I have just decided to number each part in succession, even though they don’t necessarily take place on the same trip. This one takes place in November, 2003.
The prior 5 reports are: (These also contain some of the LanChile service notes I have not repeated - things are substantially similar if not better.)
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum81/HTML/003368.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum81/HTML/003369.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum81/HTML/003370.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum81/HTML/003371.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum81/HTML/003544.html
Some initial thoughts and comments. I had never been to Chile until November, 2001. I just returned from my 6th trip, and will be taking my 7th in 2 weeks. It will also be the longest trip I’ve ever taken as an adult. My first trip was only to Santiago for a “long weekend mileage run” just to see a new place I was curious of, and I was hooked.
For my folks’ 40th anniversary, I gave them basically two J/C tickets anywhere. For months they didn’t ever make up their minds. And so when the discussion of Thanksgiving came up and no one had any brilliant ideas, I had a thought.
26 Nov - SFO/LAX - UA. The day before Thanksgiving - SFO a breeze. Flight early. I checked my bags only to LAX. (My SFO/LAX/SFO was on a different paid UA ticket. The LAX/SCL was an AS award on LA [LanChile].) My checked luggage made an earlier flight and was already at LAX upon my arrival (after looking at the carousel spin and spin and spin in anxious anticipation as my luggage wasn’t on it). I then walked over to the Bradley terminal where the “old” folks were waiting.
Check-in was fairly quick and friendly, and now the terminal has a “premium” security line - which is great because the past several times I’ve been through there the security lines were horrendous. This day, none of the lines were bad. The shared lounge is ample, but not special. Staff is very polite. For the first time in my experience, my Lan plane had a real gate.
Few things make me feel as good as walking into an LA A340 and settling down in my row 1 seat. For complete service notes of the F service, this flight was substantially similar to previous trips, which can be read in some of the other links. But here are a few additional details. I immediately recognized one of the F flight attendants, and she remembered me from a year ago and immediately opened her arms to hug me. She even remembered details of my previous trip. Food was very good, and similar in courses to prior trips. Without going into the whole menu, I had caviar with Taittinger Comtes de Champagne, which is very good, along with some assorted other appetizers that were on the cart (such as steamed lobster). Then I had a little salad, and skipped the soup course. The entree selections didn’t appear stellar, but the steak was just great. I had a piece of cheese from that course, with some port, and ate a touch of a marginal berry tart.
The new wine list is very good, and in fact, contains the best wine I’ve ever had on LA - a Seña blend ($47 in the duty free catalog and a good chunk more retail) - a Mondavi / Chadwick joint venture. [I tried a total of 4 of the wines, out of approximately 8 or 9 choices.]
One nice thing about flying on LA is that curtains pose no threat to anyone’s national security, and the F cabin gets very dark. The fact that there are only 5 seats means that with 2 flight attendants, service is very personal and attentive, but that its hard to score an award, let alone a paid seat at certain times. My parents were 2 rows back in the J cabin. (No, there weren’t 3 available award seats in either cabin for the entire itinerary, and a max of 1 in F.) Their service in the J cabin was very good. Their food was ok to very good, with similar entrees, but different appetizers, a few less wines to choose from, and so on. They thoroughly enjoyed the flight.
There is then a snack service prior to landing in LIM, and then a breakfast prior to landing @ SCL. I had the snack (pate of foie gras, then with another meat dish. The other selections didn’t seem appealing.) I skipped breakfast. The flight was an absolute pleasure.
Arriving at SCL is also a pleasure, after leaving the third world of LAX. Luggage arrives quickly, immigration lines are usually not long, and customs takes just the time for them to X-ray the baggage (which is usually just coming out about when you get to the carousel). Negotiating a cab is usually quick (but for the uninitiated its just as well to go to the “booth.”
Once again, I stayed at the Sheraton / San Cristobal Tower. The hotel sent the folks fruit, chocolates, champagne and wine. [Part was for their anniversary, and part, I believe, was my platinum amenity.] The “Tower” choice of amenity remains a booklet they hand you, with choices of wines, pisco (in the Easter Island bottle), a few other things, or 500 points. The pisco makes a nice gift, and so that’s what I got. They also sent a beautiful fruit and chocolate display to the room. People may have other particular hotels they like, but this place “treats me right” time and time again, and even though the location isn’t perfect, its close enough.
We toured around on foot / taxi / metro and had 2 very pleasant days in Santiago. We then returned to SCL to pick up the rental car. I’d rather pay for a cab back to SCL than rent it in the city to first leave it. We then drove to Valparaiso, which is a beautiful and easy drive until getting into the city. I knew we’d have problems, but who knew that the hotel (Puerta de Alcala) was on a pedestrian street with no place to park. After quite a hassle of finally finding the place and running in there while the others tended the car [in a bad bad place to leave the car], we did make the right choice. The bellman came out, got the luggage, brought it in, came back, guided me to the parking (a public lot a few blocks away, but they validate the ticket), and then we walked back to the hotel. Staff couldn’t have been nicer. Rooms? Typical Chile outside of Santiago. Clean, safe, inexpensive, marginal breakfast (but with actual non-instant coffee), simple lodging. Travel “snobs” should stay away from Valpo (and indeed, most of Chile) because there are few deluxe accommodations outside of Santiago.
Valparaiso is worth a ½ day of touring, probably not much more, which was perfect. Took a few funiculars, walked around, and so on. The next morning, after breakfast, we drove up the coast a bit through Viña and Reñaca. It was an absolutely beautiful day, and you would think you were on one of the world’s finest and most expensive coastlines based upon the views and the new buildings. We ended back in Viña, where we had a marginal but acceptable lunch (the 3 of us ate multi-course meals with beverage for about $10), and then we drove back to the airport.
The Neruda (LA) Lounge at SCL is very nice, and I had my traditional “Absolut Mandrin with Apricot juice and fizzywater” cocktail, and tried 4 of the wines. While the snack spread isn’t exceptional, its better than what any US carrier is putting out these days.
The flight home – SCL (LIM) LAX. As nice as the flight crew was coming down, they were possibly even nicer going back. The meal choices were a bit better - I had caviar & king crab for appetizer, a small salad, the spicy shrimp soup, and the rack of lamb with garlic/bacon sweet potatoes (mmmmmmmm). Skipped the cheese. The dessert (a sort-of-caramel crust/chunks w/vanilla ice cream in pie form) was good. I passed on both the snack (sandwiches made to order) and the breakfast. Again, for more details, the prior reports’ foodservice notes are ample.
Across the aisle from me were apparently a famous TV actor and his model-wife. I have no idea who they were. Again, even with drawn curtains, national security was not compromised, and we arrived safely, a few minutes early at LAX.
The rest of the day went downhill - lets just say that the trip from LAX to SFO and then driving home, with weather delays, waiting for baggage, then traffic and so on, was just unpleasant. The travel time LIM/LAX (just over 8 hours) was about how long it took me from the time I got to LAX until the time I stepped in my door, 350 miles away.
And that’s the story. There will be a lot more to come, as in just a few weeks, I’m taking another real “comprehensive” trip for a couple fo weeks to Chile. I can’t wait.