The Long Flight home...

My time in Buenos Aires was great. The weather was awesome! I got a lot done at the office, though my timing could have been better. You see Easter is an important holiday across Latin America. Most countries had Friday off, while Argentina had Thursday off as well. I did go to the office as most of my staff was in, but Friday I worked from the hotel. They treated me very well (yet again) and gave me a late checkout (5 pm).

The ride to the airport was a quick 25 minutes as there was very little traffic. The airport was also uncrowded, or seemingly so. Previous trips had me standing in long lines with crowds. As it's now Autmn, the kids are back in school and probably less travel over all. I saw no cruise ships this trip. I've also figured out the airport and have a few secrets for my next trip.  I had checked AA.com before heading to the airport and expected to have my status updated but no such luck. I was still in Group 3, which I worry about given I was carrying on my luggage. I should qualify for priority access, as I crossed the 25,000 mile mark on the way down, but my status was not yet updated in the local systems.  I made my way to the Admirals club for free wine (booze too) and snacks. 

At the appointed time I wandered to gate 8 (always leave from gate 8)  and milled about,  with all the others. The flight was full...I tried to board with Group 2, but was denied..."We haven't called group 3" the woman said. ($%#!) -- I found my seat 34C, plenty of room in the over head for both bags as I placed  magazines, ipod, headphones and arranged them for convienent access in my seat pocket.  A family of 3 joined my row, parents and what looked like a 2 year old boy. We settled in for what would be a long night. We left on time and slowly gained altitude to our cruising height of 39,000 feet. The 2 year old was not happy and he let us all know about it.  He had a friend a few rows back that also joined in with the crying. The headphones were soon on, but even the noise canceling feature could not block out the stereo sounds of two whiny and crying kids. I settled in to the latest Tom Cruise film "Valkyrie" and tried to ignore the crying.

The 777 had individual entertainment, with  a variety of TV shows, Movies, Music and GPS Navigational data, so you can plot our seemingly slow progress. I rallyed about 1:30  am and watched the "Yes Man" with Drew Carrie. A bit of a romantic comedy and it helped pass the time. 4:30 and landing could not come soon enough!!  As we started our descent, again with the sreaming kids,  as the change in airpressure was impacting their ears. Soon we were at our gate, on time and de-boarding. Then it was a race to passport control (modest line) and customs. My driver was waiting (Yeah!!!) as I would not dare ask Lisa to pick me up at this un-godly hour.

It was a silent drive back to Boca after the long flight home.