Cruise: Day 1

Time to set sail!!!! 13 day South American cruise!! ! Woo hoo!!!!! Here's a look at our itinerary!!

We woke up around 7/8 am at our apartment in Palermo and started to get ready. Pedro watched the tv to keep up with what was happening in the news. As our luck would have it a country / city wide strike was planned for all union employees. That meant issues with all public transportation (busses, subways ect) a notice was even out out that flights could be cancelled going in and out of buenos aires. The news showed images of people flooding the streets so entering the city was virtually impossible, therefore shutting the city down. School was also cancelled and banks were closed.

We left the apartment around 10:30/10:45 to allow ample time to make it to the ship just in case we had issues with cabs or detours. Luckily.......NO PROBLEMS!! We had a great cab driver who got us there as quick as can be thanks to my smart husbands recommendation of taking an exteriors route to the cruise port.

We were inside the terminal and waiting to board by 11:30. It was awesome! The waiting area was quite a sight!! Almost everyone was over 50, the majority being 65 and over. We were 2 of about 10 people between 20-30. I guess a cruise to the end of the earth doesn't really appeal to our age group. Lines started to form around 12 and we were on the ship around 1:00. We met 2 very nice couples while we were waiting. One from buenos aires and one from Australia.

Once on the ship, we dropped our bags and headed straight to the lido deck for lunch. The buffet was great!! When we finished eating, we explored the ship...our home for the next 2 weeks. We were sailing on the Holland America ms Veendam. A cruise ship really is like a floating city. Our "city" had...a gift shop, piano bar, martini bar, champagne bar, espresso cafe, new York times library and cafe, windows media lab, wine cellar, jazz lounge, nightclub, gym, spa, food and wine magazine culinary center, casino, swimming pool, hot tubs, steam room, sauna, theater basketball court, tennis court, and 6 different restaurants / places to eat, not including the 24 hour room service menu.

Around 3:30 we made our way over to the wine cellar because they were having a complimentary champagne reception. Who doesn't love free champagne. They were also doing a raffle. We got there just before the drawing and got the last 2 tickets that were handed out. Guess what.....we won the bottle of champagne they were giving away! What a great start to the vacation.

Celebrating my win!!

After the mandatory safety briefing, we went straight to the spa for another raffle. Yes yes.....I like to try and win free stuff : ) !! They were giving away a bunch of different services and since you had to be present to win (there were TONS of entries from passengers who toured the spa, but didn't go back for the raffle) it was taking a while. One of the trainers decided to have a little competition to give away the next prize, a Body Composition Analysis reading and consultation. We had to do squats. Well....I put my game face on and went at it. We all kept picking up the pace and I decided to kick it up into plyometric squats. Yup....I won!!! Thank you Insanity workout!!! I couldn't have done it without you!!!

We finished just in time for sail away. The view of the skyline as we were leaving Buenos Aires was just stunning. It was such a calming feeling to drift away and watch it get smaller and smaller knowing that I was on yet another adventure of a lifetime with the love of my life!

Skyline of Buenos Aires

Dinner was fantastic!! I love being handed a menu and ordering anything I want!! Dessert was a tasty apple strudel with vanilla ice cream! Yummy!!! We also shared a cheese plate!!

As soon as we finished we were off to the theater for the welcome aboard show. It was a little sample of all the groups and performers on the ship. I knew right then and there I was going to have 2 weeks of awesome music and performances.

Before bed we made one last pit stop...the piano bar. I...was...in...heaven!!! Jamm the Piano Man was belting out show tunes!! The request book listed gem after gem. I would have been happy with anything that he played. The best part.....the cover of the book said..."if you would like to sing a song, just let me know"!! We all know what that means : ) but now tonight....bedtime!! We have a big day of sightseeing ahead of us tomorrow in Montevideo, Uruguay!

Oh what a day of traveling!!

Well...we finally made it back to Buenos Aires safe and sound, but it was a LONG day of traveling!!! I'm officially exhausted!!

We checked out of our hotel in Santiago around 11am and headed to the airport. Check in went smoothly aside from having to shuffle around the weight in our luggage that needed to be checked in. Before we knew it we were on our way!

Adios Santiago!! We'll miss you!

After a quick hour and 15 minute flight (turbulence and all), we arrived in Cordoba where we needed to change planes. This was a pain because we had to get our luggage from baggage claim, then clear customs and border control. I was a nervous wreck since we only had 1 hour between flights and lets just say....no one was doing their respective jobs with any urgency.on a positive note...thanks to our cruise documents, didn't have to pay the fee for the Chilean visa since we were "in transit". That saved us about $160 each!! Woo hoo!!

Soaring high above the clouds!!

Once we made it through, we had to go through security again to check in for our next "domestic" flight to Buenos Aires. For some reason or another it was hotter than you could imagine in the airport. Even the airline representatives were fanning themselves behind the counter. It only got hotter as we made our way to the gate which was in the area of the terminal that was under construction. Yup....you guessed it.....no working air conditioning. And......flight delays because of terrible weather in Buenos Aires! After about 2 hour of waiting, we were on our flight. It was a bumpy one that's for sure. It made our 1st flight feel like a ride on the swan boats at the amusement park. This flight my friends was like riding the biggest and baddest roller coaster around with a mind blowing light show (crazy lightening) to give you the full thrill-ride experience. Just when we thought it was over, the pilot announced that the runways were backed up and we were being put into a holding pattern until we were cleared to land. Yup.....you guessed right again....the holding pattern was right through that roller coaster storm cloud. 30 minutes later we were finally making our decent to the airport!!! Sadly...some of the passengers did not have the stomachs to stand the ride and left the evidence right in the isle instead of the pretty little paper bag in our seat back pockets.

Needless to say, it felt REALLY good to get off that plane. 

We made it safe and sound to Beunos Aires!! 

While waiting for our luggage we saw an interesting site on the luggage carousel....a dog in a crate. It came out through with all of the other checked luggage. The doggie was freaking out, so someone took it off the conveyer belt and set the crate on the ground. It took about 10-15 minutes to get our luggage and the dog was still there UNCLAIMED!!! Wow...

Poor little doggie!!!

Cab time!!! The airport was a complete madhouse from all the weather delays. I have never in my life seen taxi lines do long. We found the shortest and waited....for an hour and a half. Turns our all the rain flooded different areas of Buenos Aires which caused cars and cabs to get all messed up. Certain parks we passed looked just like lakes with trees growing out of them! I tried to take a picture out of the cab window. It isn't great, but you can at least get an idea.

A flooded park and the splash from driving down the street.

It feels sooooo good to be back in the apartment after 12 hours of traveling! Time for food then some much needed sleep!! Cruise blog posts start tomorrow!! Be on the lookout!!

Life on a ship!!

Yes yes yes....I realized I haven't posted anything about our travels in the past 19 days. I have a good reason I swear!!! I was on a 13 day South American cruise with my wonderful husband. I didn't know how living on a ship for that long would be, but it was FANTASTIC!!!!! Ahhhh! Time if our lives!!! We started in Buenos Aires, Argentina and ended up in Valpariso, Chile, traveling through Patagonia, around Cape Horn (the southern most tip of the America's before hitting Antarctica), the Chilean fjords, glacier alley, and up the coast. In the next few days I will be posting with lots of details and pictures of the trip...(we are still in Chile exploring). In the meantime, here are a few pictures of what to expect!! Enjoy!!!

Yummy food!!

Cooking demos and classes in the culinary center!!

Towel animals!!! 

SUPER AMAZINGLY CUTE WILDLIFE!!!!!!

Stunning views!!!!!!

SOUTH AMERICA ROCKS!!