Bogota, Cartagena and Back in Y
Jan 12, 2010, 8:22 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: Cumming, GA
Posts: 213
Bogota, Cartagena and Back in Y
Trip Report ATL-MIA-BOG-CTG-MIA-ATL
This is my first trip report, and it is in Y class, so don't get too bored. Just some observations, and if you are interested in visiting Colombia, see below.
As is usual with my household (minus the cats) it is our duty to take off for somewhere exotic and reasonably affordable for Christmas. My wife's family is scattered between Hungary, Romania and Spain, so unfortunately that was not a reasonable or economical option. After some research, I found a package deal to Colombia from Escapes Unlimited, a California travel agency which was able to provide us with door-to-door service from Miami to Bogota to Cartegena and back for about $1000 each for a 7-day trip. They evidently have a pretty good deal as our e-ticket receipts were showing a bulk-ticket fare. I really did not check, but I would imagine that during the Christmas holidays if we had tried to book the same iten it would have approached the price we paid. I'm not complaining.
Monday Dec. 21 ATL-MIA
AA 857
N----- B B738
Seats 10A/B
Scheduled Departure 0845
Scheduled Arrival 1020
Well, what can you say about AAmerican ATL-MIA. Been there done that. Only thing was being the Holiday Season, there were about a dozen non-revs standing by. They cleared, I think all of them, which meant for a full flight. Then the usual fun began about baggage stowage. The F/A's were pretty good about finding space for our carry-ons, but of course it was further back in the plane which meant when we got to Miami we had to swim upstream to get our bags. Needless to say, we were about the last ones off the plane. This brings up a good point. In situations like this, i.e. Holiday period, lots of non-revs, why can't they make the NON-REVS gate-check their bags. Granted we were about 5-6 minutes late in departure because of bag stowage, but if you are a non-rev, make them gate-check and wait on the jetway. Why inconvenience the revenue PAX and end up with a late departure? Trip down to Miami followed the usual southerly track going but it was a bit different this time, usually we track down pretty much close to the Gulf Coast, but on this run we seemed to go a bit west over TLH and over the Gulf, then two 45 degree turns to bring is into to parallel "Aligator Alley" (US41). I noticed that we were still pretty high as we approached Miami, and sure enough, we did a 180 over the Atlantic and came in with a good view of South Beach and the loaded Cruise Ship Terminals and landed to the west.
We overnighted at the DoubleTree (Priceline, $45) and requested a room with a view of the airport, which they easily accommodated us into with the ubiquitous Chocolate Chip cookies. Great view with the drapes open of 9-27 but since the location of the hotel has a view of the western end of 9-27, about all you could (from lounging in the bed) were the afternoon 747 departures of BA and LH 747's. After a good Cuban meal about after walking 5 blocks away, we crashed out due to our wake-up call of 0215 for the next days trip..
Tuesday Dec. 22 MIA-BOG
AV 9
Avianca A330-243
N973AV
Scheduled Departure: 0545 ET
Scheduled Arrival: 0905 ET
It was pretty grueling to get up at 0 Dark 215 for the run down to South America. Fortunately, the DoubleTree offers 24 hour shuttle service to MIA (avoiding a $15+ taxi), so we were in the lobby at 0245 or so, since we we were somewhat paranoid about the time it would take to get checked in and to the gate. On the way there, I noted two LAN 767's which must overnight there before going back to Chile (why two!). BTW, after checking the Avianca website, I was pleasantly surprised to seen that the equipment we were supposed to be riding had changed from a 757 to the aforementioned A330-243! I had read on the web that AV's 757's were pretty ragged out, about to be Marana'ed and didn't have AVOD, etc. Not that I am particularily crazy about Airbus, but I will have to admit about every ride I have ever taken on an A330/40 has been much better than any 757 trip.
There was a pretty good crowd at this early hour for the haul to Bogota. It was about a 15-20 minute wait before we got to the counter. Unless you are traveling in FC, no seat assignments are made until you check-in. We were pretty lucky, as there were two seats left as window and aisle on the right side of the cabin. We checked no baggage, and went to the newly re-done J concourse for our flight. It was a long-long trek, and will be so, until MIA's new overhead train system is done. The new J concourse is pretty impressive, however, at 3 am there is not much action, and needless to say, no concessions or shops open at that hour.....The only other action at that time was LAN, which I think was going out about the same time, otherwise, very quiet.
After the overkill of early arrival was done, and eating a mini-breakfast of leftover Cuban Sandwiches from the night before, we finally were called for boarding on AV 9. The first thing I noticed after going thru the boarding door was the smell of the aircraft! The last time I smelled an aircraft this pristine was during my early days in Delta cabin service in 1978, when our crew was called upon to stock a brand new 727-200 which had just come in from Seattle! This A330 had the same smell. Furthermore, looking at the overhead bins I saw very few scratches which tells you how young this bird might be.
I had a friend do some research and he found this aircraft had not been delivered to Avianca until December 8th, and quite possibly been put into service out of Madrid on that date. The first service shown on ACARS was MIA-BOG on December 18th, so this was definitely a newcomer to the existing fleet, of I think 4 other sisters.
Departure time was pretty much on scheduled, and soon we were winging our way southbound, to the east crossing Cuba somewhat east of Camaguay. Unfortunately the clouds developed, and Cuba was not to be seen on this trip, except on the moving map on the very good AVOD seatback monitor.
