Whoever said it's the journey, not the destination, that matters has never flown American Airlines to South America. On the other hand, using the journey vs destination standard, we're having the time of our lives. This is mostly because we are having to extend our journey by quite a bit actually. Our journey, and subsequent detours, started with our 2:30p flight from JFK international finally leaving the ground around 7:30p. This caused us to miss our 9:15p connecting flight from Miami to Santiago, Chile. We were, however, told that if we ran the mile from terminal C to terminal D in under four minutes we could make the 11:30 red-eye that was boarding as we spoke, "but you must run!" said the ticket agent breathlessly. So run we did, for at least 50 feet before Cate and I both collasped, panting like only two aging, out of shape gringos can. I recovered first and Cate, with what I thought might very well be her last words, gasped, "go on, save yourself, I'll catch up!" So I pressed on, determined to make them hold the plane for us.
I got to the gate, number 44, virtually the last gate in the terminal, just as the last of the passengers were loading. I could see Cate coming slowly down the concourse and knew then we were going to make it.
Unfortunately, this meant we would miss our flight from Santiago to Tierra del Fuego. But we were assured that there would be another flight tomorrow the 27th at 8:00a. America Airlines assured us they would put us up for the night and we could catch the morning flight -- no problem.
No problem that is until we arrived, tired, bleary eyed, and slightly smelly, in beautiful Santiago only to be told that no other flights to Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego would be leaving until Sunday the 28th -- too late to make our ship before it sailed. Alas, time and tide waits for no man -- but will whiten and brighten your clothes, or so say the tv comercials. Well, we don't need laundry service, we need a flight out of Chile.
In what we will accept as a post Christmas miracle and after much haggling and computer key clicking we seem to have gotten a flight to Buenos Aires, Argentina where American says they will put us up for the night and book us on a 5:00a flight to Ushuaia. So, God willing, and if the creek don't rise, we may still make our ship on time. Maybe. Meanwhile, I just keep repeating, "it's the jouney that matters, not the destination, it's the journey that matters, not the destination, it's the journey..."
And now Cate tells me she has lost her wallet. It's shaping up to be a fine journey indeed.
I got to the gate, number 44, virtually the last gate in the terminal, just as the last of the passengers were loading. I could see Cate coming slowly down the concourse and knew then we were going to make it.
Unfortunately, this meant we would miss our flight from Santiago to Tierra del Fuego. But we were assured that there would be another flight tomorrow the 27th at 8:00a. America Airlines assured us they would put us up for the night and we could catch the morning flight -- no problem.
No problem that is until we arrived, tired, bleary eyed, and slightly smelly, in beautiful Santiago only to be told that no other flights to Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego would be leaving until Sunday the 28th -- too late to make our ship before it sailed. Alas, time and tide waits for no man -- but will whiten and brighten your clothes, or so say the tv comercials. Well, we don't need laundry service, we need a flight out of Chile.
In what we will accept as a post Christmas miracle and after much haggling and computer key clicking we seem to have gotten a flight to Buenos Aires, Argentina where American says they will put us up for the night and book us on a 5:00a flight to Ushuaia. So, God willing, and if the creek don't rise, we may still make our ship on time. Maybe. Meanwhile, I just keep repeating, "it's the jouney that matters, not the destination, it's the journey that matters, not the destination, it's the journey..."
And now Cate tells me she has lost her wallet. It's shaping up to be a fine journey indeed.
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