The Trip of a Million Lifetimes: 30 F/J Flights Around the World in 69 Days
Aug 12, 2013, 7:41 am
#62
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: CLT
Programs: AA ExPlat, Hyatt Globalist, Bonvoy Lifetime Titanium
Posts: 1,551
5. Sheraton Lima
Sheraton Lima
Lima, Peru
1 night cash + points redemption
Junior Suite Upgrade
After our short flight from Cuzco, we arrived in Lima. We had arranged via e-mail for a taxi driver to pick us up. His name was Fernando, and we got his information off a thread in Flyertalk. He was very friendly, prompt, and shared some insights about the city with us as we made the 45 minute drive to the hotel. Over the course of our 36 hours in Lima, we used him many times for airport rides.
We arrived at the hotel around 2:30PM. Lima felt very sketchy compared to Cuzco, and the district we were staying in, Centro, while close to some beautiful historic squares and attractions, and next to a semi-upscale mall, felt a bit icky. But this is a developing sprawling metropolis of 11 million people. So we went with the flow.
Check-in was actually a bit shaky, and took about 20 minutes. Lady Tocqueville had a seperate room reservation than me. Hers was slated for her parents, who would be arriving later that night. Mine was for us. Since we were both platinum, we made separate cash+points reservations for 1,500 SPG points and a co-pay of $30 per night. Both rooms were upgraded to Junior Suites via Confirmed Upgrade certificates prior to check-in. Both were given lounge access. No Platinum check-in amenity was offered for either reservation, and when I asked for it, the hotel graciously offered to Peruvian Tumi replicas, which look like Inca-period ornamental cutting knives. These would be fun to get through TSA security.
Since Lady Tocqueville and I had a 1:35AM flight the following day, we only needed our room for one night. We requested a late check-out, and the hotel generously gave us a 6PM check-out the following day, which was great.
Front of the Sheraton Lima with Bellman
Junior Suite upgrade room 1129.
First room of suite included a bathroom with a toilet and sink, and a living area, table with flat screen TV
More of the front room of the suite. Even though we were on the 11th floor, a decent bit of Lima traffic and honking could be heard
Front room TV
Master bedroom. The bed was pretty comfortable. There was no direct temperature control in either room. Only a fan that would blow cold air in the afternoon and heat in the evening that you could set to high, medium, or low. I think our heater/cooler within the fan was broken because all it would pump out was room temperature air. However, Lady Tocqueville's parents worked as directed in their room.
The master bath was huge with a separate shower, toilet, bidet, bathtub, and large jack and jill sinks
The concierge lounge on 18 had a decent spread for afternoon tea, including free sparking wine.
The lounge looked like a 1980's old folks high-rise retirement home. However, it was a comfortable and quiet respite from the madness of Lima. Not pictures are a couple computers with printers for printing boarding passes and the like.
The hotel sent up a fruit plate along with the Peruvian Tumi to the left.
Overall, our stay was comfortable enough, and a great value at 1,500 SPG + $30 per night. I am glad we got to see Lima, as we did some great sightseeing and gastronomic adventures while in the city. It lacks the charm of Cuzco, and reminds me a lot of Mexico City.
On check-out, we were issued a "check-out card" which was new to me. We had to hand this to the bellman on the way out as proof we had paid for the room. We jumped into a cab to head to dinner (at the famous Astrid y Gaston), and from dinner took a cab to the airport to head to our next destination, the fascinating Easter Island.
Sheraton Lima
Lima, Peru
1 night cash + points redemption
Junior Suite Upgrade
After our short flight from Cuzco, we arrived in Lima. We had arranged via e-mail for a taxi driver to pick us up. His name was Fernando, and we got his information off a thread in Flyertalk. He was very friendly, prompt, and shared some insights about the city with us as we made the 45 minute drive to the hotel. Over the course of our 36 hours in Lima, we used him many times for airport rides.
