Surf to Sand – French Polynesia to the Atacama – In Transit – Day 39 can be found here.
I’d wondered how we’d sleep last night – there are at least two different conferences here, and the lobby bar was hopping when we left. But the Sheraton Santiago has decent soundproofing and we slept through until 9:30 am. (We’re going to pretend that this is part of the adjustment to Eastern time, as opposed to us being lazy.)
Off in search of breakfast – we elect to forego the usual buffets and eat at the lobby bar instead. I think that’s the right call, given the lovely fare that’s on offer:
The poached eggs are a little on the cool side when they get to us, but it’s a heck of a deal at 5,500 Pesos (just over US$6). Though the bill is quickly buoyed by the addition of cappuccinos and bottles of water.
Down to Reception to see if we can request a late check-out – and success! We can keep one of the rooms until 2 pm. We (mostly) pack up the other room, and then head off to to lounge by the pool for a spell:
It’s a strange temperature, right around 18 Celsius (65 Farenheit) but sunny. Some of the guests are in bikinis, others are in puffer coats!
The Sheraton staff is setting up for some sort of event later today. We endure the soundchecks – and the occasional screech of feedback – but thankfully most of the set-up is done in silence. We debate going for a swim, but the outdoor pool is just as cold as we remember. There is apparently also an indoor pool, but none of us feel particularly motivated to check it out.
We do, however, bring down another of our complimentary bottles of wine to aid in the reading and the writing (though not the homework). The pool bar provides plastic wine glasses without complaint, and we are also able to get some ice to help further chill the wine. While the rooms are equipped with small fridges, they aren’t particularly cold.
Running up and down the elevator, we notice that it has one of the strangest numbering systems we’ve ever seen:
It does make a kind of convoluted sense, but I had to stare at it for a while before I figured it out.
We continued with various points of administrivia – we manage check-in for our flight, and we’re relieved to find that we are all grouped together. There’s a brief moment of panic when my wife’s boarding pass is held for document review, which is thankfully resolved after I realize my fat thumbs had mis-entered her passport number.
Back to the room around 1 pm to shower and change for our flights, and then down to Reception to drop off our key. I ask whether it’s okay to bill lunch to our room before settling up our bill, and the clerk confirms that would be fine.
Off to the lobby bar again for lunch. The kids and I order the crispy chicken sandwich:
While my wife has the Caesar chicken sandwich:
All very tasty – though a few of my wife’s fries were a bit green.
We then set about our final round of Dungeons and Dragons – Zoe and Tobias (the kids’ characters) successfully raided the werewolves’ lair, convincing Zuleika to join them as an ally and defeating the rogue werewolf Kirin for command of the pack. They then recovered the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind – but as they depart, a shadowy coach pulled by black horses awaits them at the nearest road: Strahd von Zarovich has invited them to dinner. (Dun dun dun.)
It’s then just after 4 pm and our driver will be there at 5 pm – I go to settle up the bill, only to discover a massive line waiting to check in. I attempt to settle the bill via Marriott’s app – but without result. We try again at 4:20, and 4:30 pm. We try to pay at the lobby bar, but that’s not an option. I try at another desk, but it’s also short-staffed.
Eventually – with our driver moments away – I walk to the front of the line and explain we have to leave, and just to bill us. But no, this apparently our bill has to be approved and signed-off.
The clerk seems irritated, claiming that we should have checked out at 2 pm. (We returned the keys and told staff we’d cleared out of the room! Honest!) But I’m absolutely gobsmacked that a Sheraton conference hotel requires each guest to swing by the front desk to check out. As far as I can remember, it’s been at least 5 years since any major chain hotel wasn’t able to handle automatic check-out.
But – lesson learned – I shall never again wait until 4 pm before attempting to check out from a hotel.
What’s worse, I later discover that our booking had both buffet breakfast and late checkout at 4 pm. I’m usually careful to read the fine print, but this is the downside of booking a trip more than year in advance – it’s very easy to lose track of some of the details. Another lesson learned for next time.
