AlmostJesus

This is my first trip report. I write this as I sit in the airport in Lima waiting for my flight after my LIM-EWR flight canceled.
I have been reading FlyerTalk for about a year now, and I have learned countless travel tips and this trip was where I leveraged many of the things I learned from FT.

Background

This trip was borne out of Westin Lima $30/night mistake booking which was posted last October. I was able to book for 5 nights, which I thought I would end up canceling. I realized that I had 45k UA miles and with the multitude of changes UA has been going through and the lack of flying in the future, I decided to jump on this trip. After talking with my traveling companion from Brazil, I booked one way on UA for 35k in BusinessFirst FSD-ORD-IAH-LIM-CUZ while she booked with miles on TAM. I booked our return CUZ-LIM and my return trip LIM-EWR-ORD-FSD using the Avianca LifeMiles promotion.

UA Club – C Concourse - ORD

After arriving in ORD at 7am after an early flight FSD-ORD, I was off to the United Club. I slept in an office at the airport, so I went to the United Club on the C concourse to use their shower service. The showers were readily available this early in the morning. I just requested at the customer service desk, and was pointed back to the showers.



The shower room was well set up with a towel warmer and various bathing products. The room was clean, but the towel warmer did shock me accidentally. Showers were limited to 20 minutes, which was more than enough time to get refreshed.

UA First ORD-IAH
pmUA 737-900



Prior to this experience, my only experience in First was on a 1.5hr RJ flight where I was served a quick pre-departure beverage and a beer enroute. This domestic first experience was much better. The pmUA crew in First was very friendly and attentive to getting us pre-departure beverages, making sure our glasses were never empty, and overall provided wonderful service. I watched Memphis Belle on the DirectTV and felt much better to be in a plane that was not flying through fighters and flak. I miss having channel 9 on the newer planes though.



UA BusinessFirst UA854 IAH-LIM
pmUA 767-300

After a short 1 hour layover in Houston, it was off to Lima. United changed their service on the IAH/EWR-LIM flights a couple years ago from a Business class on a ghetto bird to an BusinessFirst/GlobalFirst aircraft with an long-haul service.
I was greeted upon sitting down and given champaigne as a pre-depature beverage. I got the NYC version of United’s promotional amenity kit. The flight attendants did distribute a food menu, but no wine list was distributed. To make matters worse, the pilots shut off channel 9 shortly after pushback



After takeoff, I received warm towel service followed by a beverage and warmed nuts.



The meal consisted of a Tuna and Salmon appetizer, a salad, and a filet of both beef and pork main dish. I have had a passionate aversion to fish since I was a child, but I decided I was going to conquer that during this trip. The appetizer was good, although it lacked flavor. The main dish was quite enjoyable.



Throughout the meal, my wine glass was never empty which may have helped the food taste better ☺. My meal was followed by a delicious classic ice cream sundae.
Following dinner, I tried to get some shut-eye. Since it was only a 7 hour flight, sleep was going to be hard to come by. I found the bed to be comfortable but I was only able to get 2 hours of quality sleep due to the timing of the flight in the late afternoon. This partially negated the advantage of taking the flight in BusinessFirst. I did get a chance to watch a movie, have another beer, and eat the pre-arrival snack. The flight went fast due to the comfort of the seat and entertainment.

Caral VIP lounge – Domestic Concourse – Lima

I arrived in Lima around 11:45pm and met my Brazilian friend as we were going through customs. Our connecting flights were not until 5:30am, so we were left to wander the airport. It was not uncommon to see people sleeping on the floors waiting for connecting flights. The food court offered a decent spot to sit and wait at, but maintenance works all night cleaning the airport in sections, so it was not uncommon to be waken up and told to move. Around 12:30am, the domestic airport security opened up, allowing us to go through security and go to the 24-hour Caral lounge. This is a priority pass lounge, and they were pretty surprised when we wanted to pay for a day pass. I don’t normally pay full price for a day pass, but it was welcome to be able to be away from all the noise of the cleaning crews. We paid $25 each for a day pass.



The lounge was small, but well stocked. There was a bar offering some free drinks and had a well stocked cash bar. Bottled soft drinks and water were complimentary as well as snacks. There was a small play area for children as well as computers and wifi. The seating was limited. Since we arrived in the lounge around 1am, we were the only ones there.





I broke usual taboo and ended up falling asleep for a couple hours in the lounge, which was not frowned upon by the staff. I had one Pisco Sour and a light breakfast prior to leaving around 4:30am for my flight.
Overall, it was an okay value for my money, since this was a long layover; it left us with a decent place to get away from the crowds spending the night in the airport.

Avianca Business LIM-CUZ
Airbus A320



After a couple hours of sleep in the lounge, it was off to Cuzco. Our flight was boarded from a remote stand, so the priority boarding was of little use. I was immediately offered a pre-departure orange juice. Business was pretty empty for this short flight, but the service was good. I received a light breakfast.



