Flight #13 (SANTIAGO-ATACAMA DESERT) (PHOTOS FROM SANTIAGO, CHILE)

Flight #13 (SANTIAGO-ATACAMA DESERT) (PHOTOS FROM SANTIAGO, CHILE)

posted in: Santiago, Chile | 7

Before our flight today we spent the last couple of nights being treated like royalty.  We stayed at the W in Santiago, Chile, thanks to our good friend Eva who works for Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide  She is actually one of the reasons Denise and I are together today.  A few years ago, Eva was waiting tables at Anthony’s, my family’s restaurant, when Denise and her family came in.  I asked Eva to send over dessert and she said no problem, but I would have to help her serve it. So I did and that’s when I joined Denise for a drink and the rest is history.

We were at the W for two nights and only one day and we never left the hotel.  We had room service for breakfast and dinner.  Denise had a great idea to spend our only afternoon on the 21st floor at a cabana by the pool.  We had a couple of cold lemonades and caught up with our reading, social media and face timing with our family. We liked it so much up there that we stayed and watched the sunset over the mountains that surround the city. After running hard for two weeks this is exactly what we both needed, especially me after my little incident in Mendoza.

Today we flew Sky Airline, a step up from Southwest with no first-class, from Santiago to San Pedro de Atacama, Chile.  The flight was 1 hour and 45 minutes.  Before taking off we splurged on a couple of cups of Dunkin Donuts Coffee. We should have saved our money because it wasn’t as good as back home. The view from above was of mountains that looked to be touching the puffy white clouds that were surrounded by a perfect blue sky.  The mountains looked like marble and the landscape was rocks of every shade of brown you can think of.  The temperature was in the 90’s both when we took off and landed.  When we were taking off and traveling to our altitude I was surprised to smell something good for lunch.  To our surprise, we were fed a decent lunch consisting of cannelloni stuffed with some kind of cheese and Denise has no idea what hers was, but seemed to like it, a nice salad and dessert.  Wine and soft drinks were all complimentary. Looking at the ground during our approach I noticed that Denise found a way to place us again in the middle of nowhere, but if it’s like the places we have traveled before we all know how great it will be.  Overall the flight was smooth with a bumpy approach and nice landing.  The staff did a fine job. We arrived and gathered our luggage then made our way to the shuttle service into town and for the first time we were greeted with Denise’s name on the board in front of the desk and a warm smile when the receptionist heard that we had arrived.  It really is the small things like a friendly smile that can make everything a bit better.

 

Where stayed in Santiago:

The W Santiago

 

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7 Responses

  1. Hope your hand is healing well! Enjoy Chile! Looks beautiful there

  2. Mary Leone

    I sure am enjoying all of the pictures you have sent. Joe Vince put me on your face book website so I can look at the pictures all I want. Take care and have a great time.

    Love,
    “Aunt” Mary Leone

  3. Tita Kathy

    My kind of place to stay. :)

  4. David Florez

    An amazeballs trip so far…can wait to read more about ur adventures

  5. totally agree with U Denise, just stay focused & relax & enjoy & take all of this in, we (me) have no idea about traveling abroad, but I am learning from U thru Your eyes & TY for sharing with me, love judy serrone

  6. The pictures are awesome, stay sFe and healthy!!!

  7. eva helber

    you guys are awesome. i hope the palace in madrid treats you just as well.
    xoxoxox

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