9/13 - The itinerary is falling into place. Tickets are purchased, and flights are set. Checking out the gear right now to see if I need anything to battle the cool, windy weather that is to be expected in the Patagonian region.
9/15 - Some fun flight facts (as ticketed - as the airlines say flight schedules are subject to change):
I looked at lots of flight options, but finally ended up with the most direct routing down to Miami (CVG-MIA) before connecting to South America. Other possibilities included routings like CVG-ORD-MIA, DAY-STL-MIA, CMH-LGA-MIA, but as can be seen these all include an extra segment which is just asking for trouble with delays and cancellations. However, there are only two non-stop CVG-MIA flights (both in the morning), which means that I have a scheduled 7 HOUR, 10 MINUTE layover in Miami before my flight to Santiago. I guess you could say I have a lot of built in flexibility in my itinerary. Anyone who has transitted through MIA, I’m all ears on the best places to eat/drink/wander around.
Will be flying LAN Airlines on the MIA-SCL leg. Haven’t seen any comments about them one way or the other over in the Best/Worst Airlines thread in the forums, so will have to report some feedback when I return.
A 7 HOUR 14 MINUTE layover on the way home in Buenos Aires. I’ll get a brief introduction to Buenos Aires during this time since at a minimum I will have to transfer from Aeroparque Jorge Newbery to Ministro Pistarini (Ezeiza) International Airport between flights. Anyone think its worth taking a whirlwind tour of some sites in BA or save them for a future trip?