A very long 16 November
The flight was originally to be boarded at Gate 10 at Mascot International (Sydney), but was changed to Gate 37. This caused a delay and we boarded the flight after the scheduled departure time.
I was flying Premium Economy so got to board early. When the ticket was presented it was given the red light, the Attendant looked for another ticket on her counter, it was scanned and it got the red light also. So she looked from another ticket, this one was green. The Doc had been upgraded to business class to seat 7F, an aisle seat.
The plane was a 747, The Doc was not familiar with the configuration. The crew later advised it was the latest 747 400N. There was heaps of leg room and you could sleep in the horizontal position, nice. It had a large LCD screen and even a massage feature. No need to climb over with this much room between the seats. The first time The Doc can remember that ever being the case. The configuration follows the QANTAS A380 Airbus.
When the plane eventually turned onto the runway and commenced take-off, The Doc prayed for a safe journey as he normally does. Suddenly 3 or 4 passengers traced the sign of the cross on their forehead, many were South American and Catholic. It should be a good flight and it was.
Flight time was 11 hours 40 minutes. We headed south down over the southern tip of NZ. Across the Great Southern Ocean and up the coast of South America. Presumably we were after the jet stream, leaving late and arriving on time suggest we found it.
It made no difference to me as my connecting flight in Chile was about a 4 hour stopover.
After take-off the Captain explained the reason for the delay, the thunderstorm in Sydney on Friday night had prevented some flights taking off Friday night. So on Saturday there was a shortage of gates and bigger crowds.
As we were flying up the southern tip of South America, The Doc looked out a window and the ocean had a bad case on dandruff, actually ice or very chopped up seas, large amounts of it.
The Doc meet Dave West at the airport in Santiago and we had a brief chat. Dave has been a few trips before with WPA. Dave is a New Zealander.
Although we confirmed separately Dave was seat 7C and The Doc was 7A. A lot less space this time on the 5 hour flight. We left just after 6pm and arrived just after 9pm. The time zones were playing tricks again. It has been a very long Saturday 16 November.
The Hotel is just across the road from the Central Cathedral which I look straight at out the window.
Its late so time to shower and turn in.
Today’s trip on Google Maps, here.
Click on the photo to see correct size. The thumbnail is blurred.