We arrived at the hotel around 2:30PM. Lima felt very sketchy compared to Cuzco, and the district we were staying in, Centro, while close to some beautiful historic squares and attractions, and next to a semi-upscale mall, felt a bit icky. But this is a developing sprawling metropolis of 11 million people. So we went with the flow.
Check-in was actually a bit shaky, and took about 20 minutes. Lady Tocqueville had a seperate room reservation than me. Hers was slated for her parents, who would be arriving later that night. Mine was for us. Since we were both platinum, we made separate cash+points reservations for 1,500 SPG points and a co-pay of $30 per night. Both rooms were upgraded to Junior Suites via Confirmed Upgrade certificates prior to check-in. Both were given lounge access. No Platinum check-in amenity was offered for either reservation, and when I asked for it, the hotel graciously offered to Peruvian Tumi replicas, which look like Inca-period ornamental cutting knives. These would be fun to get through TSA security.
Since Lady Tocqueville and I had a 1:35AM flight the following day, we only needed our room for one night. We requested a late check-out, and the hotel generously gave us a 6PM check-out the following day, which was great.
Front of the Sheraton Lima with Bellman
Junior Suite upgrade room 1129.
First room of suite included a bathroom with a toilet and sink, and a living area, table with flat screen TV
More of the front room of the suite. Even though we were on the 11th floor, a decent bit of Lima traffic and honking could be heard
Front room TV
Master bedroom. The bed was pretty comfortable. There was no direct temperature control in either room. Only a fan that would blow cold air in the afternoon and heat in the evening that you could set to high, medium, or low. I think our heater/cooler within the fan was broken because all it would pump out was room temperature air. However, Lady Tocqueville's parents worked as directed in their room.
The master bath was huge with a separate shower, toilet, bidet, bathtub, and large jack and jill sinks
The concierge lounge on 18 had a decent spread for afternoon tea, including free sparking wine.
The lounge looked like a 1980's old folks high-rise retirement home. However, it was a comfortable and quiet respite from the madness of Lima. Not pictures are a couple computers with printers for printing boarding passes and the like.
The hotel sent up a fruit plate along with the Peruvian Tumi to the left.
Overall, our stay was comfortable enough, and a great value at 1,500 SPG + $30 per night. I am glad we got to see Lima, as we did some great sightseeing and gastronomic adventures while in the city. It lacks the charm of Cuzco, and reminds me a lot of Mexico City.
On check-out, we were issued a "check-out card" which was new to me. We had to hand this to the bellman on the way out as proof we had paid for the room. We jumped into a cab to head to dinner (at the famous Astrid y Gaston), and from dinner took a cab to the airport to head to our next destination, the fascinating Easter Island.
Aug 13, 2013, 6:35 am
#65
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Fort Lee, NJ
Programs: continental one pass, delta skymiles, platinum american express
Posts: 171
Awesome Trip
I also just "did it" last year-took my 9 y/o daughter out of school for two months and did a 90 day luxury trip around the world (booked a 1st class Star Alliance Round the World Ticket.) trip report: www.toscanoworldtrip.blogspot.com
Aug 13, 2013, 4:52 pm
#66
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: CLT
Programs: AA ExPlat, Hyatt Globalist, Bonvoy Lifetime Titanium
Posts: 1,551
6. LIM-SCL-IPC on LA in J
Lima - Santiago
LA 601
Departure Time: 1:35AM (Actual Departure 2:15AM)
Boeing 787 Dreamliner
Business Class Seat 5A
Duration 3.5 hours
After a phenomenal dinner at Astrid y Gaston, Lady Tocqueville and I bade farewell to her parents, and around 11:30PM jumped into a cab to head to Lima Airport. We got to Lima airport by 12:15AM, and already had our boarding passes printed from our flight from Lima almost 40 hours prior. We waited in the immigration exit line for about 20 minutes, and after that found our way to the VIP lounge area. There were two different lounges we had access to, the VIP and Sumaq lounge. We went to the Sumaq lounge first, and they said they were too crowded and sent us to the VIP lounge. So we went to the VIP lounge where we found some seats and had a clean bathroom in which to change for our red-eye. I used the wi-fi for a bit, and we got rehydraded on bottled water.
