September 22,

Jeff awoke at 0430 this morning! It’s a travel day!! I thankfully slept until 0614. We readied and finished our packing. We finished tidying up the place and left by 0830. I got to pet the dogs as I exited. Thankfully, it was not raining, but definitely looked to start any minute. Along the way to the airport, we stopped at a gas station to top off the tank of the car, and arrived at 0925. Jeff dropped me off, unloading the bags onto a cart that I procured. I then went in to get our bags labeled as Jeff went to return the vehicle. He returned; we checked-in our luggage; and we went through security arriving at the lounge by 1030.

The lounge was busy. We took one of the last places to sit, unloaded and I went to get some breakfast. When I returned Jeff went for his food. It was mostly finger foods, but tasted okay. We both had hot chocolate – that was great. Then we caught up with the blogs, as our flights were delayed. We then had some nuts and a glass of champagne. We left the lounge by noon. Our plane arrived at 1203. We were supposed to leave at 1145, but it was delayed until 1245. It is supposed to be raining in Sao Paulo, so we assume this is the reason for the delay. We boarded and were seated by 1230. We are across the aisle from each other. Our second leg has been delayed as well, so finger crossed, we should make it… otherwise it will be an 8 hour layover. The plane backed up at 1250. We had some turbulence then steadied out with a snack service. We both chose crackers and water. There was more turbulence as we descended. The plane landed in Sao Paulo at 1406 and had just minutes to get to our other plane on the international side – terminal #2 to #3. We made it and the door was open!! But “they” (the airline or AI) had rebooked us on the 2240 flight. Jeff was not happy and found that this plane was not full!!! Four people that arrived after us got on. So…hello to an eight hour layover and not arriving at our destination until after 0100 AM.

Now we tried to find the lounge we could go to. We could not find the right one. Checked at one and they just said no. Tried a second one – no, but he told us where the lounge was…all the way at the end of this terminal. Jeff went on and I took my time now. When I arrived at the place there was a line, so I got in after making sure it was a Priority Pass Lounge. We finally got in by 1635. We got food and had a show. A Swiss plane came in around 1700 and immediately was loading up. Two gate gourmets and then lift in between them. The gate gourmets were unloading and a tractor driver was loading onto the lift into the cargo area. One load actually slipped off a trailer as the tractor swung to back in at the lift! Oh my-my! The tractor then dragged the load of stuff away after a bunch of people assessed the situation, because it was blocking the loading process. A forklift was called and reloaded the load onto another trailer. Wow wow wow! What a situation!! All the other stuff was loaded without incident. This was stuff we just don’t see. Then an Air France pulled in beside the Swiss one. An ambulance with red flashing lights came to this airplane. Thankfully no one was taken off the craft onto the ambulance, and it left. Meanwhile, after an hour and a half of loading back at the Swiss plane that dropped load never did get loaded and the lift left! That plane finally backed out at 1842. That load was driven off by the tractor at 1844 to who knows where…Hey, maybe that was part of my passport complication in Peru?!! Who knows.

At 1910 we left the lounge because we found out we will flying out of Terminal #2 now. So we walked back, catching the shuttle again. We had taken before. It helps – my knee has done well, but it is tired, as I am. We got into Terminal two and found another lounge by 1930. This was the lounge we had been looking for earlier(Jeff was looking at the wrong terminal on the app). There were still two plus hours to pass and it was dark out, so we just sat. This lounge is not busy at all. We had a couple more bites of food and caught up on the saga that was our day.

We left the second lounge at 2130, because our plane’s gate was changed back to – you guessed it – Terminal #3!!! You can’t write this stuff! Unbelievable! So we caught our third shuttle and arrived at our gate. By 2154, we loaded onto a bus – to get to the plane – on the tarmac – in the rain. Once on we waited for the rest of the people from other buses to board as well. The plane backed out at 2240 – on time. It was the first time today. The takeoff was at 2305. Snack of chips and a cookie given just before midnight. Touch down at 0128.

  WELCOME TO MONTEVIDEO, URUGUAY!!!

We exited the plane (at a gate, not the tarmac). First impression…It was cold! Then through immigration, having our bags in hand by 0200. By 0208, we were in an Uber to our place. Our driver was fast! By 0230 we arrived at the Holiday Inn and we were upgraded to a suite! Nice way to end the day.😄😴 Our suite –  is lovely. We unloaded, and were in bed by 0258.