Valentine's Travel..

An interesting journey begins. We packed up all our things and moved out bright and early. Our new home became the golf pro shop on board. That's at least where our luggage was being stored. We ventured out into Buenos Aires to see some of the sights. We made it over to the area where Eva Peron's grave was located. Once we got there, some of us were pretty parched (both food and water) so we settled down at a cute little café next to this huge tree. It looked like one of those tree of life trees. The scenery was gorgeous, the people were gorgeous and we had a wonderful lunch. We didn't have much time so we finished up and went over to the grave sight. The church was really beautiful as any church would be in a religious country. The grave sight was a new experience however. It was as if these were homes to the dead. Literally. They were small flats that housed the coffins of the elite. It was overwhelming. The monuments these people afforded to raise to honor their dead. You could even see the coffins through the windows in some of them. Some of them even had stained glass. We got to the Duarte tomb and there were all kinds of plaques on her grave acknowledging her work. Her life. I've performed in the musical Evita and now here she was staring me in the face in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Afterwards we strolled through town. It reminded me of wither walking through the streets of Lisbon or the streets of Paris. It had quite the energy and I'd definitely like to come back to this area again. I wish we could've stayed to see a Tango dance. We had to scurry back to the ship so we could catch the shuttle to get us to the airport. The shuttle was late of course in a bustling city. We made it to the airport to see it was as busy as ever. I guess there must have been at least 4 ships in port today and this is a HUGE turn around port. We waited for a while, we got through with little fees on overages, but we had to pay an airport tax. Airport tax? What? Well I paid it on the company and then we were escorted through security. Security wasn't as tight as it is in the U.S. It was as if we were getting on the cruise ship again. Then we went through immigration. I got a stamp in my passport now, but was a little frazzled at the time because we were pushing the time limit. The plane was boarding as we were passing through immigration. Yikes. Two of us didn't have assigned seats yet. I was hoping they'd get one. Sure enough they did. It's our first leg of 3. We go from a 2 1/2 hour flight up to a 9 1/2 hour one and then to the big 14 hours in which we lose a day. Oy! Australia here we come. I hope we all make it luggage and all.

We made it!! Oh my God! Two long flights and boy was that ever painful. Customs, immigration, and luggage went smoothly. We got everything we needed to get done in L.A. and arrived in Sydney on time. Qantas has amazing service on their flights. You get a little baggie full of goodies, entertainment out the wazoo on your own personal screen, and 2 good meals and 3 good snacks. The staff was lovely and accommodating. The only thing I didn't like was the bumpy air. It was a bumpy ride and mostly at meal times. What is it with rough weather and meal times? First my trip across the floor in the Lido during the big wave, and now bumpy air while I have drinks on my tray. Ah well. We're here safe and sound in Australia and I'm sad we won't get more time in Sydney. It's a gorgeous city. Two of us went out last night and painted the town red until 3am so this morning was a little rough. Now we're off to our new home on board the Amsterdam. What a ride so far.