Traveling With The Bean: Antarctica : The Final Frontier

13 Dec 24. We're on our way!

(Randy) Well, we're heading out of Phoenix, it's 74 degrees and it will probably be the last time I'll be warm for a while. Well, Buenos Aires shouldn't be too bad. Thank goodness it will be summer in the South. Got to the airport hours early. You can tell it's been a while since we've traveled. Felt like PreCheck was a foreign process, liquids in or out? laptops, what do we do with those? How 'bout cell phones? The TSA agent was very helpful and guided us thru the process though he did indicate some big changes coming tomorrow - evidently everything is moving to clothing optional!! Who would have guessed? Nice to meet a TSA rep with a sense of humor!

The airport was packed. We stopped at the Admiral's Club Lounge to wait for our flight and it was standing room only. Can’t imagine what it’s going to be like over Christmas! The flight from PHX to MIA was pretty smooth. Nice to see that post covid some of the services have returned like a beverage service while you’re awaiting departure and a hot meal with real silverware,

Got into MIA on time. Had hours to kill soooo it’s off to the American Lounge for some more waiting. We hit the Admirals Club Flagship Lounge and it was very good. We had used it before and liked it. It has several food stations with a pasta station, very good soups, and a buffet layout that was well stocked with fish, chicken, fresh veggies, and desserts. They also had a very well stocked, self-serve bar. Gutsy move!! Back in the day that would have spelled big trouble, but today I merely indulged in a Woodford Reserve Manhattan with Luxardo cherries. A rare treat. Beanie sampled a couple of the wines that didn’t quite work, but ended up with a Sam Adams beer. Gotta love those beer drinking girls!

The lounge had some great views of the airport and a Boeing Dreamlifter was on the tarmac. It's such a cool plane. It's a modified Boeing 747 used for cargo transport. It's absolutely huge! Here's a link if you'd like to see more that the picture, Boeing Dreamlifter.

Fun To See the Dream Lifter Again

We boarded without incident, a 777, completely sold out. Took a while to complete boarding, but still an on time take off. The flight from Miami to Buenos Aires is a long one - just shy of 5000 miles and about 9 hours.

My IPA Beer Drinking Buddy

The good news is the service was good and the food very good. We had braised short ribs, lobster mac & cheese, salad and a couple of Goose Island IPAs. Hot fudge ice cream sundae for dessert. Watched a couple of movies and tried to get some sleep, but settled for rest with a couple of nod offs. Got in a little early and now heading for the hotel. We REALLY hope our early check-in request is a go.

(Kathy) Two nice flights on American Airlines. The food was very good especially the breakfast before arriving in Buenos Aires, in fact it was probably the best American style breakfast we've ever had on an airline. Kudos to AA!

14 Dec 24. Welcome to Buenos Aires!

(Randy) About 45 minutes from the airport to the hotel. Roads were quite good and taxi driver, quiet, but good. We made it to the Park Tower Hotel. The hotel is located close to the middle of downtown. We got there about 0800 so we were really pressing our "early check in" request. We were told it would be a while so we stored the luggage and went in search of Starbucks. I referenced my trusty Starbuck's app and we promptly couldn't find it. We did make it a bit of a walkabout. The Maginot Line (just checking to see if we have any history buffs on board) between the "nice" area of the hotel and the "not so" nice area is quite small. When the hotel door man saw the direction from which we were returning he kind of wagged his finger and said, "Wrong way!" Pretty funny. He then directed us to the Starbucks that was actually within sight of the front door. Ahh, I can never shake that natural "pathfinder" gene! Got some coffee, sat in the lobby for about another hour and were in our suite by 1130. All in all a pretty good performance by the hotel staff

The hotel is a bit long in the tooth, but the staff is very good and we got what is probably one of the better suites in the hotel. Has a nice living area, couple of baths, and 270 degree views of the city. The complimentary bottle of Pinot Noir was a nice touch. We were in the room for maybe 20 minutes before I was asleep. Beanie held out for a little more - 30 minutes??

Ahhh, couple hours of sleep, nice hot shower, life is good and we ~~smell~~ feel much better!!

(Kathy) Customs and immigration were a breeze and we were in the cab within an hour of landing. Got to the hotel about 0830 and were told we had a 3 hour wait for our room to open up. Did a walkabout but at this point we were pretty pooped. Don't let Randy fool you, he was in bed and asleep about 2 minutes after we got into the room! If I recall correctly, his exact words were "I'm not even going to wash my face or brush my teeth". I wasn't far behind him though. We had a wonderful 3 hour nap and then got things squared away in the room, showered, and had dinner in the hotel lounge, which was quite good. Then another walkabout. Despite the nap we had no trouble sleeping that night.

(RC) Humorous anecdote from dinner, maybe not, but bear with me. We're having a nice chat, maybe a drink, and enjoying the meal and Beanie looks down and starts laughing and asks, "want to see something funny?" Check out the pic below and tell me why.

Nope, No jet lag here. . . . .

(Kathy) The Park Tower Hotel is in the Marriott family of hotels. It used to be The St. Regis. It's still lovely and very comfortable but you can tell its past it's prime. The furniture is definitely showing wear and tear though comfortable and we had fabulous views of the city from the windows in our room. From one of the windows we could see a portion of the waterfront and the top of the Norwegian cruise ship Oosterdam. We talked to a man in the lounge who said he and his wife were going on the ship tomorrow to start their cruise around Cape Horn to Santiago. If the seas were calm enough they hoped to see Antarctica; however, these large cruise ships are not allowed to put passengers on land.