Fly Home to Sydney

 Up at 4.30 am, we were ready to go at 5am, and despite the strong recommendations to take a hotel are for the modest sum of USD 85, we summoned a taxi. We were still ripped off at USD 50, but we had little bargaining power and just wanted to get to the airport, which we did in about 30 mins.

As explained in earlier posts, scheduled departure times are indicative only, and once again we experienced a delay of a bit over an hour. We arrived in Santiago, Chile with about an hour and 40 mins before our Qantas flight, so thought there should be enough time to transfer our luggage, plus, we new we could count on a delay.

The Qantas departure was only delayed 40 mins, but the Captain was confident he could catch up the time, which he did. getting us in early.

Our flight experience was not quite the one we had flying over. Premium Economy had comfortable seats and good legroom, but the food was inedible. our first meal was a chicken, rice and vegetable dish with the driest most bland chicken bears I have ever tasted. It was so hard you couldn't cut it with a knife, only shedding it with a fork was possible. it went back uneaten.

The second meal was no different, the meat so overcooked and dry it was awful. The highlight was the empanadas they had as snacks, they were very tasty and much better than the main meals. They had good wine and made good coffee.

After the great experience we had flyng from Sydney to Santiago, I had almost though Qantas had turned the corner. Not so, I am Afraid.

We we back home at Bayview by 7 pm, very tired and in bed by 8.30 pm.

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