South America Blog: Day 1
No, you’re not hallucinating - I’m actually posting something to LJ. I’m mostly a lurker here, who just makes the occasional reply to others’ posts. I found myself with a lot of free time on my recent South American cruise with Shelley, and I spontaneously decided that I would write a travelog, much like I did on my first cruise - a Mediterranean voyage with my parents and brother 21 years ago. Lacking Internet access on this trip, I blogged offline using my newly beloved mini-laptop (a very welcome Christmas gift from Shelley!), and I’m just getting around to post it now. This blog is huge, so I’ll just be posting a day at a time for 18 days, starting today.
Disaster was narrowly averted at the outset of our trip. Shortly after being dropped off by my dad at the airport, I noticed that my beloved Reno 2005 Scrabble sack was missing. I had left it in my dad’s van! He didn‘t have his cell phone, but fortunately he noticed as soon as he got home, and gave me a call. I profusely apologized, and asked him to hurry back to the airport. Showing up without a set of Scrabble gear for a Scrabble cruise would be a huge faux pas, especially considering I’d specifically told Larry Rand we’d bring a set.
By the time my dad got the sack to us, we had already checked in, but only had about 75 minutes to get through all the security clearances and to the gate. Normally, that wouldn’t be a big deal (even on an international flight), but thanks to some dumbass terrorist who suffered pubic burns on Christmas, we had extra layers of security to deal with (even though the U.S. no longer officially required Canada to take these measures). We got through the normal security checkpoints very quickly, and wondered what all the fuss was about. It turns out that the extra security checks were set up farther down by the gates. We got our patdown, and a personal inspection of the contents of our bags. The guy didn’t seem to care that I was unable to turn on either the camera or the Palm Pilot in my bag, which makes me wonder why he even bothered to ask.
Note to anyone considering flying on LAN (the Chilean national airline). Dress lightly! The plane was like a sauna. Shelley was sweating buckets, and even I, normally heat-resistant, was a little damp. On the plus side, they had good onboard entertainment, including games. Hangman is surprisingly tough when you’re trying to guess 3 and 4-letter words!