Flying to Peru

Alright, so here starts the recounting of my trip. It was so amazing, and in some subtle, and some not-too subtle ways, it was a life-altering experience for me. In a good way. So back to the beginning....think waaaaaay back. Back to Sept 7th..... (are you there yet? No? Ok.)......(there now?)

Paige, a fellow librarian, was fabulous and drove me to Portland. Fine, she was going there anyway that evening, but she was nice enough to let me come with! :) I stayed the night at my friend Sue's house and then Sue drove me to the airport the next morning at about 5:00 am. I had called and confirmed my flights the night before. I was going Portland-San Fran, San Fran-Miami and then Miami-Lima. Total flight time, about 14 hours, arriving in Lima at 3:30 am the next day. So I get there, try and do the self-check in, 'cause that's all that's open. After waiting about 30 minutes I finally get up there only to discover that I can't check in there, my flight has been changed to another airline and I need to go check in there!

Ulp! The signs were not good. You have to understand that I was flying on the voucher I'd gotten on my Belize trip, so nothing in the computer was matching up for them. This is on American. I went over to Alaskan Air to find out that my flight had been changed to Portland-LA, LA-Miami and then Miami-Lima. They were very worried that I would miss my connection in San Fran. However, when they finished checking me in, my boarding pass still said Portland- San Fran, but my luggage was correct....so after about 40 minutes of finangling they finally got both things to look the same. Argh.

However, then my Portland-LA flight was delayed for mechanical problems! Instead of a 1.5 hour layover, I had 25 minutes to get alllllll the way across the LA airport, to another terminal and catch my next flight. Which has no food (except for sale), and I hadn't eaten since about 8:00 the night before. Oh well, nothing really new for my body. When I get to the boarding area...they look at my "boarding pass" and tell me..."That's not a boarding pass, where is your boarding pass?" I show them everything I have. I have an actual boarding pass for Miami-Lima, but not LA-Miami. They look me up...and guess frickin' what???

THEY'D LOST MY MIAMI-LIME FLIGHT RESERVATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Somehow, in all the back and forth, somehow I was dropped from the Miami-Lima flight. They got me a boarding pass for the flight that was currently waiting for me, took a photocopy of my Miami-Lima boarding pass and said they'd work on it while I was in the air. But just to forewarn me, when I got to Miami, it was possible that I would have to go standby!

I get to Miami at about 11:00 in the evening. I haven't eaten now for over 24 hours, I'm a bit pissy, worried about my flights, whacked out on Valium, and sure that my luggage has NOT made it to Miami. I get to the Miami-Lima boarding area...and sure enough, they try to tell me that I'm not on the flight. Uh-uh. I didn't loose my temper (I know! Shocking, eh?) I just firmly told them that no, I would be on that flight. Period. No discussion. They asked me to give them about 40 minutes. I told them they had 15. They were back in 10. :)

I'm not really sure why people are scared of me...but evidently I have a GREAT look-of-death. And believe me, I'll use it when I have to. So, in the end, both myself and my luggage arrived in Lima at about 3:30 am. My mom and one of the tour guide's associates were there to pick me up. It was so great to get off that plane, have my mom there and know that we had this amazing time ahead of us. We went back to the hotel, and tried to get some sleep. I didn't think I'd be able to sleep at all, 'cause I felt so wound up...but I swear, my head hit that pillow...and I was out!

So that was day one of my trip. Well, day one and part of day two by the time we got up... but the rest of day two is a story for another day...