Traveling Again and Heading for South America

 

The pace and intensity of our land tour did not allow enough time for us to blog in real time. We offer this blog of our trip now to round out and supplement some of the posts and information previously provided during our tour.

Dogs are welcome at new airport!

March 24: Day 1. The alarm jolts us awake at the ungodly hour of 0200. We need to head for the New Orleans airport by 0300 so that we can make our 0600 flight to Miami. And in getting to the airport, we’re facing a potential unknown delay. It’s been nearly 3 years since we’ve flown out of the New Orleans International Airport, and in that time a totally new terminal and parking system has been built.
We had asked friends and relatives that have used the airport recently for tips on navigating the access roads, but the reports we received were neither helpful nor reassuring. Sure enough, when we arrived at the airport we missed the spur for the long-term parking garage and were headed for the airport exit. At the last minute, Capt. Larry turned on a road marked DO NOT ENTER that looked like it would take us to the garage. And it did. We parked the van and entered the new terminal.

Heading for Peru

Now came our second challenge of the morning. Our neighbor had previously checked us in on the airline app, but now we were facing a luggage kiosk which we had never used before. Perhaps the blank looks on our faces saved us, but a counter agent waved us over and we checked in the “old-fashioned” way.

Arriving in Lima, Peru after two uneventful flights, we cleared immigration, claimed our bags and were waved through customs, and found the tour company representative.

Linda and Jane Reunite!

We boarded our bus and settled in for a long, congested, rush-hour ride through Lima traffic to our hotel. The hotel greeted us with a champagne reception, but what excited us most was seeing our Canadian friends, David and Linda, in the lobby waiting for our arrival. It had been nearly 3 years since we last traveled with them in India. After greetings and lots of hugs, we checked into our room and joined David and Linda in the hotel’s restaurant for dinner. After dinner we returned to our room and crashed— it was a long day.