Overnight bus to Mendoza

Two days after arriving to Buenos Aires, my awesome husband surprised me with a trip to Mendoza. I did not understand at all what was actually happening or where Mendoza was since I was so exhausted from traveling and completely jet lagged.

Well.....It's an AMAZING destination and this post is all about the trip to get there. There are lots of pictures!! (low resolution, but enjoy!)

Living in the states, I'm not to familiar with overnight busses. This one was pretty awesome! We boarded the bus around 8pm. And it was a little over $100 American dollars for a one way 14 hour trip in 1st class. We had our own little section with a privacy partition and seats that reclined to 180 with a foot rest and everything!!

We checked our bags under the bus and were ready to go!!

When we boarded the bus, we were all given a little bingo card. Once we were on our way, we began the game. The 1st person to get a full card wins a bottle of wine from the Mendoza wine region.

Well.....Pedro won!!!!!!! It was pretty sweet!! What a way to start the trip!

After the game was through they started to serve us dinner. It wasn't as bad as expected. They started us off with a cold platter of appetizers along with our choice of red or white wine. Out next course was a platter of hot appetizers with more wine. After we finished, our dinner was served. It was a choice of steak and rice pilaf or chicken with mashed potatoes. We ordered one of each so we could try both. They were actually delicious. Dinner was a brownie or dulce de leche cake. As we were finishing up, the movie started. The movie of choice was the Adam Sander Jennifer Aniston, Just Go With It. Very cute movie!! What made it better.....they served us champagne as we were watching and it was in english with Spanish subtitles. (they love American movies here!!)

As the movie ended we drifted off to sleep. As we woke up we were given cappuccino's. What a way to wake up!!

MENDOZA HERE WE COME!!!

Lunch with pirates

After a long morning of exploring in downtown Buenos Aires we started to get a little hungry, so.......we had lunch with pirates! This place was all about it! They took the pirate theme and ran with it. The entire place was decorated to look just like a pirate ship. Our waiter was dressed like as well (i wasn't surprised)! The bathroom doors were even painted to look like they had portholes to look out. Enjoy a few fun pics from the adventure!!


We enjoyed a nice outdoor seat for some prime people watching!

He was about to make me walk the plank.....then he noticed my nautical t-shirt and we were cool!!

No pirate story is complete without a drunken sailor and a bearded lady! Check and check!!
(And since we are in South America......no story is complete without futbol - see tv behind "lady")

"and they all lived happily ever after"

THE END

Hello Buenos Aires!!! - Part 2

The next day after sleeping in (which is customary in this great city) we took to the streets! My husband and his classmate have already been in Buenos Aires for close to a month, so they showed me their route to the university here and all of the great things along the way. We took the bus from our section of town, Palermo Viejo, to the downtown section called Centro. The streets were bustling with people and lined with little shops and cafes! It has a wonderful buzz and energy to it. The architecture is a mix of new world and old world, with the newer buildings being very sleek and modern designs, while the old ones are very ornate from top to bottom. I myself am drawn to the old style. It is funny to see them all mixed together on the same street. Here is a picture of the old style.

We walked through the Retiro district to the Plaza of the air force where the British clock tower is located. It was a gift to Buenos Aires from the British to celebrate the centenary as a Republic.

On the way to the school we also saw a fun street sign that I took a liking to! It made me think of my text ringtone! Wow it's been a whole since I've heard that!!

We saw so many wonderful things during the rest of the day! Instead of just giving a brief overview of each of them, I decided to have an entire post about each one since they were each unique in their own way and WELL worth the detail!! Stay tuned!!

Hello Buenos Aires!!! - Part 1

I made it to Buenos safe and sound on Friday afternoon a little after noon local time (11am east coast US time). Once I was off the airplane I headed over to customs. The line for citizens was MASSIVE!! Luckily I was in the non citizen line. There were a total of 8 people in my line....I was number 5. Once I was at the agent booth I paid for my visa, got my passport stamped and was through in about 5 minutes. I was just as lucky when I went to baggage claim. My luggage was some of the 1st to come through. All in all...I was through customs in about 10 minutes!! What a record!!

My hubby met me in the airport waiting area and greeted me with lovie dovie hugs and kisses! We headed back to the apartment after that to settle in. He went to class and I took a much needed nap!!

My body clock is going to take a little bit to adjust to the lifestyle here. Restaurants typically open for "late dinner" at 8pm. Since i was starving, we grabbed a steak sandwich "snack" as soon as the little place on our block opened to tide us over till late dinner.