About this time, hot towels came, and then meal service was cranked up. It seemed the F/A's were somewhat lacking for this full flight and we were pretty much over Jamaica or thereabouts when they finally got to our row nearly at the back of the plane. There was a choice of "Eggs or Omelet" which was accompanied by some fruit and a Croissant. Nothing super great, but a lot better than any US carrier would provide. I suggested to my wife that she might want a Bloody Mary, and she did. I suggested this to the F/A and she mentioned in Spanglish, there was no such thing, just Whisky. Then I said "Ron y Najanja". She muttered something that somewhat sounded like OK.
The pretty good breakfast was finished, and yet, still no "Ron y Najanja". Then about 30 minutes later, the cabin crew came through with Coffee. When they got to us, I said "What happened to the "Ron y Najanja"?
Unbelievably, she said with the coffee pot in her hand, "The Seat Belt sign is on, and we cannot serve drinks while the Seat Belt sign is on!" Unbelievably, at this exact moment (it could not have been cued more perfect), there was a "ding" and the Seat Belt sign went off! I said, "Well, now can you bring us the "Ron y Najanja"? No more excuses left for her, the "Ron y Najanja" came in a few minutes..... ..
The remainder of the flight was pretty tame. I really thought the service and F/A's were not at all what I had read about on certain airline service forums. Perhaps these A-340 crews were very high-seniority and normally worked trips to Europe and just like their American counterparts, could give a crap about doing more than they have to. Also the seat pitch (sorry, I forgot my tape measure) was not anything as generous as I had read and seemed even tighter that the previous 738 on AA, ATL-MIA.
I had been pretty pessimistic regarding the weather in Bogota, the weather internet sites was showing rain every day we were to be there, but our spirits lifted considerably on approach to BOG. The approach I am sure is quite daunting if you are coming in with low clouds, as we saw and photographed mountains of a much higher height than us quite a few miles out from landing. This part of Colombia was exceedingly beautiful from the air, but I am sure a hazard to drive through, either by bus or private car. We landed in partly cloudy skies, with a temperature in the 60s' F. which is what you can expect from an airport at 8,400 ft. Customs and Immigration were quick and we were soon on the way to our hotel for our two night stay.
A quick note about Bogota. A lot of people you speak to say, "You are going to Colombia, aren't you afraid". We didn't feel intimidated at all. There were a lot of Police and Army everywhere (in Colombia, at age 18, you have to join either the Police or the Army. The contacts we had with them were very pleasant, it seems they all looked like they were 14 or so! We were warned by several people (on the street) in Bogota, about snatch-and-grab artists, and pickpockets on the bus. We saw no evidence of either, and we rode the buses and walked everywhere. One additional comment, I have never seen more pretty,Full- Chested and attractive, dark-long-haired ladies anywhere else I have been in the world! Bogota is very cosmopolitan city, and has skyscrapers and a bustle not unlike Manhattan with bidnessmen talking on their cell-phones everywhere.
After our brief 2 days in Bogota, and trying to get enough oxygen at that altitude, we were ready to get on to Cartegena, which is kinda like a combination of Miami Beach and San Juan/Havana. You have the old town, and then the beach strip which, as I said is a lot like Miami with the fancy hotels and condos, catering to the Rico Colombians as well as many Rico visitors from Brazil and other parts of South America.
Thursday Dec. 24 BOG-CTG
AV 9758
Avianca A320
N664AV
Scheduled Departure: 1005 ET
Scheduled Arrival: 1125 ET
After our brief, but enjoyable visit to somewhat chilly Bogota, we were ready for the beaches and warmth of Cartegena. Since we were on a tour-based ticket, we had a very early and padded arrival at Bogota El Dorado Airport. There seems to be three separate terminals at El Dorado, International, Domestic Avianca (which we were brought to) and domestic everybody else (Air Republica, Copa, etc). The domestic terminal for Avianca was fairly crowded on this holiday eve, and we waited about 15 minutes for check-in. Evidently someone in the line in front of us had broken a bottle of Holiday wine which had seeped out of his bag in the line and we had to dodge as the broken bottle released its contents.
Check-in was pretty much a lot more than we are used to in the USA. Before we even checked in, Security checked our bags pretty thoroughly and even after we checked in, an Avianca person or security guard came and found us (landside) to go through another bag! (Go figure). One thing I noticed, there were a lot of shops landside. First I visited the "Avianca Store" (yes, that was it's name) where they had tons of Avianca Logo'ed clothing, models, bags, etc. As far as the clothing, bags, they had ONLY the Avianca Bird logo, the only Avianca items marked with the name was baseball caps (one of which I bought) and models (very overpriced). Note to myself, need to do an Avianca T-Shirt with plane (which they didn't have).
After spending sometime landside, as we had plenty of time to spend, we went through security into the common waiting area for about 10 or so gates. Believe me, Bogota is a pretty busy airport. F-100's and Busses were in and out constantly. I was impressed on how busy this airport appears to be. On our left, was a ground-level concourse which was pretty much covered with F-100's and an occasional F-50, while the Airbusses and 777's, 767's etc., were on the right-hand Concourse. Most impressive though, (which I viewed and shot minus glass on the way out to our flight, however I could only get five or so into the photograph.) , was a total of Seven (7) Count them, Seven immaculately kept 727-200's for South American Air Cargo, parked next to each other on the ramp next to us. When was the last time you saw (7) 727-200's lined up in a row since Atlanta 25 years or so ago?
