An entry in the TFS Travel Journal
We’d done all the outdoors activities we needed to yesterday, so this morning we just lolled around indoors. Checked out and found that instead of Irio, he’d sent his look-alike (though 5 years older) brother to drive us to the airport. Unfortunately, his car didn’t have air conditioning!!
Alas, it was time to go, so we piled in and, for the most part, he drove fast enough that the breeze kept it hot and humid instead of sweltering and humid. We arrived at the airport around noon for our 1:00 flight and were basically the only ones in the airport. They’re doing a lot of construction on the building, and someday it will be a beautiful red-brick creation, but for now it’s rudimentary with no air conditioning. We waited for a little while, then a man appeared at the Aerolineas Argentinas counter and explained that the 1:00 flight to Buenos Aires had been cancelled, but that we would be put on the 3:00 flight. We were not pleased. We were also not the only people who showed up for the 1:00 flight, but there were so few of us, that it was clear why they consolidated the flights!
We then sat in some nailed-down plastic arm chairs near the door - to capture whatever breeze there was - for the 2 1/2 hours until we boarded.
Around 2:00 or so, we were treated to some entertainment, as a Globus tour of senior citizens checked in for the flight. We chatted with a very nice woman from Hawaii (thus answering the age-old question of where people who live in paradise go for their vacations) then cringed as Mr. and Mrs. Long Island yelled to/at each other from across the terminal (and up close, too) in that oh-so-familiar timbre.
Thankfully the plane was nice and cool, (though they, as with all flights we’ve taken here, still don’t have the last-rows-board-first concept down yet) and we arrived in BA with only minimal turbulence this time. We drove to our third airport of the day, where we waited patiently for the flight in the spartan Swiss Air lounge, which has an agreement with SAA. We enjoyed their biz class dinner as well as can be expected (which included some duck that we swore was beef), then took our ambien for the evening.