We dashed outside to meet Cristian, who was waiting for us in his father’s van – and it turned out that it was his father who picked us up the previous night. He was very friendly, and – like many of the Chileans we’ve met – was surprised that my wife and I first travelled to Chile almost 20 years earlier.
Wisely, Cristian had us pay for the shuttle before we arrived at the airport – this will streamline the offloading process at the airport. We arrive roughly 30 minutes after we set out, and Cristian soon drops us off and we’re on our way. He and his team were great, and we would highly recommend them for anyone looking for a driver in the Santiago / Valparaiso area. His WhatsApp number is +56992370631. I believe he also does tours – but we haven’t done any, so we can’t comment on them.
Brief wait at the airport while the Air Canada agent directed various groups where to go, but we are soon safely ensconced in the Business Class Bubble – an actual agent takes our bags, hands us our boarding passes, and directs us to the appropriate lounge.
Before we go through security, we have to go through Immigration for our exit stamp. I kindly request that the officer stamp one of the semi-used pages as I have a mere 13 pages remaining for our cruise in February – this seems like a lot, but will need to cover Australia, Indonesia (2 pages), Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan. The officer kindly obliges – I might need to have a little card made up in multiple languages asking the same, just to be on the safe side.
There isn’t a Maple Leaf Lounge at SCL, but Air Canada Business Class passengers can access the Primeclass Pacifico lounge at the E gates.
It’s not too bad, as lounges go:
My photo, carefully cropped to avoid including other people – I tried to also find an official Primeclass photo but they don’t match the lounge’s current appearance
It’s not massive, but we had no trouble accessing the lounge or finding seats. Their internet was fast but restricted access to certain sites – including my blog – so we had to tether off my phone instead. Thankfully, I still have more than 13 GB on my year-long global eSIM, so no worries about running out.
Otherwise, my wife and I each enjoyed a deliciously strong gin and tonic:
And there were some light supper options:
I expect Air Canada will be stuffing us once we’re aboard the plane, so a light supper was all that we wanted – though there are a huge number of restaurants in SCL for those seeking something substantial.
Primeclass even has showers:
And a ‘quiet zone’:
Which is handy, because they seem to be having problems with their sound system – the music is pausing every two or three seconds, and it’s driving me bananas. I mention it to the front desk, and they change it to something that plays without skipping.
The only drawback of these fancy bathrooms is that there aren’t very many of them, so when we get close to our boarding time we find that all of them are in use.
Ah, well. Out to the main terminal where there are plenty of bathrooms. And then we arrive at the gate just in time for pre-boarding – which seems much more extensive than I’d ever seen before. But then they make an announcement congratulating Canada’s Paralympic team and their family on their performance in Chile. Ah, that makes sense. (And congratulations to our Paralympic team!)
There’s a bit of a delay, but we’re soon safely ensconced in our pods:
No issues with finding overhead bin space here – though some of the passengers do find them tough to reach, so I help load a few bags.
Quite the menu this evening:
It takes a long time to board a Dreamliner so the flight attendants make the rounds with champagne and take everyone’s meal order. I’m close to the back – they are out of the beef tenderloin by the time they reach me, so I opt for the chicken instead.
I also ask for the ‘express’ dining option, in which all of the cold elements are brought out all at once. It may impinge somewhat on the dining experience but I’d rather scrape out a few extra minutes of sleep if possible!
That said, I did ask them to wake us for breakfast – because otherwise it might be several hours before we’re able to eat tomorrow.
We’re soon airborne, and the food arrives:
The cheese and crackers are particularly good, as is the smoked salmon and the roll. (Though the garlic bread was even better.)
It’s followed by the chicken with spinach rice:
The sauce was creamy and well-flavoured, but the chicken itself is a bit tough.
It was then close to midnight Santiago time – and morning would soon be upon us – so I flattened out the seat and did what I could to get some rest.
Continue reading Surf to Sand – French Polynesia to the Atacama – In Transit – Day 41.