Boarding was finally called for our flight to Cartagena. Sorry, no jetways, but that was mitigated by the fact that the open areas on the long trek to the gate allowed me to shoot some non-glassed in photos of some of the aircraft (including ours) there. When we got to our "Gate" we found a covered stairway up to our A320.
Next surprise was, upon seated in our exit-row seats (assigned this same morning at the airport), we were asked by the flight attendant if we could speak Spanish? When we said "Poquito" "Muy Poco" (whatever) she said we need to re-assign you to other seats! (why didn't they take care of this at check-in, they know we are Gringos!). After a big shuffle, we swapped seats and got a window and middle seat on the non-reclining row directly in front of the exit-row seats. This really sucked, as I mentioned before the seat-pitch on Avianca, and even more so, on this A320 really was bad. The person in front of me reclined his seat to the max, and my nose was no more than 6 inches from the seatback in front!
Another interesting note about this flight: To backtrack a bit, because of our long wait landside before this flight, I wandered around checking out the various shops there in the terminal, of which there were quite a few. I noticed quite a few selling full bottles of liquor, etc. And I was wondering is this was what people were buying and literally carrying-on bags with the liquor inside? OK, so we went thru security and got airside, since we had another hour or so before boarding, I walked around a bit to see what amenities there were, which appeared to be only a Coke machine or two. Nothing else, no bar, no snack bar. Then, after another security check, we boarded the plane. After we got to our (re-assigned) seats, I noticed the people in the row in front of us with full and open cans of Club Colombia Beer! How did this happen? Do they put some kind of Duty-Free sticker for on-board Beer or Liquor which I saw in abundance Landside?
And how many US Airlines would let you carry an open beer on-board?
OK, well departure time was pretty much on time and our flight was pretty non-descript. The very short flight insured a very brief beverage service which was either Fruit Juice boxes or Coffee. It was almost exactly like this past Summer's flight on a China Eastern A320 from Shanghai to Qing Dao. Clouds once again limited much of the visibility airborne, but it cleared up on approached to Cartegena's somewhat short runway which is bordered at both ends by water. It is a pretty basic airport, no taxiways just "turnarounds" at each end, and we were the only aircraft on the ground at that time. Certainly climate here dictated the "concourses" which were all open-air, and considering the temperature, very pleasant. After about a 20 minute wait, our two checked bags arrived on the carousel. Then we were off to our beachfront hotel.
A quick note about our stay in Cartegena. This city is a combination of Miami Beach and Havana/San Juan.
The old part of town is very Colonial, attractive, and IMHO very safe. We wandered around, rode the buses, and only found very friendly people. Our hotel was on the "Strip" , west of town, very much like Miami Beach, except most of the people there were Rico Colombianos or from Brazil. The beach was pretty nice, but of course, you have people try to sell you stuff. I did opt out to rent a plastic chair for about US$1.50 or so. Didn't see any other American Gringos there except on the tour group we were linked up with on the boat trip to the Islands out from Cartegena. Met a nice Rico Colombian family from Cali which we ended up having Christmas Eve dinner with at a restaurant called "Crepes and Waffles".
OK, back to airline stuff and back to MIA and ATL.
Monday Dec. 28 CTG-MIA
AV 34
Avianca A319
N---AV
Scheduled Departure: 0910 ET
Scheduled Arrival: 1153 ET
After our very early arrival at CTG, we were greeted by a very intensive security process. Before we were even allowed to check in, our checked baggage was searched by a multitude of security guards, and then we finally made our way through the metal detectors "No, Senor, you DO NOT have to take your shoes off"! But then again, airside there was a VERY intensive search of our carry ons, even to the point of have the toothpaste tubes opened up and sniffed! Not that I minded any of that, but I was just wondering if this was SOP or a reaction to the DL/NW Idiot would-be bomber on Christmas day. After all this, we made it to the small boarding area for our Bus flight back to MIA.
This flight was much better than our International flight down. The flight attendants were very attentive, smiling, and accommodating. They came through with the cart shortly after departure with quite a large selection of beverages, and like many European and Asian airlines, full bottles of alcohol, including Johnny Walker Scotch if you wanted it that early. Although shown on my itinerary as a Breakfast flight, the meal seemed to be more of a Brunch, including a choice of Chicken in kind of a patty or beef. I never could figure out what it was I had, but it wasn't bad. IFE was just the same as the downward A330, however the Moving Map never appeared, to my dismay. I was wondering (again) if this was because of the Christmas bomber scare. The rest of the flight was a fairly non-event, however, the in-flight service folks came thru the cabin several times offering beverages for those who were interested. Arrival in MIA was pretty routine and the usual long wAAlk to Baggage Claim and Customs/Immigration .
Tuesday Dec. 29 MIA-ATL
AA 2574
American B-737-800
N-----
Scheduled Departure: 1840 ET Actual 1910 or so.
Scheduled Arrival: 2045 ET
This will be a very brief non-descriptive report. Montezuma and his Revenge were starting to catch up with me. The flight left about 30 minutes behind schedule. Needless to say, the MIA airport was packed with holiday travelers of every description. I always wonder about the Bermuda Shorts clad PAX who are about to board a flight in winter to Buffalo, Rochester or somewhere like that (what ARE they thinking). Well, this is about all I could come up with to spice up this portion of the trip report....
