2018 Transatlantic Cruises

Friday, February 15, 2019

TRAVEL DAY---DFW TO SANTIAGO

        Jane drove us to DFW at 4:30 pm.  We arrived at 5:15 and checked out luggage at curbside.  No line.  Then we proceeded through security and again no line.  So we were in the Admiral's Club but 5:30.  Easiest we have ever made it to gate area.
        We had two hours to kill before our boarding time of 7:35.  So we enjoyed a couple drinks (they were very small ones).  There were also snacks available.  So our gate was just outside of the Club and we went there at 7:15 so as to stretch legs and be ready when they started boarding.   We started chatting with the couple behind us and discovered he was also a retired AA captain, Ron Worthey.  I recognized his name.  They will also be on our cruise.  So we were first in line and first to board the airplane.  We got semi-settled in and I headed up to the cockpit.  I had never been on a Boeing 787 before so had to see it.  The 787 is AA's newest airplane and seats 285 passengers.  Our flight was full, and oversold, so they were buying people off at $700 each.
        Our inflight experience could not have been better.  Great flight attendants working in business class, food was good, and smooth 8 1/2 hour flight.  We landed early.  Passport control was just 5 minute line.  Luggage was on carousel when we got there.  That was fast!!  There were free carts to put out bags on to go through customs inspection.  Dogs sniffed our luggage as we waited in line but line was just few minutes once again.  Piece of cake!!
        I had booked a private car from airshuttle.com several months ago.  Driver was to meet us outside of customs area with sign with my name on it.  Lot of signs out there so missed her.  There were several Regent contracted people there so one was super nice and called our limo company to help find our driver, which we did.  She did not speak much English but was excellent and safe driver.
       I had told hotel we would probably be arriving there around 10:00 am and we actually arrived at 9:45.  Super nice people working front desk and I asked if Felipe was available.  He was the front desk manager I had been emailing.  Really nice man also.  He had upgraded us to a HUGE suite.  Nicest room I have had in years!!
        We went to the Executive Lounge for some cold water and I had an orange Fanta.  I used to drink them all the time when laying over in South America.  After returning and settling in we went across the street to a pharmacy.  Rebecca uses Nasonex nose spray.  In the States it costs $125 per small bottle.  Here we paid $22 per bottle.  Got 8 of them plus 3 Z-pacs (antibiotics).
        Two blocks further down the street was a HUGE mall so went there to exchange some dollars for Chilean pesos.  Also got some empanadas to bring back to room for lunch.  Now Rebecca is resting and I am working on this blog post before I will rest.  Later we will go to the Executive Lounge for happy hour (free drinks), then we have dinner reservations at "Don Carlos" just few blocks from the hotel.  More about that in tomorrow's post.  I will be posting daily from now on.

Here is the link to my Google photos album taken yesterday and today.  I hope you know how to cut and paste!
https://photos.app.goo.gl/CGzDugXHgDdZA8tG9

This is the way I will be putting photos on for you.  You will have to click on the first photo to enlarge it.  Captions I wrote will appear in upper right corner.  If not, click on the "i" in a circle.  Then arrow through rest of photos with arrow mid way down side of photos.

More to come tomorrow!!!  BTW, I can highly recommend the travel agency we use.  They have saved us thousands of dollars.  Here is the link to Pavlus Travel:
https://pavlus.com

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