Luggage,
Mustard, Don't Cry for Me Argentina
(July
12 - August 8, 1998)
I wasn't planning to send
out a first travelogue until after our first
full weekend in Buenos Aires (hereafter referred to as BA), which would
be
next weekend. However, I decided that I would send out a
travelogue to describe our adventure in getting here. There are
no photos associated with this travelogue.
Everything was fine as we left our house on Saturday, July 11 at 2pm to
head to
the airport. Everything was fine as we checked in and went to the
Delta Crown Room to wait for the first leg of our journey, a flight to
Orlando to
connect with a Transbrazil flight to Sao Paolo, Brazil where we would
connect with a
Varig flight to BA. Everything was fine as we boarded and the
taxied
out to the runway. Everything was even fine as the plane started
down the
runway. From here on, not much went right. The pilot
ABORTED the takeoff about
half way down the runway and took the plane back to a gate. I
knew
immediately that the possibility of making the 8pm connection with
Transbrazil in Orlando
was not looking good. It was already 4:45pm and the mechanics
were
walking around with that 'I haven't got a clue' look on their
faces.
When I heard
some mumbling about 6pm, I knew all bets were off for this plane
getting off the
ground. Having done some quick homework with my trusty Delta
bible (the
schedule book that goes everywhere with me), I saw that there was
another flight
leaving for Orlando in about 20 minutes. I told that to the Delta
redcoat and
he was marvelous and came back and said he got us on the flight.
So, you
ask, isn't that goodness? Yes, BUT.....what about our luggage
(you can see
what's coming, right?). I asked about it and everyone sort of
shrugged their
shoulders. Knowing that there was a non-stop Delta flight to Sao
Paolo leaving at
8pm (the one we couldn't get on because business class was full), I
told that to the redcoat as we ran for the Orlando flight, which was
leaving on a different
concourse (why should we be so lucky as to have it leaving at the next
gate?). The
best thing he could do was to have someone pull our luggage and put it
on the Delta flight to Sao Paolo. That flight would actually
arrive about a half hour
before the Transbrazil flight and our luggage could then be transferred
to the
Varig flight.
Needless to say, Diane and I will be wearing all of the same clothes we
have been in since Saturday morning until sometime tomorrow.
Right. Delta did NOT manage to pull our luggage and put it on the
non-stop to Sao
Paolo. However, Varig did compensate us $50 each for not having
our luggage so we could
go buy incidentals. It didn't help much since all the stores are
closed
on Sunday. Actually, it isn't all that bad because we NEVER pack
our meds in checked
luggage and we ALWAYS pack a change of undies. ;-)
The entire trip from home to hotel took 23 hours. BA is only one
hour later than EDT so there isn't a real jet lag to deal with.
For you
travelers out there, Transbrazil was nothing to write home about.
The service
was mediocre, the food was mediocre (Diane's beef) to horrible (my
chicken).
The Varig flight from Sao Paolo to BA was great. Delta needs to
rethink its
partnership with Transbrazil and go back to Varig (with whom they used
to have a partnership). This turned out to be one of the more
'exciting'
trips we've ever taken. In some ways it was fun and certainly not
dull. I
can always say, "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" because even with some of
the problems we
had getting here, it sure beats NOT traveling. :-)
When we arrived at the hotel, a colleague, Merle, and his wife, Linda,
left a note that they had arrived at 11am and gone for a short
walk. We
finally made contact and found out they had been 'mustarded'.
This is a trick we had heard about where someone comes up behind you
and squirts mustard
on your clothes and then offers to help clean it off. Meanwhile,
they are
picking your pockets, purse, backpack, etc. Merle KNEW about this
technique
and still got conned. That's how smooth these thieves are.
They took his wallet from his FRONT pants
pocket.
He lost several hundred dollars in cash, three credit cards, his Texas
license,
telephone calling card and IBM badge. He started calling the US
credit card
companies within 10 minutes. Within an hour, the people who took
the cards
had already run up more than $3,000 in charges. The person at one
credit card
company saw charges coming in real time before she was able to stop the
card.
I had heard recently from my Swiss friend, Peter, that his in-laws, who
were
visiting with him and his wife, went to Amsterdam for a weekend and
were
'mustarded' there. So the technique is starting to spread around
the world.
On the bright side, we decided to walk to the Hard Rock Cafe to eat an
early dinner. It was packed with people watching the World Cup
final
between France and Brazil (which I had wanted to see anyway). We
were lucky
enough to get a table and see the second half. It was interesting
to me to see
that almost everyone in the place was rooting AGAINST Brazil and FOR
France.
So much for continent loyalty. I guess the Argentines don't care
much for the
Brazilians, at least not on the soccer field. France won and you
would think
you were in France celebrating with the victors.
We don't have any real impressions of Buenos Aires or Argentina yet, so
that will come in a future note. We may take a trip to
Montevideo,
Uruguay this weekend. It is winter here now, but it was in the
low 60s today,
sunny, no wind, and gorgeous. Winters like this I can take.
:-)
More next time and I hope this is the end of the mustard stories.
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