Actually, the Service onboard wasn't bad. I actually was given a FULL-CAN of the quasi-Sprite drink AA serves! Other than that, nothing else remarkable about the flight, except for the usual wait for bags at AA (why does it take so long to retrieve bags in ATL, where the AA flight is no less than about 100 feet from bag claim).
Anyways, that's my Trip Report, and I hope you weren't TOO Bored.
This is my first trip report, and it is in Y class, so don't get too bored. Just some observations, and if you are interested in visiting Colombia, see below.
As is usual with my household (minus the cats) it is our duty to take off for somewhere exotic and reasonably affordable for Christmas. My wife's family is scattered between Hungary, Romania and Spain, so unfortunately that was not a reasonable or economical option. After some research, I found a package deal to Colombia from Escapes Unlimited, a California travel agency which was able to provide us with door-to-door service from Miami to Bogota to Cartegena and back for about $1000 each for a 7-day trip. They evidently have a pretty good deal as our e-ticket receipts were showing a bulk-ticket fare. I really did not check, but I would imagine that during the Christmas holidays if we had tried to book the same iten it would have approached the price we paid. I'm not complaining.
Monday Dec. 21 ATL-MIA
AA 857
N----- B B738
Seats 10A/B
Scheduled Departure 0845
Scheduled Arrival 1020
Well, what can you say about AAmerican ATL-MIA. Been there done that. Only thing was being the Holiday Season, there were about a dozen non-revs standing by. They cleared, I think all of them, which meant for a full flight. Then the usual fun began about baggage stowage. The F/A's were pretty good about finding space for our carry-ons, but of course it was further back in the plane which meant when we got to Miami we had to swim upstream to get our bags. Needless to say, we were about the last ones off the plane. This brings up a good point. In situations like this, i.e. Holiday period, lots of non-revs, why can't they make the NON-REVS gate-check their bags. Granted we were about 5-6 minutes late in departure because of bag stowage, but if you are a non-rev, make them gate-check and wait on the jetway. Why inconvenience the revenue PAX and end up with a late departure? Trip down to Miami followed the usual southerly track going but it was a bit different this time, usually we track down pretty much close to the Gulf Coast, but on this run we seemed to go a bit west over TLH and over the Gulf, then two 45 degree turns to bring is into to parallel "Aligator Alley" (US41). I noticed that we were still pretty high as we approached Miami, and sure enough, we did a 180 over the Atlantic and came in with a good view of South Beach and the loaded Cruise Ship Terminals and landed to the west.
We overnighted at the DoubleTree (Priceline, $45) and requested a room with a view of the airport, which they easily accommodated us into with the ubiquitous Chocolate Chip cookies. Great view with the drapes open of 9-27 but since the location of the hotel has a view of the western end of 9-27, about all you could (from lounging in the bed) were the afternoon 747 departures of BA and LH 747's. After a good Cuban meal about after walking 5 blocks away, we crashed out due to our wake-up call of 0215 for the next days trip..
Tuesday Dec. 22 MIA-BOG
AV 9
Avianca A330-243
N973AV
Scheduled Departure: 0545 ET
Scheduled Arrival: 0905 ET
It was pretty grueling to get up at 0 Dark 215 for the run down to South America. Fortunately, the DoubleTree offers 24 hour shuttle service to MIA (avoiding a $15+ taxi), so we were in the lobby at 0245 or so, since we we were somewhat paranoid about the time it would take to get checked in and to the gate. On the way there, I noted two LAN 767's which must overnight there before going back to Chile (why two!). BTW, after checking the Avianca website, I was pleasantly surprised to seen that the equipment we were supposed to be riding had changed from a 757 to the aforementioned A330-243! I had read on the web that AV's 757's were pretty ragged out, about to be Marana'ed and didn't have AVOD, etc. Not that I am particularily crazy about Airbus, but I will have to admit about every ride I have ever taken on an A330/40 has been much better than any 757 trip.
There was a pretty good crowd at this early hour for the haul to Bogota. It was about a 15-20 minute wait before we got to the counter. Unless you are traveling in FC, no seat assignments are made until you check-in. We were pretty lucky, as there were two seats left as window and aisle on the right side of the cabin. We checked no baggage, and went to the newly re-done J concourse for our flight. It was a long-long trek, and will be so, until MIA's new overhead train system is done. The new J concourse is pretty impressive, however, at 3 am there is not much action, and needless to say, no concessions or shops open at that hour.....The only other action at that time was LAN, which I think was going out about the same time, otherwise, very quiet.
After the overkill of early arrival was done, and eating a mini-breakfast of leftover Cuban Sandwiches from the night before, we finally were called for boarding on AV 9. The first thing I noticed after going thru the boarding door was the smell of the aircraft! The last time I smelled an aircraft this pristine was during my early days in Delta cabin service in 1978, when our crew was called upon to stock a brand new 727-200 which had just come in from Seattle! This A330 had the same smell. Furthermore, looking at the overhead bins I saw very few scratches which tells you how young this bird might be.
I had a friend do some research and he found this aircraft had not been delivered to Avianca until December 8th, and quite possibly been put into service out of Madrid on that date. The first service shown on ACARS was MIA-BOG on December 18th, so this was definitely a newcomer to the existing fleet, of I think 4 other sisters.
Departure time was pretty much on scheduled, and soon we were winging our way southbound, to the east crossing Cuba somewhat east of Camaguay. Unfortunately the clouds developed, and Cuba was not to be seen on this trip, except on the moving map on the very good AVOD seatback monitor.
