found out, most 4 star hotels in Rio are like 3-3.5 star in Asia.
I get my flight confirmation last minute, 4 days before departure, and there was no 5 star available, but never again, book anything relying on others’ comments or feedbacks online (i checked feedback on tripadvisor, obviously it says nothing what i experienced! staff are ok, location is good, nothing else…) few days later, i learnt the hotel doesn’t even have any iron and ironing board for guests!