The busy time in restaurants is from 10pm-2am. After late dinner locals typically hit the club scene after that. Things really pick up between 3-4am and go until 7-8am. Our plan was to give it a try Friday night, but once we finished dinner around 1am, thunderstorms sent us home in a cab, but not before getting totally drenched!! By the time we got back we were all ready for bed. Buenos noches!!! : )

Pit stop.....Sao Paulo, Brazil

Our flight arrived an hour late. We were let off the plane on the Tarmac and filed onto buses. No one knew where they were going!! Luckily the driver of my bus was nice and helpful and made sure I got off at the stop I was supposed to make my connecting flight.

When I got into the international transfer lounge, I found the flight board and proceeded to figure out my gate. . It said gate 9 - last call! Gate 9 was at the opposite end of the terminal so I took off in a sprint! I made it to the gate just in time.

I'm seated In an exit row with plenty of leg room (not that I need it) lol!

Almost to buenos aires!!!! I'm so excited I can hardly stand it!!!!!

Oh TAM Airlines

Why on earth does every airline have different rules and regulations?!?! As I was packing, I worked very hard to make sure the 1 bag I was checking was under 50 lbs. It was not an easy task, but with a little finagling I came in at a whopping 49.6lbs, only to find out that TAM airlines allows you 2 checked bags up to 70lbs each. But here's the kicker....your carry-on can only be 11lbs. That my friends is a joke!! There was no way I was getting my carryon bag down to 11lbs. The suitcase itself weighs 8 lbs!! So anyways, when I got to the ticket counter to check in, (yes...no online check in either) I did indeed have to check them both. thankfully she let my "personal item" slide. That too was well over 11lbs!

When I finally make it to my seat, 33F, it turns out to be in the center of the center isle. I set my seat tv to English, gear up a movie......and the tv reset. As luck would have it, my tv is broken. I have a 12 hour flight ahead of my and there isn't one movie I can watch because it re-boots about every 5 minutes. Thank goodness I pre-loaded the iPad with lots of good music, books and games!

I am going to make the best out of this flight! After all....it is the start of the trip of a lifetime!!!!!!!

Pit stop.....NYC

Next stop on the journey......NYC.

I took the Amtrak into Penn Station. The ride from Amsterdam was only about 3 1/2 hours. I was able to relax, have a bit to eat from the cafe car, and catch up on emails thanks to the free wifi!! Once I arrived I grabbed my bags and headed over to the C train and took the train up to 86th street. Home for the next 2 1/2 days! I have to admit, I was a little nervous about navigating the subway with my 3 bags, but at every staircase, someone offered to help carry my giant 50lb bag! There are still nice people in New York!

I spent my first night in NYC visiting nd catching up and visiting with very close family friends. I babysat the kids of the family i was staying with for 6 years while I lived in NYC. It felt like being back home with my family!!! The next night we all watched the presidential debate together!! I was truly impressed!!! I hope all goes well with our absentee ballots in November!! This is going to be a great election year!!

Thursday morning I met my dear friend Ariana for our juice ritual. We choose vitality shots and acai bowls.

After our rejuvenating breakfast, we walked through central park and had our life catch up chat. Throughout the entire chat, this little bug kept landing on me. No matter what i did it kept coming back! I Flicked it off about 5 times!! It came back every single time......in my hair...on my clothes....on my shoes....ect!

I relaxed a bit then headed down into the subway with all of my bags and hopped on the C train, transferred to the A train, then made my way to JFK.

I made it through security without any issues. With 2 hours to spare I decided to have a nice airport dinner near the Irish pub right next to my terminal. I had a nice glass of Cabernet with a bacon cheeseburger then headed over to my gate.

Not knowing that international flights boarded an hour early, I ended up being the last person to board my flight. Oops : )

Buenos Aires here I come!!

Pit stop.....Amsterdam

The journey has begun. My last day of work was Friday, September 28th. I drove up to Amsterdam, NY on Saturday to get in a couple days of good quality time with family and friends. Saturday night was quite the adventure!! Best friend, great wine, yummy chocolates and a power outage! Yup....you heard me right....power outage! After a few hours the lights finally came back on and we were able to watch our originally scheduled movie, What to expect when you're expecting. It was a great movie, but.....my company was better!! As we were watching the movie, another amazing friend was actually in labor!!! She gave birth to a beautiful baby girl at 11:16pm! On Sunday, I was able to spend a couple hours with her and her newborn bundle of joy. She is just perfect!! I can just imagine how big she is going to be in 3 months when I get back! Ahhh! The rest of the time I spent with my family, aside from a quick trip to the dentist. I Love getting my teeth cleaned!! I know....I'm weird. Tuesday morning my dad took me to the train station to catch my train to NYC. It was so peaceful and quiet while we waited at the station. We said our "see ya soon's" as the train pulled in, and with that I was off! 1 step closer to Argentina!!