Slightly pissed off that this stress was the start to my holiday but being in holiday mode I went off to have a glass of wine and some rescue remedy. An hour later I check the board just as its changing to say the flight is going to be delayed by a further 20 minutes so there is no way that I am going to make the Santiago connection in Madrid so I headed back to Mrs No at the desk. Stupid woman was trying to tell me that I would be fine with 15 minutes so I pointed out that she had said 35mins was the minimum then she started waffling that they would hold the plane for me - bullshit I said! I told her I needed her to find me another connection that would work so I could get to Santiago on time.
She really didn't want to help and was telling me all the flights were full and then out of nowhere this lovely asian man appeared to take over from this woman to let her have a break - within 10 minutes this lovely soft spoken man had my bag pulled off the madrid flight and heading to the Sao Paulo flight with my boarding passes all printed and because he couldn't get me a window or an aisle seat because the flight was nearly full he put me in one of the bulk head seats that you normally have to pay more for. Now he couldn't guarantee my bag would make the change around because of customs rules of what happens to bags when they are pulled off flights but he was hopeful.
He really was so lovely and obviously understood his role in Customer Services. If he hadn't turned up when he had I would have had to get on the flight to Madrid and miss the connection and I would still be in Madrid now waiting for the next Santiago flight.
and my bag made it which is pretty miraculous since its still labelled up with the original flight numbers.
I do believe that these things happen for a reason and it wasn't until everything was sorted and I had my new boarding passes and I was on the phone to Mark when I heard this South African voice just behind me say "Suz?" - my wonderful friend Marilyn had sat down right behind me on a bench without realising I was there until I answered my phone. Now that is fate - T5 is such a huge place its impossible to meet someone your trying to meet there never mind bump into a friend out of the blue! So we had a quick gossip and off she went to get her flight to Jo'burg. Was I delayed so that we could see each other before she left? Its hard to know but its pretty amazing anyway.
So I say CHANGE is GOOD - if I hadn't had all that hassle which changing my flights I wouldn't have seen Marilyn and my new flight was nice as it was BA rather than shitty Iberia! An old boss (a big fat arsehole of a boss) once said to me that I didn't like change and that I couldn't cope with it - now this was about 10 years ago and I was really surprised that he said that to me as I always thought I was so adaptable, it was probably just one of his bullying tactics but I took it to heart and from that day on I have always made sure that I welcome change no matter how annoying. It is a good thing in all aspects of life to never get stuck in a rut and always be willing to go with the flow or sometimes against it if thats whats needed to make change for the better happen.
Once I got on the Sao Paulo flight a woman with a 9 month old baby sat next too me - of course at this point I would horrified - the thought of a 13 hour flight with a screaming brat right next to me really wasn't my idea of fun but sometimes you have to balance the good with the bad and I had just had it confirmed before she sat down that my bag was actually on the flight - given the choice I would have chosen screaming brat over lost bag!
As it turns out this little brazilian baby was the cutest thing ever and there was hardly a grumble out of him and his mother was lovely so that was all good.
Landed in Sao Paulo which is the most stupidly signed airport for a huge hub airport. I ended up through security twice because I kept being sent on a wild goose chase by apathetic airport staff whilst trying to find Terminal 2 which isn't sign posted!!! My lack of portuguese certainly didn't help but you could tell they were just not interested so I went into Production Manager mode, kicked some ass and had one of the staff walk me to terminal 2. I will be back in Sao Paulo another twice during my 6 week trip so slightly dreading it now although at least I know my way around it better now.
The Santiago flight was a beautiful one as it was clear skies so you could see all the way down to the desert landscape and then we flew over the Andes which was very special. I don't know why I find flying cover mountain ranges so breathtaking but it makes me feel very special to have been able to see this view - it makes you just want to reach out and touch them.
So here I am in Santiago in my cute wee apartment 2 minutes walk to the centre - thank you to my guardian angels for helping me sort out all the shite on the way - without them I would still be in Madrid or here but bag less. Its been a long 30 hours but I am now drinking Chilean Sauv Blanc whilst typing this blog with the windows open and listening to some live jazz that is happening just down the road. I am really going to love this trip!
Tomorrow I am doing the open top bus tour of santiago city in the morning with stop offs at a few sights then I get picked up at 4pm to go horse riding just south of Santiago up in the hills so we can watch the sun set over the city then a Chilean BBQ back at the ranch - apparently there will be bread, cheese and wine for me as Chilean bbq'd cow is just not for me!!
suzxxx
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