The VIP club was comfortable and quiet
Decent spread of snacks and drinks
Decent spread of snacks and drinks continued
We arrived at the gate at 12:45AM 10 minutes after the time suggested on the boarding card. However, it appeared the incoming flight from LAX had not yet offloaded its passengers. Passengers were offloaded, and we still had to wait a bit. We didn't end up boarding until around 1:45AM.
I was really excited about this flight. Yes, it would be rough as a 3.5 hour red-eye that is now leaving at a delayed 2AM+. On the other hand, this flight was on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner! This was my first time flying one of these birds, and in a lay-flat business class seat no less.
Once we boarded the plane lived up to its expectations. The plane was wide, and there were no window shades, just buttons to control the tint. The seats were very spacious and new. The business class cabin felt huge. I snapped a few photos as we took our seats.
View of one of the seats from behind
A view of the business class cabin. The flight was about 80% full in business class.
My seat, seat 5A.
A view of how much legroom you have, my legs can barely reach the foot rest when the seat is in standard mode and I am 6'4" (1.93m). The TV is also the biggest I have had in a plane cabin in my flying career.
A very small amenity kit of foam earplugs, and an eyeshade were passed out in a medium sized nonwoven meshlike bag. I discarded the earplugs and eyeshade, since I had my own which appeared to be better than what LAN had passed out, but I kept the bag to use as a laundry bag as an improvement over the Marriott laundry bag I had been using. While still parked at the gate, a flight attendant came by to take our breakfast order. We both passed, since we wanted to sleep as much as we could on the flight. No pillow or blanket was passed out, and while taxing we asked for one which was cheerfully brought over to us. The duvet was very comfortable, the biggest and cushiest I had seen on a plane, and the pillow decent sized too.
After take-off, we reclined our seats to lay flat and went to sleep. When in fully layflat, the sat is pretty comfortable. However, I would say I was about 2" too tall for the seat. That is with my head all the way against the top of the seat, I could not extend my legs all the way. I had to sleep either on my side with my legs bent a bit, or on my back with my legs angled off to the side or bent. It wasn't uncomfortable, but that was definetly a set back. For anyone 6'2" or shorter, this should not be an issue.
We both got about 2 hours 45 minutes sleep, and we woke up as we were descending into Santiago.
We arrived in Santiago, and were amongst the first off the plane. It was 6AM and we were pretty tired and groggy. We first had to go to the reciprocity fee payment counter, where we, along with Albanians, Canadians, Australians, and Mexicans get to pay Chile money for the privilege of entering the country. We charge this fee to them, so they are just reciprocating. In the private sector, this is called extortion, but because governments like to prevent us from traveling freely without their blessing, and sometimes tribute, they get away with it. We paid the $160 a person on my credit card, and the whole transaction took about 5 minutes. A card was stapled into our passport indicating we had paid this fee, and it was valid for the next 10 years.
Paying this fee set us back a good bit in the immigration entry line, and we waited for about 30 minutes. After passing immigration, and having our bags x-rayed by customs, we exited into the Santiago main terminal. We went to the LAN business class check-in to get directed on where to go to catch our Easter Island connecting flight. It was actually a domestic flight, and thus left out of the business class terminal. It was LAN's only domestic flight flown on a widebody airplane. As a virtue of leaving out of the domestic terminal, we had no lounge access to freshen up since the only lounges, including an American Airlines Admirals club, were in the international terminal.
We went through security to the domestic terminal, and waited for boarding for our flight to Easter Island.
