Arrived in Santiago, Chile, after
13 hours of flying time. From Brisbane to Sydney and then on to Santiago. This
was all quite bearable, especially our Premium Economy seats from Sydney to
Santiago on a Boeing 737. This was a much shorter journey than expected because
of the curve of the earth, and the pilot apparently put his foot on the gas to
make-up a half an hour of flight time.
We were met at Santiago airport by our Viking rep and tour guide Alex
Arguilera (no relation to the singer).
One couple in our tour group who did arrive later from the USA, did have
an unfortunate incident. A fake Viking
rep managed to hustle them away from the main arrival area and into a waiting
taxi, which they paid for by credit card. When they arrived at the hotel and
came down to dinner, they met the real Viking rep who had been trying to locate
them for several hours. Once he heard
their story, he knew that something was awry. On checking their bank account,
it had apparently been cleaned out. A
happy ending however. Because they had
used a credit card to pay, the transaction wasn’t finalised, and their bank was
able to make the necessary arrangements to save their funds. Great start to your holidays!!
Memorial at UNESCO Plaza
We had a nice dinner at the
Intercontinental Hotel in Santiago and met out tour buddies for our Atacama
Desert extension tour. There were 6
other couples. Five couples from the USA
- California, Ohio, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Kentucky. The other couple is from
Brisbane. This couple did have a
distinctly Canadian accent. They were from Ontario, but had visited Australia
33 years ago; and decided to stay!
