I know, the title makes you wonder for a second, but you’ll understand as the story continues. It started in Kansas City. Cesar and I had been arguing all morning (and I’m not sure that’s going to change any time soon). As much as you prepare, it’s tough to be completely prepared for a journey this huge.
The Airline Review: United Continental Merger, Wait a Year
May 12—The date of our departure. After checking 5 bags, a carseat and carrying on another 5 items (2 smaller suitcases, 2 computer cases and Audrey’s diaper bag, I thought that I would be raving reviews. Yes, check in was an issue because Continental and United use the names pretty interchangeably on paper, but the actual check-in and baggage issues have you going back and forth between the two companies, which we did several times.
Our flight was delayed, but the lady at the counter said we’d still make our flight from Houston to Sao Paulo. Great! This would be the perfect journey! Wrong. We circled around the Houston airport for about 45 minutes and sat another 30 minutes in the plane as I watched on my iPhone as the status changed on my SP flight from “boarding” to “departed.” Go figure!
Now, I realize very well that airlines can’t control the weather, but they can make the fallout easier…. Something that the United/Continental group did not do. We waited another 30 minutes in a line to reschedule our flight and ended up with another FULL day’s travel and a “voucher” for a “discount” (tell me, does $67 at an Econolodge seem like a discounted price?). This set in motion a chain of events. This all meant that Cesar missed his medical exam appointment, which was set for Friday so we could guarantee the results would get to us before his appointment at the American consulate on Monday. It seems like from there every line we stood in meant more complications. We stood for about an hour at the ticket line the next day because they couldn’t figure out our reservations and baggage (United—the ticket was issued by Continental, so this was after we had already gone to the Continental terminal and figured out we had to go to the United terminal). Then the ticket counter lady sent us to the baggage claim lost and found to make sure we had our luggage transferred. United couldn’t find my luggage with them so we went to the Continental baggage services where the lady there kept telling me I shouldn’t have let the guy who issued our new tickets take our baggage tags, and who finally found my baggage tag numbers, but not my actual baggage, and sent me back to United with the numbers. United then found 1 of my bags (but not the other 5 items) and figured the rest would eventually show up. They told me to go ahead through security and leave my information at the counter closer to boarding time to check the progress on our baggage. The lady there was actually finally the most helpful. She only saw 3 items having boarded, but kept the information and, after we had boarded and before takeoff, she came to us and told us the best news of the day—she’d located all of our baggage and it was now all on board the plane we were on!
So at around 4:30ish (another 45 minutes late) we left Houston for Lima, Peru. When we got to Lima, we passed through more security at the international terminal, and stood in line to check in with LAN, our next flight carrier. There, they told us to go ahead and explore the airport for another 30 min. because they could find our tickets, but not Audrey’s. So we went and browsed. Surprisingly enough, the perfume AT THE AIRPORT in Peru was about the same price as prices in the US, so we bought some for Cesar’s mom and dad, went back and they printed off our tickets, put our baggage info into the computer, and we let Audrey run around the terminal until our next flight, which took off around 1:30am.
We arrived in Sao Paulo at 7:45am (Sao Paulo time), and Audrey was the only one who really slept at all. We couldn’t find the guy who was supposed to pick us up for a long time, so of course we started arguing… again. You see, Cesar has never really traveled, so of course I believed I was right about everything (and, most of the time I was, of course, but not as much as I imagined, I’m sure).
Just as we were about to get some food to try to get some change, we saw Pamela, the guy’s daughter. So we changed out all of our dollar currency to Real and went with her to her car. The drive to where they live in Santos, I slept most of the way. My throat and sinuses were irritated and I was exhausted, but sometimes that’s part of flying so much.
We got close to their city and the beach and went to their store that they own. The culture and city was different than I remembered the first time. The buildings were… well, to be honest, ugly. I didn’t remember everything being so ugly, but I did remember something that we should remember all the time—the outside doesn’t reflect the inside in Brazil.
When we got to the city where we are staying, called Praia Grande (literally translated Big Beach), approximately 2 hours outside of the main city of Sao Paulo, we went first to the shop our friends own, then passed by the beach to see it, then to the house. I was dying to take a shower and did so, then realized there was no bath tub. This is not a problem for me, but Audrey is not going to enjoy Brazil very much without her bathtub. The water was great and it felt so nice to be clean. I gave Audrey her shower, which she hated even more when the power went out for a bit and the water turned cold (the water heaters in Brazil are electric). I was stressed from the trip, the changes, the questions I had as to what was proper and what wasn’t, and with Audrey’s crying in the shower, I too cried.
Then came the calm. I let Cesar dry off and dress Audrey and I went to the kitchen for a snack. I felt peace come over me as I listened to the sounds around me. The homes where we are are very open and you can hear a lot. Little firecrackers go off when soccer games start and end, the man next door was watching a soccer game, the neighbor behind us was playing a peaceful tune on the harmonica, and Audrey was napping. I breathed in and said to myself, I’m in Brazil.
Then Audrey woke up. She was burning up and my throat and sinuses were irritating me. We went to the pharmacy and the pharmacists here (I think) have a basic understanding of medicine and took Audrey’s temp. It was high and he told me to do what I’d already done, give her Tylenol.
We then went to an open market and I tried pastel (a yummy kind of salty pastery with cheese and ham… kind of like a hot pocket only 50 times better) and caldo de cana (a drink made with sugar cane). Cesar, Audrey and I hung out a bit, and then we went to sleep…. Early. It was a long trip, but we’re hear and I’m looking forward to what is to come.