Santiago - Easter Island
LA 841
Departure Time: 8:45AM
Boeing 767-300
Business Class Seat 2J
Duration 5.5 hours
Boarding area for Easter Island
A view of the 767 that would take us to Easter Island
The 767's cabin was configured and felt a bit like the 787 cabin we just had. The seats were a bit more narrow, and the cabin was less wide and a bit smaller, but overall very comfortable. The flight was again about 80% full in business class.
My seat 2J.
Very spacious leg-room, with a cubby hole to put your feet which made this lie-flat seat even longer and more comfortable for me given my height. The TV appeared to be of roughly the same size.
The english side of the breakfast and booze menu. I never did order breakfast as I went right to sleep on this flight.
After take-off I was exhausted and went back to sleep in lie-flat mode before a breakfast order could be put in. The flight was 5 hours and 55 minutes as scheduled, and I hoped to sleep for at least some of that. I slept for about 4 hours as I woke up with only 45 minutes to go in the flight. At this point I was famished, as I had skipped two airline breakfast meals in exchange for sleep. I asked the flight attendants if I could have some nibbles, and they brought out some fruit, chocolate bread, and made me a hot ham and cheese sandwich that was gooey and delicious on my empty stomach.
Devoured fruit, sandwich, and bread
45 minutes to go to Easter Island. Check out the Eagle Creek packing cube turned red-eye survival kit hung from the seat coat hook.
Overall, the flight was comfortable and uneventful. The time flew by thanks to sleep and breakfast. This due west jaunt from Santiago was almost complete. Lady Tocqueville and I were quite excited to land, and explore Easter Island for the next 3 days. What a treat to be there, in this remote part of the world, in business class. This adventure was now a week old, with ~8.5 to go. Boy are we loving life right now!
Lima - Santiago
LA 601
Departure Time: 1:35AM (Actual Departure 2:15AM)
Boeing 787 Dreamliner
Business Class Seat 5A
Duration 3.5 hours
After a phenomenal dinner at Astrid y Gaston, Lady Tocqueville and I bade farewell to her parents, and around 11:30PM jumped into a cab to head to Lima Airport. We got to Lima airport by 12:15AM, and already had our boarding passes printed from our flight from Lima almost 40 hours prior. We waited in the immigration exit line for about 20 minutes, and after that found our way to the VIP lounge area. There were two different lounges we had access to, the VIP and Sumaq lounge. We went to the Sumaq lounge first, and they said they were too crowded and sent us to the VIP lounge. So we went to the VIP lounge where we found some seats and had a clean bathroom in which to change for our red-eye. I used the wi-fi for a bit, and we got rehydraded on bottled water.
The VIP club was comfortable and quiet
Decent spread of snacks and drinks
Decent spread of snacks and drinks continued
We arrived at the gate at 12:45AM 10 minutes after the time suggested on the boarding card. However, it appeared the incoming flight from LAX had not yet offloaded its passengers. Passengers were offloaded, and we still had to wait a bit. We didn't end up boarding until around 1:45AM.
I was really excited about this flight. Yes, it would be rough as a 3.5 hour red-eye that is now leaving at a delayed 2AM+. On the other hand, this flight was on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner! This was my first time flying one of these birds, and in a lay-flat business class seat no less.
Once we boarded the plane lived up to its expectations. The plane was wide, and there were no window shades, just buttons to control the tint. The seats were very spacious and new. The business class cabin felt huge. I snapped a few photos as we took our seats.
View of one of the seats from behind
A view of the business class cabin. The flight was about 80% full in business class.
My seat, seat 5A.
A view of how much legroom you have, my legs can barely reach the foot rest when the seat is in standard mode and I am 6'4" (1.93m). The TV is also the biggest I have had in a plane cabin in my flying career.