About this time, hot towels came, and then meal service was cranked up. It seemed the F/A's were somewhat lacking for this full flight and we were pretty much over Jamaica or thereabouts when they finally got to our row nearly at the back of the plane. There was a choice of "Eggs or Omelet" which was accompanied by some fruit and a Croissant. Nothing super great, but a lot better than any US carrier would provide. I suggested to my wife that she might want a Bloody Mary, and she did. I suggested this to the F/A and she mentioned in Spanglish, there was no such thing, just Whisky. Then I said "Ron y Najanja". She muttered something that somewhat sounded like OK.
The pretty good breakfast was finished, and yet, still no "Ron y Najanja". Then about 30 minutes later, the cabin crew came through with Coffee. When they got to us, I said "What happened to the "Ron y Najanja"?
Unbelievably, she said with the coffee pot in her hand, "The Seat Belt sign is on, and we cannot serve drinks while the Seat Belt sign is on!" Unbelievably, at this exact moment (it could not have been cued more perfect), there was a "ding" and the Seat Belt sign went off! I said, "Well, now can you bring us the "Ron y Najanja"? No more excuses left for her, the "Ron y Najanja" came in a few minutes..... ..
The remainder of the flight was pretty tame. I really thought the service and F/A's were not at all what I had read about on certain airline service forums. Perhaps these A-340 crews were very high-seniority and normally worked trips to Europe and just like their American counterparts, could give a crap about doing more than they have to. Also the seat pitch (sorry, I forgot my tape measure) was not anything as generous as I had read and seemed even tighter that the previous 738 on AA, ATL-MIA.
I had been pretty pessimistic regarding the weather in Bogota, the weather internet sites was showing rain every day we were to be there, but our spirits lifted considerably on approach to BOG. The approach I am sure is quite daunting if you are coming in with low clouds, as we saw and photographed mountains of a much higher height than us quite a few miles out from landing. This part of Colombia was exceedingly beautiful from the air, but I am sure a hazard to drive through, either by bus or private car. We landed in partly cloudy skies, with a temperature in the 60s' F. which is what you can expect from an airport at 8,400 ft. Customs and Immigration were quick and we were soon on the way to our hotel for our two night stay.
A quick note about Bogota. A lot of people you speak to say, "You are going to Colombia, aren't you afraid". We didn't feel intimidated at all. There were a lot of Police and Army everywhere (in Colombia, at age 18, you have to join either the Police or the Army. The contacts we had with them were very pleasant, it seems they all looked like they were 14 or so! We were warned by several people (on the street) in Bogota, about snatch-and-grab artists, and pickpockets on the bus. We saw no evidence of either, and we rode the buses and walked everywhere. One additional comment, I have never seen more pretty,Full- Chested and attractive, dark-long-haired ladies anywhere else I have been in the world! Bogota is very cosmopolitan city, and has skyscrapers and a bustle not unlike Manhattan with bidnessmen talking on their cell-phones everywhere.
After our brief 2 days in Bogota, and trying to get enough oxygen at that altitude, we were ready to get on to Cartegena, which is kinda like a combination of Miami Beach and San Juan/Havana. You have the old town, and then the beach strip which, as I said is a lot like Miami with the fancy hotels and condos, catering to the Rico Colombians as well as many Rico visitors from Brazil and other parts of South America.
Thursday Dec. 24 BOG-CTG
AV 9758
Avianca A320
N664AV
Scheduled Departure: 1005 ET
Scheduled Arrival: 1125 ET
After our brief, but enjoyable visit to somewhat chilly Bogota, we were ready for the beaches and warmth of Cartegena. Since we were on a tour-based ticket, we had a very early and padded arrival at Bogota El Dorado Airport. There seems to be three separate terminals at El Dorado, International, Domestic Avianca (which we were brought to) and domestic everybody else (Air Republica, Copa, etc). The domestic terminal for Avianca was fairly crowded on this holiday eve, and we waited about 15 minutes for check-in. Evidently someone in the line in front of us had broken a bottle of Holiday wine which had seeped out of his bag in the line and we had to dodge as the broken bottle released its contents.
Check-in was pretty much a lot more than we are used to in the USA. Before we even checked in, Security checked our bags pretty thoroughly and even after we checked in, an Avianca person or security guard came and found us (landside) to go through another bag! (Go figure). One thing I noticed, there were a lot of shops landside. First I visited the "Avianca Store" (yes, that was it's name) where they had tons of Avianca Logo'ed clothing, models, bags, etc. As far as the clothing, bags, they had ONLY the Avianca Bird logo, the only Avianca items marked with the name was baseball caps (one of which I bought) and models (very overpriced). Note to myself, need to do an Avianca T-Shirt with plane (which they didn't have).
After spending sometime landside, as we had plenty of time to spend, we went through security into the common waiting area for about 10 or so gates. Believe me, Bogota is a pretty busy airport. F-100's and Busses were in and out constantly. I was impressed on how busy this airport appears to be. On our left, was a ground-level concourse which was pretty much covered with F-100's and an occasional F-50, while the Airbusses and 777's, 767's etc., were on the right-hand Concourse. Most impressive though, (which I viewed and shot minus glass on the way out to our flight, however I could only get five or so into the photograph.) , was a total of Seven (7) Count them, Seven immaculately kept 727-200's for South American Air Cargo, parked next to each other on the ramp next to us. When was the last time you saw (7) 727-200's lined up in a row since Atlanta 25 years or so ago?
