Trip Report - Argentina

[wile_e]

Hi all,

Long time between posts for me... Just trying to get back into the swing of things, having been away for the last few weeks.

Anyway, over the holiday season SWMBO and I took a trip to Argentina. Our itinerary was SYD-EZE // AEP-FTE // USH-AEP // AEP-IGR-AEP // EZE-SYD. The EZE flights were on QF and the other flights were a mixture of AR and LA, with all flights booked in Y...

We were lucky enough to be able to pre-select PE seats on the EZE route, making the journey a little more comfy - it was definitely easier flying over there than the (full daylight) return flight! However (and this is my fault for not noticing), on our return from EZE one of our bags was the second last bag to come out - and none of them had any priority tags on them. Question to those in the know - what exactly is the (priority) bag situation when travelling on QF and other oneworld carriers (both domestic and international)?

On arriving at EZE airport, we saw the reciprocity fee booths being setup, however as we'd arrived on 26/12 we managed to evade that fee (US$100). Speaking to other travellers it seems as though the fee was charged from 28/12. If travelling overland (like we did), the border crossings (Argentina, Chile, Uruguay) did NOT enforce this fee!

The other flights were pretty unmemorable, except for the AEP-FTE (AR) flight, which was effectively an AEP-USH-FTE flight! Talk about backtracking...!! We did have a nice CSM on the IGR-AEP (LA) that did note our priority boarding and whisked us through their boarding procedures, which was nice of her.

Looking to book some award flights for our next holiday now. After our 14 hours of fidgit from EZE-SYD, looking to book those in J so any advice would be welcome!

Cheers for now,
W

 

[StevePER]

Good stuff - any photos? I really enjoyed my time at FTE and IGR in 2007.

 

[wile_e]

Yeah, I'm a bit of a photo-nut, so I did manage to take a couple...

Lugging the body and lenses up some of those trails proved to be a bit of a lung buster though. With the changing of lenses, the advent of (multiple) "dust bunnies" that crept onto the sensor is now proving to be a bit of an annoyance!

I'll post a couple once I get through editing them.

StevePER where did you end up travelling to when in that region? I hope that you enjoyed it as much as I did!

 

[StevePER]

We started in Buenos Aires (which didn't impress me much, but I don't think we planned it as well as we could have). Then Iguazu Falls which I thought were great - not just the falls themselves but the place we stayed and the restaurants we went to. Then we went south to El Calafate, saw the glacier and ate more excellent food.

Next was Chile - we took bus to Puerto Natales, drove up to Torres del Paine for a couple of days, it's a really beautiful part of the world. Drove back to Punta Arenas (via Seno Otway and lots of penguins), flew to Puerto Montt and stayed a few days around there. We went to the Vulcan Osorno and it snowed while we were there (in November!).

Next was Rio, which I enjoyed more than Buenos Aires. Then flew to Lima, took a bus to Nazca and saw the Nazca lines and other local sights. Bus back to Lima, flew to Cusco and stayed a few nights there plus one in Aguas Calientes. Then home with stops at Easter Island and Tahiti on the way.

We flew PER-AKL-PPT-BOB-PPT-SCL-EZE / AEP-IGR-AEP-FTE / PUQ-PMC-SCL-GIG-SCL-LIM-CUZ-LIM-SCL-IPC-PPT-AKL-PER.

It was an awesome trip and I think it's going to be a long time before we manage to top it.

Photos

Totally understand the annoyance of lens changes, somehow it seems you have to change lenses for every shot. I still prefer an SLR though. I picked up some annoying sensor dust in the US and got it cleaned professionally for $60. I tried cleaning it myself but ended up making it worse.

 

[sbuerba]

What would you have done differently in Buenos Aires? any advice?