A very small amenity kit of foam earplugs, and an eyeshade were passed out in a medium sized nonwoven meshlike bag. I discarded the earplugs and eyeshade, since I had my own which appeared to be better than what LAN had passed out, but I kept the bag to use as a laundry bag as an improvement over the Marriott laundry bag I had been using. While still parked at the gate, a flight attendant came by to take our breakfast order. We both passed, since we wanted to sleep as much as we could on the flight. No pillow or blanket was passed out, and while taxing we asked for one which was cheerfully brought over to us. The duvet was very comfortable, the biggest and cushiest I had seen on a plane, and the pillow decent sized too.
After take-off, we reclined our seats to lay flat and went to sleep. When in fully layflat, the sat is pretty comfortable. However, I would say I was about 2" too tall for the seat. That is with my head all the way against the top of the seat, I could not extend my legs all the way. I had to sleep either on my side with my legs bent a bit, or on my back with my legs angled off to the side or bent. It wasn't uncomfortable, but that was definetly a set back. For anyone 6'2" or shorter, this should not be an issue.
We both got about 2 hours 45 minutes sleep, and we woke up as we were descending into Santiago.
We arrived in Santiago, and were amongst the first off the plane. It was 6AM and we were pretty tired and groggy. We first had to go to the reciprocity fee payment counter, where we, along with Albanians, Canadians, Australians, and Mexicans get to pay Chile money for the privilege of entering the country. We charge this fee to them, so they are just reciprocating. In the private sector, this is called extortion, but because governments like to prevent us from traveling freely without their blessing, and sometimes tribute, they get away with it. We paid the $160 a person on my credit card, and the whole transaction took about 5 minutes. A card was stapled into our passport indicating we had paid this fee, and it was valid for the next 10 years.
Paying this fee set us back a good bit in the immigration entry line, and we waited for about 30 minutes. After passing immigration, and having our bags x-rayed by customs, we exited into the Santiago main terminal. We went to the LAN business class check-in to get directed on where to go to catch our Easter Island connecting flight. It was actually a domestic flight, and thus left out of the business class terminal. It was LAN's only domestic flight flown on a widebody airplane. As a virtue of leaving out of the domestic terminal, we had no lounge access to freshen up since the only lounges, including an American Airlines Admirals club, were in the international terminal.
We went through security to the domestic terminal, and waited for boarding for our flight to Easter Island.
Santiago - Easter Island
LA 841
Departure Time: 8:45AM
Boeing 767-300
Business Class Seat 2J
Duration 5.5 hours
Boarding area for Easter Island
A view of the 767 that would take us to Easter Island
The 767's cabin was configured and felt a bit like the 787 cabin we just had. The seats were a bit more narrow, and the cabin was less wide and a bit smaller, but overall very comfortable. The flight was again about 80% full in business class.
My seat 2J.
Very spacious leg-room, with a cubby hole to put your feet which made this lie-flat seat even longer and more comfortable for me given my height. The TV appeared to be of roughly the same size.
The english side of the breakfast and booze menu. I never did order breakfast as I went right to sleep on this flight.
After take-off I was exhausted and went back to sleep in lie-flat mode before a breakfast order could be put in. The flight was 5 hours and 55 minutes as scheduled, and I hoped to sleep for at least some of that. I slept for about 4 hours as I woke up with only 45 minutes to go in the flight. At this point I was famished, as I had skipped two airline breakfast meals in exchange for sleep. I asked the flight attendants if I could have some nibbles, and they brought out some fruit, chocolate bread, and made me a hot ham and cheese sandwich that was gooey and delicious on my empty stomach.
Devoured fruit, sandwich, and bread
45 minutes to go to Easter Island. Check out the Eagle Creek packing cube turned red-eye survival kit hung from the seat coat hook.
Overall, the flight was comfortable and uneventful. The time flew by thanks to sleep and breakfast. This due west jaunt from Santiago was almost complete. Lady Tocqueville and I were quite excited to land, and explore Easter Island for the next 3 days. What a treat to be there, in this remote part of the world, in business class. This adventure was now a week old, with ~8.5 to go. Boy are we loving life right now!