Boarding was finally called for our flight to Cartagena. Sorry, no jetways, but that was mitigated by the fact that the open areas on the long trek to the gate allowed me to shoot some non-glassed in photos of some of the aircraft (including ours) there. When we got to our "Gate" we found a covered stairway up to our A320.
Next surprise was, upon seated in our exit-row seats (assigned this same morning at the airport), we were asked by the flight attendant if we could speak Spanish? When we said "Poquito" "Muy Poco" (whatever) she said we need to re-assign you to other seats! (why didn't they take care of this at check-in, they know we are Gringos!). After a big shuffle, we swapped seats and got a window and middle seat on the non-reclining row directly in front of the exit-row seats. This really sucked, as I mentioned before the seat-pitch on Avianca, and even more so, on this A320 really was bad. The person in front of me reclined his seat to the max, and my nose was no more than 6 inches from the seatback in front!
Another interesting note about this flight: To backtrack a bit, because of our long wait landside before this flight, I wandered around checking out the various shops there in the terminal, of which there were quite a few. I noticed quite a few selling full bottles of liquor, etc. And I was wondering is this was what people were buying and literally carrying-on bags with the liquor inside? OK, so we went thru security and got airside, since we had another hour or so before boarding, I walked around a bit to see what amenities there were, which appeared to be only a Coke machine or two. Nothing else, no bar, no snack bar. Then, after another security check, we boarded the plane. After we got to our (re-assigned) seats, I noticed the people in the row in front of us with full and open cans of Club Colombia Beer! How did this happen? Do they put some kind of Duty-Free sticker for on-board Beer or Liquor which I saw in abundance Landside?
And how many US Airlines would let you carry an open beer on-board?
OK, well departure time was pretty much on time and our flight was pretty non-descript. The very short flight insured a very brief beverage service which was either Fruit Juice boxes or Coffee. It was almost exactly like this past Summer's flight on a China Eastern A320 from Shanghai to Qing Dao. Clouds once again limited much of the visibility airborne, but it cleared up on approached to Cartegena's somewhat short runway which is bordered at both ends by water. It is a pretty basic airport, no taxiways just "turnarounds" at each end, and we were the only aircraft on the ground at that time. Certainly climate here dictated the "concourses" which were all open-air, and considering the temperature, very pleasant. After about a 20 minute wait, our two checked bags arrived on the carousel. Then we were off to our beachfront hotel.
A quick note about our stay in Cartegena. This city is a combination of Miami Beach and Havana/San Juan.
The old part of town is very Colonial, attractive, and IMHO very safe. We wandered around, rode the buses, and only found very friendly people. Our hotel was on the "Strip" , west of town, very much like Miami Beach, except most of the people there were Rico Colombianos or from Brazil. The beach was pretty nice, but of course, you have people try to sell you stuff. I did opt out to rent a plastic chair for about US$1.50 or so. Didn't see any other American Gringos there except on the tour group we were linked up with on the boat trip to the Islands out from Cartegena. Met a nice Rico Colombian family from Cali which we ended up having Christmas Eve dinner with at a restaurant called "Crepes and Waffles".
OK, back to airline stuff and back to MIA and ATL.
Monday Dec. 28 CTG-MIA
AV 34
Avianca A319
N---AV
Scheduled Departure: 0910 ET
Scheduled Arrival: 1153 ET
After our very early arrival at CTG, we were greeted by a very intensive security process. Before we were even allowed to check in, our checked baggage was searched by a multitude of security guards, and then we finally made our way through the metal detectors "No, Senor, you DO NOT have to take your shoes off"! But then again, airside there was a VERY intensive search of our carry ons, even to the point of have the toothpaste tubes opened up and sniffed! Not that I minded any of that, but I was just wondering if this was SOP or a reaction to the DL/NW Idiot would-be bomber on Christmas day. After all this, we made it to the small boarding area for our Bus flight back to MIA.
This flight was much better than our International flight down. The flight attendants were very attentive, smiling, and accommodating. They came through with the cart shortly after departure with quite a large selection of beverages, and like many European and Asian airlines, full bottles of alcohol, including Johnny Walker Scotch if you wanted it that early. Although shown on my itinerary as a Breakfast flight, the meal seemed to be more of a Brunch, including a choice of Chicken in kind of a patty or beef. I never could figure out what it was I had, but it wasn't bad. IFE was just the same as the downward A330, however the Moving Map never appeared, to my dismay. I was wondering (again) if this was because of the Christmas bomber scare. The rest of the flight was a fairly non-event, however, the in-flight service folks came thru the cabin several times offering beverages for those who were interested. Arrival in MIA was pretty routine and the usual long wAAlk to Baggage Claim and Customs/Immigration .
Tuesday Dec. 29 MIA-ATL
AA 2574
American B-737-800
N-----
Scheduled Departure: 1840 ET Actual 1910 or so.
Scheduled Arrival: 2045 ET
This will be a very brief non-descriptive report. Montezuma and his Revenge were starting to catch up with me. The flight left about 30 minutes behind schedule. Needless to say, the MIA airport was packed with holiday travelers of every description. I always wonder about the Bermuda Shorts clad PAX who are about to board a flight in winter to Buffalo, Rochester or somewhere like that (what ARE they thinking). Well, this is about all I could come up with to spice up this portion of the trip report....