After breakfast, I was able to sit back, relax, and enjoy the interesting sights flying into Cuzco.

28 hours in Cuzco – highlights

We arrived in Cuzco and we were immediately greeted by our tour operator. The airport is small which makes life easy. We were taken to our hostel to check in, which was run by a young couple. They had a 1-year-old child and a small dog that were adorable. We received a cup of Coca tea to help deal with the altitude and went on our way for our tour.
We went on a guided tour of the Sacred Valley since we were going to be there for such a short time.









Afterwards, we went to eat with another person from the Hostel, and found some good pizza and beer. When we returned home, they were having a small party, and I was made a delicious Appletini before bed.
We awoke to a beautiful view of Cuzco



Overall, I wish I had more time to spend in Cuzco, it is such a beautiful area, and tourist items are very affordable, especially compared to Lima. The trip advisor reviews on the hostel we stayed at, Wara Wara, and the tour company we used, Cusco Native, were pretty spot on.

Westin Lima

After flying Avianca CUZ-LIM, we caught an airport taxi to the Westin. I originally booked the reservation for one person to take advantage of the $30/night rate. I was nervous checking in, and I received a little grief for having two people stay, but it ended up okay. We were placed in a handicap accessible room as per the fare. The room had two full beds, and was on one of the lower floors. The room was very spacious and comfortable.
The shower left a little to be desired since it is meant to be ADA compliant. It was a flat entry with a drain on the floor. There was no curtain, so water overspray went all over the bathroom, which was difficult to keep under control with towels. I question easy it would be to use this bathroom in a wheelchair as it would be easy to slip on the water overspray.







As advertised, the bedding was heavenly. I ended up missing my complimentary breakfast every day because I ended up sleeping 10-12 hours each night. It was extremely relaxing. Noise from the street and other rooms was minimal.
We had 4 days to explore Lima, the Concierge was extremely helpful with calling taxis for us and giving us suggestions of things to do and eat. One suggestion they did have was to download EasyTaxi as it is a very popular way to get an affordable, reliable taxi. Over the course of the stay, we got to know some of the concierge agents quite well.

Lima – Highlights

Finally, a few highlights from Lima. We primarily visited Miraflores and Barranco, but we also explored San Isidro and La Victoria a little bit. Taxis in Lima were very affordable with no ride (aside from the airport) costing us more than 16 soles (~$5-6). If I were to do it over again, I would probably spring for a tour of the area to make it a little more educational.









Conclusion

Overall, it was a quite enjoyable and restful vacation. I am grateful that FlyerTalk could help make this trip happen, with the unfortunate side effect of making me want to come back to Peru.

gooseman13

Nice report, just got back from 48 hours in Lima myself.

ironmanjt

Nice report - but you went all the way to Cuzco and didn't get to Machu Picchu?

FlyIgglesFly

Agreed.

And good luck getting back to EWR. I'm in the Trenton area, not a lot of places with power and the farther north you go the more ice there is. You might want to route elsewhere, if possible. PHL fared better.

worldtraveller73

Nice job.

Having been stuck late late late in Lima Airport, it's amazing that most services are open 24 hours. Even if the services aren't really functional, it's neat that you could get a neck and shoulders massage at 3 AM if you really wanted to!!

dereiziger

I agree. You went all the way to Cuzco and didn't go to Machu Picchu. That's like going to Easter Island and not visiting any of the moai or going to Cambodia without going to Angkor Wat...

ffI

Been there done that, but I understand the OP - a westin fare led to a exotic visit.
This was a trip for Lima itself and he got a taste of Peru.
Lima is a great place for seeing the history of the people and we saw the Gold Museum and the National Museum there.
At Easter, the whole place was full of people celebrating.
I would have done a 2 week trip and gone beyond CUZ and stayed at the Tambo Del Inka and looked at Macchu Picchu, but this is a great start.
The problem is time off in most cases. It is easier to do a week than 2 weeks.

AlmostJesus

The trip to Cuzco was really an afterthought, we just added a day on to the trip for the trip to Cuzco, we thought we would just go see the area quick. We looked at the cost and timing of going to Machu Picchu, and it just did not seem all that practical. The whole point of this trip was that it was going to be very cheap. Machu Picchu seemed as though it was very expensive with the cost of the extra nights, train, entrance, etc. After seeing the area though, I do kind of regret not going to Machu Picchu. It gives me a good reason to come back again. I would likely do the Inca trail if I went back.

On the way back, my LIM-EWR flight was canceled, leaving everyone to be put on the LIM-IAH flight. This made it quite uncomfortable in the back of the ghetto 767-300's. It made flying in Business First much more lucrative.

Thanks all for the positive comments.