Last edited by beofotch; Aug 17, 2013 at 6:48 am
Aug 13, 2013, 11:25 pm
#67
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: YKF
Programs: AC*E50K
Posts: 116
Thanks for posting this---your trip should be epic! The first segment brings back memories of my trip to Cuzco, Macchu Picchu, etc last year. I particularly liked the food there. Agree with the observations about Lima versus Cuzco; Cuzco seemed friendlier and cleaner than Lima to me.
Aug 14, 2013, 10:33 am
#69
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: NYC suburbs
Programs: UA LT Gold (BIS), AA LT Plat (CC SUBs & BD), Hilton Dia (CC), Hyatt Glob (BIB), et. al.
Posts: 3,290
beofotch,
Thank you very much. Just as many others here have written, I’ve been following your adventure from the beginning and find it fascinating and enjoyable. ^
It's amazing that you are able to do this on just 3 tickets (“…we strategically strung together 3 tickets to give us the trip that we wanted. So on 2 separate Business Award tickets, and 1 F Award ticket …”) as your trip would seem to require (way) more than 3 tickets. It would be wonderful if you could share details of the 3 tickets; including which program they were booked from, itineraries for each ticket and allowed stopovers. Curious also if you paid for any of the “short-haul economy only flights” or if they too were included in your award tickets.
One small suggestion if you don’t mind. It would be helpful, particularly for those of us who are geographically challenged
, if you wrote the scheduled duration for each flight in the “header” information of your flight review posts. Perhaps “Departure Time: 610PM, Duration 2 hours” vice “Departure Time: 610PM”.
Thanks very much again. Safe travels and please do continue to keep us updated.
Thank you very much. Just as many others here have written, I’ve been following your adventure from the beginning and find it fascinating and enjoyable. ^
It's amazing that you are able to do this on just 3 tickets (“…we strategically strung together 3 tickets to give us the trip that we wanted. So on 2 separate Business Award tickets, and 1 F Award ticket …”) as your trip would seem to require (way) more than 3 tickets. It would be wonderful if you could share details of the 3 tickets; including which program they were booked from, itineraries for each ticket and allowed stopovers. Curious also if you paid for any of the “short-haul economy only flights” or if they too were included in your award tickets.
One small suggestion if you don’t mind. It would be helpful, particularly for those of us who are geographically challenged
, if you wrote the scheduled duration for each flight in the “header” information of your flight review posts. Perhaps “Departure Time: 610PM, Duration 2 hours” vice “Departure Time: 610PM”. Thanks very much again. Safe travels and please do continue to keep us updated.
Last edited by Dr Jabadski; Aug 14, 2013 at 11:05 am
Aug 15, 2013, 5:43 am
#71
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: London-etc
Posts: 3,893
I also just "did it" last year-took my 9 y/o daughter out of school for two months and did a 90 day luxury trip around the world (booked a 1st class Star Alliance Round the World Ticket.) trip report: www.toscanoworldtrip.blogspot.com
Also like your link, very nice photos, wonderful quotes and set up.
9 years old and such a trip, for sure memories for life
Aug 17, 2013, 6:41 am
#72
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: CLT
Programs: AA ExPlat, Hyatt Globalist, Bonvoy Lifetime Titanium
Posts: 1,551
7. Steve's Guest House in Easter Island
Chez Steve Residencia Kyle Mio
41,000 Chillean Pesos ($82) per night
3 night stay
We arrived at Easter Island a bit early, around noon. Steve, who is a frenchman that runs his own guesthouse on the island along with his native wife Ana, picked us up from the airport in his cool and beat-up truck. Most trucks on the island are pretty beat-up.
After a brief tour of the island, Steve showed us to our room, on his property. His property is on the outskirts of town, about a 4 minute drive or 25 minute walk from the airport. How cool is it that you can arrive here on a 767 wide-body, get off the jet-way, and walk to your destination. I can't think of any other places where I have done that!
