Darrell & I left Adelaide on Friday 26th September at 12.25 and flew to Sydney. On arrival we walked to where we were told we could catch the shuttle to the Mecure Hotel. There were many shuttle buses coming and going and no signs on any that indicated Mecure Hotel. The marshall at the area was rude and unhelpful and by sheer chance Darrell managed to ask him at the right time and found out the shuttle we were meant to catch was just leaving! Absolutely no sign on bus to indicate where it was going. We had waited over an hour and had obviously missed at least one bus.
Dennis (I shared house with when I lived in Sydney) and Sandra (scottish friend of Dennis's I made friends with in January this year when I stayed at Denis's) came to meet us at hotel and we had drinks and a meal. Sandra is quite a character - she has worked at refugee centres off shore for the Aust Govt and is widely travelled. It was a good night - such a good night that darrel and I woke up wth hangovers Saturday morning for our flights to South America.
When we arrived at Sydney International Airport ther were hundreds of people being processed through check in security and immigration. When we finally got through it was final call for our flight and we rushed to find gate and board the plane. The first leg to Aukland was fine- we both watched movies or TV shows on our individual screens. The stopover was a bit of a pain - taking off all hand luggage and being screened again.
The second leg to Santiago was fairly smooth - a couple of times we were told to remain in our seats - a lot of people went to sleep as the time progressed. Darrell dozed on and off but I didn't sleep. The sleeping pills I got specially I packed in my checked luggage
Another stopover at Santiago - more security checks and ths time change plane. The flight to Buenos Aires was on a Boeing 787 - very new with high ceiling and overhead lockers high and hard to reach.
This flight was smooth also and just less than 2 hours. We had arranged transfer from airport and we were pleased to be driven there in a private car. It was about 45 mins.
