Flight to Ushuaia; The Antarctic Adventure Begins
As I sit here in the Jorge Newbery airport in Buenos Aires waiting for our final leg of the flight to Ushuaia, I breathe a sigh of relief. It’s been 24 hours since we left Toronto to start our epic journey to the southernmost city in the world.
The day started out unpredictable as usual. We recall going over our flight itinerary and approving the flights that we wanted. We remember hearing that most people had to change airports in Buenos Aries for their final flight to Ushuaia, but we vividly remember choosing a flight that kept us in Ezeiza International airport.
We were sitting pretty with a manageable 4 hr layover where we didn’t have to change airports.
Things Didn’t Work Out As Planned
When we tried to sign in at the automatic check-in, we were told to see ticket agent. That’s when she told us that they couldn’t check our bags all the way through to our final destination because we had to change airports in Buenos Aires.
“No, no, we aren’t changing airports.” We made sure to choose the flights that kept our connection in the same airport…we are clever travelers don’t you know.
Alas, we clearly aren’t as clever as we thought because upon further inspection of our e-tickets it clearly stated that we had to change airports. So in truth we are a couple of morons who claim to be clever, but really don’t have a clue.
Now we faced a $55 cab ride taking us one hour to the other side of the city.
Things were looking good when we landed. We were 15 minutes early and would have plenty of time to make it across town. That is until the captain announced that the ground crew wasn’t ready for us yet and we’d have to wait on the tarmac for 10-15 minutes.
I dozed off.
I woke up a half hour later to an announcement from the captain stating that they still weren’t ready for us so it would be another 10-15 minutes.
Yikes, we’re cutting it close.
Quick Reference:
Americans: Tourist fee of $140 for 10 year multiple entry.
Australian Citizens: $100 USD for 1 Year multiple Entry.
Canadians: $75 for a single entry or $150 for 5 year multiple entry.
When we finally disembarked, it was a crowded walk to customs as another flight came in at the same time. As luck would have it, Canadian, American and Australian citizens have to pay a fee upon entrance, so as we stood in line with hundreds of South and Central American Tourists, the US, Canucks and Aussies were called out of line. It’s the only time I’ve ever been happy to pay a reciprocity fee.
There weren’t to many of us, so we made it through the queues quickly.
Long Story Short…
We made it to the Jorge Newbery airport with plenty of time to spare and all my fretting and worrying was for nothing. I just wasn’t sure what would happen if we missed our connection. Would the airline put us on another flight? Since we had to change airports, how could they be sure that we were late because of a tight schedule? we could have been dilly dallying for all they know.
Luckily we never had to find out. Now we’re sitting pretty in Ushuaia and ready to explore a bit of this southernmost city in the world before we set sail for Antarctica. And we don’t have to change airports on our return flight home. So all is well in the land of Dave and Deb
Tips:
- Try to book a flight that keeps you in the same airport when flying to Ushuaia. This cab thing is stressful and expensive.
- Have some movies loaded up on your iPod for the Aerolineas Argentinas flight. They don’t have an entertainment system.
- The Flight to Ushuaia from Buenos Aires has less luggage allowance than the international flights so take that into account when packing. We were two kilos over but they didn’t charge us. Whew.
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We stayed at the La Posta hostel and enjoyed it. A bit out of the way but great staff and clean. We sprang for private double room and actually got an apartment in back. Take the Piro Tour to see the penguins. Great time there
Forgot to mention the Lion Bus line between the airports is great and much cheaper than a cab. Manuel Tienda Leon if you stay there hotels in the $100 US range are much better than any of th budget places. We stayed a Polo Suites and it was a great place. We also stayed at two other places, one a dump, and one clean but very small. They were not worth the limited savings.
Hello Christopher!Thanks for sharing your experience in that adventure…can you also post the other Adventure you done?I really enjoy your sentiment but pretty cool blog!
Sounds like a harrowing and exciting start to your Antarctic journey. Can’t wait to read more about it – have fun!
Ah, I love it when nothing goes to plan!
That’s when you get at least one blog post out of it!
I must admit, I plan everything super-carefully when it comes to my international flights – doesn’t always help though. Example – flying from New Zealand back into Australia for a couple of weeks on my way back to England it never occurred to me to check for visas, as I’d spent the last 2 years in Oz – apparently during that time they changed the visa conditions so that EVERYONE had to have one in place before they were allowed to board the plane! I was told this by the check-in desk woman, who wouldn’t check me in… cue a very tense hour in the internet kiosk trying (and failing, and re-trying) to get a tourist visa for Australia! Finally the airline’s customer service manager did it for me – and then my own attempt registered on the same system and was refused as I’d just been granted the visa and can’t have two. Now, every time I go to Australia, I have to explain why I was once ‘refused’ a tourist visa…
I hate it when you do your best to make sure your travel plans go as smoothly as possible and then things go wrong somehow. One time I arranged a flight online and everything looked good, but then when I got to the airport I found out they had put my middle name in both the first and middle name slots! That meant my ticket didn’t match my passport and they almost didn’t let me get my ticket at all. I had to go through a bunch of extra stupid questioning to prove who I was, but it was lucky I had printed out the verification email because it proved that I had used my actual name through the credit card payment. Whew! But heck, once you get to your destination it is so nice to just shake it off and enjoy your new surroundings. What is Ushuaia like?
WE had the same thing happen when we flew to Egypt. They put our last names in our first name slots and it caused a big uproar. We almost didnt’ make it on our flight and we still haven’t been awarded our Aeroplan miles rewards that would have put us into Elite Status. It’s a bummer.