He has 3 guesthouses next to his house, and a breakfast room attached to his house. As soon as we arrived, he sat us down with some pineapple juice and went over our plans for our 3 night stay. He got out a map, and suggested a hiking itinerary (which we did the next day), and a ATV/4x4 itinerary (which we did the following day). He suggested a spot to post up at sunrise on a remote part of the island, and even had a to-go breakfast waiting for us for our early departure to the sunrise spot. His English is decent, and definitely passable. He spoke a bit of Spanish. Mainly, I saw staying here as an opportunity to maintain my French, and that is the language we spoke most often and what he would revert to for complicated explanations.
Steve's truck, parked on his property
The entrance to two of the three guesthouses. Ours was the door on the right.
The walkway to Steve's breakfast nook, attached to his house
The house with small horse stables next door. The island had many feral horses roaming about.
Our room, with a double sized bed and a single sized bed. Also seen is the balcony and coffee/tea set-up in the corner
Clothes storage nook
View into the bathroom. The hot water was perpetual, and the shower refreshing after a day getting filthy on ATVs
The balcony was a peaceful place to retire for the night with a cold one or three
Breakfast each day was varied, and even made to-go if requested the day before.
I am trying not to put photos in these trip reports of things outside of the air/hotel accommodations, but I couldn't resist putting in this photo of the abandoned Moai quarry on Easter Island. What a beautiful and myserious place!
Overall, we found the guestroom very clean and comfortable. There was very spotty wi-fi, which the entire island shares. Steve and his wife did our laundry for 5,000 Chilean Pesos ($10). This was a great service to us since we are going to have to do laundry every 7-9 days on our Trip of a Million Lifetimes. There was no air conditioning, nor heat, but with Easter Island's climate, this was not needed. Each day the high was 68, low around 58, and some scattered showers here and there but generally sunshine.
After our 3 night sojourn, we were sad to say goodbye. Steve let us give him our packed luggage, while we walked into town to buy souvenirs. He then picked us up at the post office in town (where we got our Rapa Nui/Easter Island postage stamp) and took us to the airport for our return flight to Santiago.
Chez Steve Residencia Kyle Mio
41,000 Chillean Pesos ($82) per night
3 night stay
We arrived at Easter Island a bit early, around noon. Steve, who is a frenchman that runs his own guesthouse on the island along with his native wife Ana, picked us up from the airport in his cool and beat-up truck. Most trucks on the island are pretty beat-up.
After a brief tour of the island, Steve showed us to our room, on his property. His property is on the outskirts of town, about a 4 minute drive or 25 minute walk from the airport. How cool is it that you can arrive here on a 767 wide-body, get off the jet-way, and walk to your destination. I can't think of any other places where I have done that!
He has 3 guesthouses next to his house, and a breakfast room attached to his house. As soon as we arrived, he sat us down with some pineapple juice and went over our plans for our 3 night stay. He got out a map, and suggested a hiking itinerary (which we did the next day), and a ATV/4x4 itinerary (which we did the following day). He suggested a spot to post up at sunrise on a remote part of the island, and even had a to-go breakfast waiting for us for our early departure to the sunrise spot. His English is decent, and definitely passable. He spoke a bit of Spanish. Mainly, I saw staying here as an opportunity to maintain my French, and that is the language we spoke most often and what he would revert to for complicated explanations.
Steve's truck, parked on his property
The entrance to two of the three guesthouses. Ours was the door on the right.
The walkway to Steve's breakfast nook, attached to his house
The house with small horse stables next door. The island had many feral horses roaming about.
Our room, with a double sized bed and a single sized bed. Also seen is the balcony and coffee/tea set-up in the corner
Clothes storage nook
View into the bathroom. The hot water was perpetual, and the shower refreshing after a day getting filthy on ATVs
The balcony was a peaceful place to retire for the night with a cold one or three
Breakfast each day was varied, and even made to-go if requested the day before.