Actually, the Service onboard wasn't bad. I actually was given a FULL-CAN of the quasi-Sprite drink AA serves! Other than that, nothing else remarkable about the flight, except for the usual wait for bags at AA (why does it take so long to retrieve bags in ATL, where the AA flight is no less than about 100 feet from bag claim).
Anyways, that's my Trip Report, and I hope you weren't TOO Bored.
Jan 12, 2010, 9:26 am
#2
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: Cumming, GA
Posts: 213
Corrections to my own post....
Alligator is spelled with two "L's" and sorry, I was on the Right-Hand side of the plane.
Also, "A340 Crews" should have been A330.
Sorry, also found out that the "J" concourse will have no train. Why didn't the put a moving sidewalk in?
Also, "A340 Crews" should have been A330.
Sorry, also found out that the "J" concourse will have no train. Why didn't the put a moving sidewalk in?
Jan 12, 2010, 9:47 am
#3
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: East Ester, Alaska
Programs: Alaska Million Miler, United Million Miler, Wyndham Rewards Diamond, Choice Hotels Diamond
Posts: 12,149
Bored? Hardly! This first report shows great promise, ExGateAgt, and I'm sure I speak for many when I say we hope you become a regular contributor here at the Trip Reports Forum. Well done!
Jan 12, 2010, 10:54 am
#4
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: Cumming, GA
Posts: 213
Thanks Dude!
I really appreciate the comments 
I will never live up to my mentor, Elton (Seat 2A). Who does the max in trip reports. I have to brag, Elton didn't know about FlyerTalk (I think) until I told him about it many years ago. I haven't heard from him lately, I hope his health is OK and we get another mega-trip report soon.
We have come a long way since then. I am not the trip-dude you and many others have become traveling in FC, but I intend to bring more reports to this forum. I really think the key of trip reports is to observing the interesting and not so noticeable things that happen in the airport/pre-flight/cabin, etc. Each flight is different, and it takes a lot of observation to key in on aspects which often can make a boring flight interesting, you are in F or Y.
Anybody (well, I have already posted this) give suggestions to burn 200,000 CO points each this summer? Any comment would be appreciated!
My Goals in Life: EK and VS.
I will never live up to my mentor, Elton (Seat 2A). Who does the max in trip reports. I have to brag, Elton didn't know about FlyerTalk (I think) until I told him about it many years ago. I haven't heard from him lately, I hope his health is OK and we get another mega-trip report soon.
We have come a long way since then. I am not the trip-dude you and many others have become traveling in FC, but I intend to bring more reports to this forum. I really think the key of trip reports is to observing the interesting and not so noticeable things that happen in the airport/pre-flight/cabin, etc. Each flight is different, and it takes a lot of observation to key in on aspects which often can make a boring flight interesting, you are in F or Y.
Anybody (well, I have already posted this) give suggestions to burn 200,000 CO points each this summer? Any comment would be appreciated!
My Goals in Life: EK and VS.
Jan 12, 2010, 2:37 pm
#8
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: East Ester, Alaska
Programs: Alaska Million Miler, United Million Miler, Wyndham Rewards Diamond, Choice Hotels Diamond
Posts: 12,149
A recent look at today's trip report listings on page 1 show 17 out of 25 reports are titled to suggest the main topic of the report is about flying to or from somewhere on this or that airline. This is hardly surprising given that the name of this website is FlyerTalk and as such I think one could reasonably expect that most of the trip reports will be dealing with one's actual flights. What happened at the airport, what happened on the plane, were the seats comfortable, was the food good, etc.
That said, FlyerTalk has grown alot over the years and there is definitely a segment of its membership who could care less about flying there but rather prefers to read all about being there. For people in this group, reading about seat pitch, inflight meals, etc. truly IS boring. Quite possibly, they joined FT because, for example, they want to learn more about how to maximize their mileage earning and/or interact with people of similar life/travel experiences. There's nothing wrong with that and it's certainly a big part of what FlyerTalk is all about.
As such, I think the time might be right to consider having TWO separate Trip Report sections - one for Flight Reports that deals primarily with the flight experience and one for Travelogues that focus on where one stayed and what one did while at the destination. If, for example, a report about a trip to Chile made brief mention about the flights down but was primarily about touring around Chile with an emphasis on hotels, activities, etc., it would go in the Travelogue section. Whatever the report predominantly emphasizes (air or land activities) would determine whether it was a flight report or a travelogue. Personally, I've always found the distinction pretty clear.
As to SanDiego1K's question, I can only surmise that had the OP wanted to take the time to write about his land based adventures in Colombia, he would have. It's not like he doesn't like to write - he devoted 3,420 words to this report - and I know he and his wife love to travel. Speaking from my own experience, I joined FlyerTalk because I like flying. I truly enjoy writing about the flight experience and apparently alot of folks here enjoy reading about the flight experience. If I were expected to write with similar passion and detail about my hotels and daily activities, I wouldn't write any report at all. This doesn't mean I don't enjoy a good hotel, restaurant or activity any more or less than the rest of you, but, I really enjoy flying and so I choose to write about that aspect of my travels and FlyerTalk provides a very good forum to do so. Indeed, very few people write in mainstream publications about the inflight experience except here at FlyerTalk. And it's clear that FT's membership predominantly enjoy reading and writing about it. 17 flight reports out of 25 DOES say something about that, doesn't it.
