Departure Day

This post is part of our epic adventure to the Falklands, South Georgia, and Antarctica. In case you don’t want to read this sequentially, or you are looking for a specific part of the trip, here are some shortcuts:

• Introduction
• Departure Day <– You are here
• Santiago, Chile
• Torres del Paine, Chile
• El Calafate, Argentina
• Ushuaia, Argentina
• Embarkation Day
• Stanley, Falkland Islands
• Sea Days
• Tour of the Ship
• Right Whale Bay, South Georgia
• Salisbury Plain, South Georgia
• Grytviken, South Georgia
• Fortuna Bay, South Georgia
• Stromness, South Georgia
• Godthul, South Georgia
• St. Andrews Bay, South Georgia
• Gold Harbour, South Georgia
• Cooper Bay, South Georgia
• The Scotia Sea Surprise
• Cuverville Island, Antarctic Peninsula
• Port Lockroy, Antarctic Peninsula
• The Drake and Ushuaia, Argentina

The departure port for our expedition cruise was Ushuaia, Argentina. The most direct route from Sydney is via Santiago, but because of limited flights and high demand, economy tickets for this route cost more than AUD $12,000 per person! In the end, we found a reasonably priced flight via Dallas for heaps less in business class.

Travel hack: Use American Airlines to get the same route for roughly half the price of Qantas. Everything we read suggested arriving a day or two before your departure to allow buffer in case of delays or lost luggage. We decided to leave a week early just in case.

Though our flight out of Sydney left at 5pm, Andy was sitting in the packed car ready to go at 11am. Yes, I have a packing spreadsheet.

Travel hack: consider renting a car for a day for airport transportation. For us, it is much cheaper than a taxi or parking, and the drop off is usually near departures.

There was a short line at check-in, but it moved quickly and we were charged with adrenaline, and there five hours early. The agent asked for our passports, vaccination certificates, visa for the United States, and Chilean Declaration. We didn’t know you needed a visa for the US even if you were just connecting, but we’re US citizens so we just used our passports. The agent gave us a QR code to scan for the electronic declaration for Chile and explained we could submit it anytime before departure.

Once settled in the Qantas lounge, I realised that the declaration form was completely in Spanish. It seemed to be a customs form, so I did the best I could using Google translate and submitted the form. We ate lunch and I took a quick work call, and we still had three hours until boarding. It was at this point that I realised I forgot my headphones, so I headed down to the duty-free store to buy a replacement. You may wonder why I’m on a tangent, but stay with me.

The salesgirl showed me the top-of-the-line Bose noise-cancelling earbuds, but I asked to see some more affordable options. She showed me a few choices and even offered to let me demo the Bose earbuds, “just so I could hear.” She sanitised them, popped them into my ears, and asked what kind of music I liked. She played something from Spotify, and I was blown away by the sound quality. Plus, a lot of the background noise from the airport vanished. Then, she said something that made me pause. “See how much noise is eliminated? How long is your flight today?” I knew where this was headed. “Would you pay $8 an hour for silence on your upcoming flights?” and then she turned ON the noise-cancelling feature. I couldn’t hear a word she was saying, even though she kept talking. The noise cancelling feature was amazing, but her sales skills were out of this world! It was an expensive start to the trip but I have no regrets. Seriously, the Bose Quiet Comfort Earbuds are worth the splurge.

Our flight was delayed about 20 minutes, but we had a 3-hour layover in Dallas so we weren’t too concerned. Surprisingly, we were in reasonably good spirits when we landed at 5 o’clock in the afternoon despite the 16-hour journey. The sun was setting as we deplaned and boarded a bus for the terminal.

It’s difficult to pinpoint why, but DFW consistently seems more orderly and polite than LAX. We breezed through global entry, with the exception of a short detour when one of us realised they had left their passport at the kiosk. There was no need to gather and recheck our bags since we were making an international connection, so we proceeded directly to the Admiral’s Club Flagship lounge.

The lounge was pretty crowded, thanks to numerous flight delays and cancellations. We each had a quick shower, and attempted to have dinner at the sit-down restaurant but were turned away as it was for first-class passengers only. I checked the Apple Air Tags and was relieved to know that our bags had made it to Dallas. Our flight was also delayed, but the lounge kept us informed through a series of announcements, assuring us that they would let us know when it was time to head to the gate. Well, they didn’t. And I realised this about 25 minutes before departure.

We walked as quickly as possible, each lugging 10kg wheelies and a 10kg camera backback, and managed to arrive at the gate with what we thought was ample time. Unfortunately, the surly gate agent informed us that he’d given away our seats and our bags were being removed because we failed to board on time. I tried to remain calm and politely asked him to get our seats back and stop the search for our bags, but I’m not sure if I actually remained calm or if I came off as a complete bitch. In any case, he undid all of his premature work and we finally managed to board, unsure if our bags had made the flight with us. We had a buffer week so took some deep breaths and hoped for the best.

Once onboard, the flight attendant stopped by and asked if I wanted the salmon for dinner. Disappointed by the lack of other options, I declined and opted for some sleep instead. American Airlines, we expected better.

After catching some much-needed rest, I took the time to jot down my thoughts on the Qantas versus American Airlines 787 Dreamliner experience.

• The configuration of the American Airlines plane was slightly better than that of Qantas. I had a window/aisle seat that faced the rear of the plane, which was initially disorienting, but it offered a bit more privacy.
• When it came to comfort, the American Airlines seat was the clear winner. The padding was superior, and the seat had better configuration options. While the lie-flat bed on both airlines was great for sleeping, the ability to raise the knee section on the American Airlines seat made it super comfortable. That being said, the Qantas bedding was superior, as it included a padded seat cover in addition to the duvet and pillow.
• In terms of amenities, the Qantas amenity kit was far superior to American Airlines’. Not only did it include pyjamas, but the bag itself was something I’d definitely save and reuse. American Airlines provided better headsets, though it would have been great if I could have paired my fancy new Bose earbuds with the entertainment system on either plane.
• Finally, when it came to service, Qantas was the clear winner. The flight attendants are lovely and there were plenty of food options available. The American Airlines flight attendants were not welcoming and there was no choice for the two meals served on the 9 hour flight. Admittedly, we were unaware that we needed to pre-order meals for long-haul flights, and did so on the return flight with better results.

At 9am on Monday December 19th, 35 hours after leaving our home in Sydney, we arrived in Santiago, Chile. There was a long line at immigration, but it moved quickly. We were handed a form to fill-out, and the questions seemed similar to those on the Spanish declaration we were required to complete before departing from Sydney (which oddly enough, no one ever requested from us). Most importantly, both checked bags had made it safely to Chile!

Next up — Santiago, Chile