I am trying not to put photos in these trip reports of things outside of the air/hotel accommodations, but I couldn't resist putting in this photo of the abandoned Moai quarry on Easter Island. What a beautiful and myserious place!
Overall, we found the guestroom very clean and comfortable. There was very spotty wi-fi, which the entire island shares. Steve and his wife did our laundry for 5,000 Chilean Pesos ($10). This was a great service to us since we are going to have to do laundry every 7-9 days on our Trip of a Million Lifetimes. There was no air conditioning, nor heat, but with Easter Island's climate, this was not needed. Each day the high was 68, low around 58, and some scattered showers here and there but generally sunshine.
After our 3 night sojourn, we were sad to say goodbye. Steve let us give him our packed luggage, while we walked into town to buy souvenirs. He then picked us up at the post office in town (where we got our Rapa Nui/Easter Island postage stamp) and took us to the airport for our return flight to Santiago.
Aug 17, 2013, 6:44 am
#73
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: CLT
Programs: AA ExPlat, Hyatt Globalist, Bonvoy Lifetime Titanium
Posts: 1,551
beofotch,
...It's amazing that you are able to do this on just 3 tickets (“…we strategically strung together 3 tickets to give us the trip that we wanted. So on 2 separate Business Award tickets, and 1 F Award ticket …”) as your trip would seem to require (way) more than 3 tickets. It would be wonderful if you could share details of the 3 tickets; including which program they were booked from, itineraries for each ticket and allowed stopovers. Curious also if you paid for any of the “short-haul economy only flights” or if they too were included in your award tickets.
One small suggestion if you don’t mind. It would be helpful, particularly for those of us who are geographically challenged , if you wrote the scheduled duration for each flight in the “header” information of your flight review posts. Perhaps “Departure Time: 610PM, Duration 2 hours” vice “Departure Time: 610PM”...
...It's amazing that you are able to do this on just 3 tickets (“…we strategically strung together 3 tickets to give us the trip that we wanted. So on 2 separate Business Award tickets, and 1 F Award ticket …”) as your trip would seem to require (way) more than 3 tickets. It would be wonderful if you could share details of the 3 tickets; including which program they were booked from, itineraries for each ticket and allowed stopovers. Curious also if you paid for any of the “short-haul economy only flights” or if they too were included in your award tickets.
One small suggestion if you don’t mind. It would be helpful, particularly for those of us who are geographically challenged
, if you wrote the scheduled duration for each flight in the “header” information of your flight review posts. Perhaps “Departure Time: 610PM, Duration 2 hours” vice “Departure Time: 610PM”...Regarding how it was booked, see this: http://freeinfreedom.com/2013/03/24/...ow-to-book-it/
Aug 17, 2013, 9:46 am
#75
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: NYC suburbs
Programs: UA LT Gold (BIS), AA LT Plat (CC SUBs & BD), Hilton Dia (CC), Hyatt Glob (BIB), et. al.
Posts: 3,290
Thanks for the feedback to you and the other FlyerTalk posters. We are having an amazing time and are truly blessed. I will add the durations going forward.
Regarding how it was booked, see this: http://freeinfreedom.com/2013/03/24/...ow-to-book-it/
Regarding how it was booked, see this: http://freeinfreedom.com/2013/03/24/...ow-to-book-it/
If you don’t mind, did you book these award tickets on-line? Phone call or calls? Did you have to book all 16 flights on the Explorer award (and all 11 flights on the ANA award and all 5 flights on the United award) during the same on-line session or call to the respective airline? If necessary, did any of them allow you to make dummy date bookings and then finalize actual dates at a later time? Thanks again.
Great stuff, please continue with the reports.
^^^^^^
Last edited by Dr Jabadski; Aug 17, 2013 at 9:58 am