I've yet to see a long flight oriented report where the the person who wrote the report ever responded to a question for more information on land based activites with an equally long response, or even a response one quarter as long. Like I said, if they wanted to write about their hotel and activities, they would have in the first place. I suspect SanDiego1K knows this because she's been around here a long time. As such, I can't help but wonder if the tone of her question is more that of a complaint?
In any event, the desire for trip reports focusing on hotels, activites, etc. is a very good and valid one, and thankfully there are a number of FTers who submit excellent travelogues. Might it be a good idea to create a subsection of the Trip Reports forum that deals primarily with travelogues? This would save some folks from having to wade through all those boring flight reports.
Last edited by Seat 2A; Jan 12, 2010 at 4:09 pm
Jan 12, 2010, 3:55 pm
#9
Community Director Emerita
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Anywhere warm
Posts: 33,777
Like I said, if they wanted to write about their hotel and activities, they would have in the first place. I suspect SanDiego1K knows this because she's been around here a long time. As such, I can't help but wonder if the tone of her question is more that of a complaint?
Jan 12, 2010, 4:31 pm
#10
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: NYC
Programs: Delta DM, SPG Plat, Hyatt Diamond, MTA Rust, Hertz Five Star something or other
Posts: 2,858
Jan 12, 2010, 5:26 pm
#11
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: back to my roots in Scotland!
Programs: Tamsin - what else is there to say?
Posts: 47,843
BOG is a vastly underrated city, with some great things to see and some fabulous, and reasonably priced restaurants. Good report from the OP - so reminiscent of my travels there. Having flown out of BOG in May, I can say that security as described by the OP was pretty much what we encountered in May. It's not Muslim terrorism they are worried about, it's drugs and home grown terrorism, so security is severe - and rightly so given the problems of the country. I got hauled out of the lounge (the AF station manager was terribly, terribly apologetic, and very relieved that I was smiling and helpful!) to dig into my checked case as the security had seen something they didn't like in it - a tripod. A thing to note, don't get caught taking pictures on the tarmac, particularly not of the military stuff - they're very, very sensitive of that.
I'd highly, highly recommend the Sofitel in Cartagena - it's a 15th century nunnery and is just fabulous. Still rates in my top 10 hotels anywhere - spotwelder introduced me to it
Jan 13, 2010, 5:36 am
#12
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: Cumming, GA
Posts: 213
Colombia Comments
Thanks for all the comments regarding my Trip Report.
Whenever I do a trip report (but this is my first for FT). I like to add a paragraph or two to let folks know very briefly about the place we visited, etc.
As Seat 2A mentioned, a long diatribe travelogue is too much, but I like to kinda let you all know what is going on. If I didn't kinda mention details about our trip to Colombia, who knows, you might have thought I was there on a drug run
Anyways, somebody give me suggestions about burning 200K miles to somewhere this June/July. CO miles that is. (Yes, I know that goes to another forum)
Whenever I do a trip report (but this is my first for FT). I like to add a paragraph or two to let folks know very briefly about the place we visited, etc.
As Seat 2A mentioned, a long diatribe travelogue is too much, but I like to kinda let you all know what is going on. If I didn't kinda mention details about our trip to Colombia, who knows, you might have thought I was there on a drug run
Anyways, somebody give me suggestions about burning 200K miles to somewhere this June/July. CO miles that is. (Yes, I know that goes to another forum)
Jan 13, 2010, 11:23 pm
#13
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: TSV, Australia
Posts: 2,402
Thanks for taking the time to write such an interesting trip report.
I would LOVE to go to Columbia, but it is just about impossible to get to at a reasonable price from S.E Asia.
I would LOVE to go to Columbia, but it is just about impossible to get to at a reasonable price from S.E Asia.
Last edited by camsean; Jan 13, 2010 at 11:29 pm
Jan 14, 2010, 5:56 am
#14
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: Cumming, GA
Posts: 213
Regarding getting to Colombia
Dear Camsean,
Why do you want to go to Colombia, especially when Paradise is a short distance away from you? Not that I am knocking Colombia, any country I haven't been to is an adventure to us! And I highly recommend Colombia. I have been to Indonesia 3 times and your country is one of my favorites, (well Jakarta can be a bit stressful, but I enjoyed the BetJack [sp] races late night there in 1973). Want to go back to your very friendly and beautiful place. Not just the touristy Bali and Udud, but want to go back to Jogja, Surabaja, etc.
Love Bali,
Wish I could advise you on how to get to Colombia. If you can find a cheap fare to MIA, then contact the agency I went through,
http://www.escapesltd.com/ for a package deal.
This is by no means an endorsement of this company but we have been to Bali, Vietnam, Cambodia, etc. and they are very good people to deal with.
Why do you want to go to Colombia, especially when Paradise is a short distance away from you? Not that I am knocking Colombia, any country I haven't been to is an adventure to us! And I highly recommend Colombia. I have been to Indonesia 3 times and your country is one of my favorites, (well Jakarta can be a bit stressful, but I enjoyed the BetJack [sp] races late night there in 1973). Want to go back to your very friendly and beautiful place. Not just the touristy Bali and Udud, but want to go back to Jogja, Surabaja, etc.
Love Bali,
Wish I could advise you on how to get to Colombia. If you can find a cheap fare to MIA, then contact the agency I went through,
http://www.escapesltd.com/ for a package deal.
This is by no means an endorsement of this company but we have been to Bali, Vietnam, Cambodia, etc. and they are very good people to deal with.