I awoke a few times in the night as our flight from Santiago to Toronto was jostled by turbulence. Thankfully, I had remembered to buckle my seatbelt outside of my blanket so no one woke me up in order to insist that I buckle in.
I managed perhaps 6 hours of sleep in total, waking up at 4 am Eastern time – but that’s like 6 am Santiago time, so pretty much a full sleep. (At least that’s what I keep telling myself.) Thankfully, I’m awake in time for breakfast and coffee:
No cappucino this morning – the milk frother is apparently on the fritz. But I do get a double espresso with milk instead, so that’s a fine consolation prize.
They run out of pancakes midway through breakfast service – I’m about to trade my daughter for the omelette when the flight attendant quietly reassures me that they saved one last order of pancakes for her. Very kind of them!
The pancakes are delicious, and the fruit is quite good. The croissant scarcely deserves the name – but no one is going hungry this flight.
Breakfast is cleared away, and the service director comes by to chat with everyone. It’s a nice personal touch – and another example of how excellent the service has been throughout the flight. I’d love to upgrade to pods for our upcoming flight to Sydney, but I expect that will be out of our price range.
Descent starts shortly after 5 am, and we’re at the gate just before 6 am as scheduled. First off the plane means first to customs – we used the ArriveCan app in advance, and also made use of the family customs machines on the far side of the customs area. There are perhaps five people ahead of us in line, and we’re soon headed down to the baggage area.
Good thing, too – with those handy priority tags, our bags are soon off the carousel. We exit the security zone and map out our plan to divide-and-conquer.
While walking from the gate to customs, I had managed to use the Park ‘n’ Fly app to request our car be brought around – and it worked for once! Last time it was down, I’d had to call in instead and it took ages for them to bring the car around.
My wife and kids remain at Terminal 1 to forage for food, while I wait for the Park ‘n’ Fly shuttle. There had been a sudden snowstorm just days before we returned, so I’m grateful to have my puffer coat with me. Time marches on, and roughly 20 minutes after heading outside the shuttle picks me up – along with another group of Canadians recently back from India.
Off to the Park ‘n’ Fly valet office, where I settle up the bill and collect our waiting car. Then a quick loop around to Terminal 1 to pick everyone up. Despite the early morning – and an almost complete absence of cars – the parking attendant is in the process of asking me to circle around once more when my wife and kids emerge with bags in tow.
We then load the vehicle – and I trade keys with my wife, who takes our car and drives back home with it. We have now officially reached the point where we – and our bags – no longer fit in either of our cars.
Besides, I still need to pick up our Taycan from the dealer, who’d fixed up a few minor items while we were away. I consider getting an Uber, but apparently they only pick up from Section Q – and I can’t see beyond Section E.
So I opt for an official Toronto cab instead. Then it’s just a quick hop off to the dealership, where I fall victim to our speedy disembarkation by arriving before the dealer opens. No matter, it gives me time to pre-heat the car and melt the ice off it – one of the greatest luxuries of electric vehicles is how quickly they heat up, and the ability to ‘idle’ for extended periods without wasting gas.
Finally – with the snow cleared and my podcasts loaded – I’m able to get our second key from the dealer and return home.
Thus ends our 40-plus-day sojourn from French Polynesia to the Atacama Desert. We’re still utterly exhausted, but I would still rank it as perhaps our best trip yet.
Thank you so much for joining us, and please stay tuned for some in-depth reviews, lessons learned, and our upcoming trip to Bromont, Quebec. Then – in February – we will be heading to Tasmania before embarking on the Silver Moon for a 47 day cruise from Melbourne to Bali, Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan.
Hope you’ll come along for the ride!