I have been planning, dreaming, hoping for an extended backpacking trip FOREVER. Really, for as long as I could remember, I had been wanting to travel the world, ambling about from place to place. The wanderlust that propelled this trip has been twenty-seven years in the making. In the months prior to my trip, I bought enough travel gear to blow half the budget.... I was just so excited to finally live my dream. I've had my Osprey Ariel pack ready for about three years. Really, I've been ready for this mentally and emotionally for years, the logistics being the only obstacle I've needed to overcome...
August 6th finally arrived. My awesome, supportive parents drove me to the airport. I stood on line at the Spirit Airlines counter, and I noticed that each customer in front of me had some issue with their flight. An elderly woman with short auburn hair and an impatient frown looked at me, and asserted "You know, we're ahead of you-- we're next." Her husband looked at me apologetically, and scolded "Honey, there's no need to be rude. This line just isn't moving at all." Apparently, it was the first time they were flying Spirit too-- and they didn't hold back on their disdain, along with most of the other passengers I encountered. A short Peruvian man ahead of me looked at me, and shook his head, "Never flying this airline again...".. I wasn't perturbed, my big day had arrived, and there was little that could upset me-- go ahead give me a crappy seat, or make me throw stuff away because my bag is overweight. My flight was a connecting flight from NY to Fort Lauderdale, and then from Fort Lauderdale to Lima. All I cared about was getting to Lima.
I finally got to the ticket counter, and the ticket agent actually smiled at me. I handed her my return ticket from Bogota, Colombia, to Orlando, FL. A Peruvian law dictates that any foreign nationals flying into Peru needs to show proof of onward travel within 90 days of entry. My ticket from Bogota was well within this time frame, I was certain there was nothing to worry about.
"Miss, this ticket states that you are leaving Colombia, I need to see proof that you are leaving Peru."
"I am leaving Peru-- obviously I have to leave Peru in order to catch my flight in Bogota in late October."
"And how are you planning on getting to Colombia?"
"Via bus"
"Well, then I need to see your bus ticket," she stated flatly.
As an employee of the airline, she was responsible for enforcing this awkwardly irrational rule. If I show up in Peru without proof that I will leave the country within 90 days, the airline is legally obliged to fly me back to the States on their dollar. This law is ridiculously irrational, because many travelers simply buy a refundable fare ticket as proof of onward travel, and cancel it once they get into the country.
I got off the line, and I tried to look around for bus tickets online-- Cruz del Sur, South America's most popular bus company, has a terrible website, and I couldn't successfully buy a ticket. I tried buying a ticket on LAN, South America's most popular airline, and this didn't work either. I tried calling various customer service agents for Expedia, Travelocity, Delta, etc. in order to buy a refundable ticket. After two hours of agonizing, I finally discovered that Expedia has a 24 hour risk-free return policy on tickets purchased over the phone. The Expedia service agent had a very thick accent, and I couldn't understand him at all, especially since I was calling from a loud LaGuardia terminal. At last, I was able to purchase the ticket, and I showed up to the ticket counter, panicking that I would miss my flight. I had the Expedia service agent on the phone ready to tell the Spirit airlines agent that I had indeed purchased my flight, but then she informed me that she needed to see "visual proof" that I had purchased the ticket. I asked the Expedia agent to email it to me, and he did so three times, but I couldn't find it at all in my email. After some more agonizing, I found that his emails had been going into my spam box. When I showed this to the Spirit airlines agent, she informed me that my flight had already left. I was ready to cry-- the flight I had been waiting for for 27 years had left.
She was able to book me on the next flight to Fort Lauderdale, which was at 9 PM, so I was in LaGuardia waiting from 10 AM to 9 PM that day. This flight arrived in Ft Lauderdale at midnight, and I had to find a place to stay overnight, since the next flight to Lima, for which I was a standby, was 5 PM the following day. I found an inexpensive hotel, close to the airport, and spent about 17 hours in Ft Lauderdale twiddling my thumbs.
The place wasn't too shabby. It's true, Florida is very similar to the the Indian state I'm from, Kerala. It's super humid, and the geckos are everywhere. The gardens outside the hotel where I ate my breakfast sullenly were certainly nice to look at. Sigh, I just want to get out of Florida.
I did catch the 5 PM flight to Lima, and now I'm finally a traveler!!!... more to come soon....
August 6th finally arrived. My awesome, supportive parents drove me to the airport. I stood on line at the Spirit Airlines counter, and I noticed that each customer in front of me had some issue with their flight. An elderly woman with short auburn hair and an impatient frown looked at me, and asserted "You know, we're ahead of you-- we're next." Her husband looked at me apologetically, and scolded "Honey, there's no need to be rude. This line just isn't moving at all." Apparently, it was the first time they were flying Spirit too-- and they didn't hold back on their disdain, along with most of the other passengers I encountered. A short Peruvian man ahead of me looked at me, and shook his head, "Never flying this airline again...".. I wasn't perturbed, my big day had arrived, and there was little that could upset me-- go ahead give me a crappy seat, or make me throw stuff away because my bag is overweight. My flight was a connecting flight from NY to Fort Lauderdale, and then from Fort Lauderdale to Lima. All I cared about was getting to Lima.
I finally got to the ticket counter, and the ticket agent actually smiled at me. I handed her my return ticket from Bogota, Colombia, to Orlando, FL. A Peruvian law dictates that any foreign nationals flying into Peru needs to show proof of onward travel within 90 days of entry. My ticket from Bogota was well within this time frame, I was certain there was nothing to worry about.
"Miss, this ticket states that you are leaving Colombia, I need to see proof that you are leaving Peru."
"I am leaving Peru-- obviously I have to leave Peru in order to catch my flight in Bogota in late October."
"And how are you planning on getting to Colombia?"
"Via bus"
"Well, then I need to see your bus ticket," she stated flatly.
As an employee of the airline, she was responsible for enforcing this awkwardly irrational rule. If I show up in Peru without proof that I will leave the country within 90 days, the airline is legally obliged to fly me back to the States on their dollar. This law is ridiculously irrational, because many travelers simply buy a refundable fare ticket as proof of onward travel, and cancel it once they get into the country.
I got off the line, and I tried to look around for bus tickets online-- Cruz del Sur, South America's most popular bus company, has a terrible website, and I couldn't successfully buy a ticket. I tried buying a ticket on LAN, South America's most popular airline, and this didn't work either. I tried calling various customer service agents for Expedia, Travelocity, Delta, etc. in order to buy a refundable ticket. After two hours of agonizing, I finally discovered that Expedia has a 24 hour risk-free return policy on tickets purchased over the phone. The Expedia service agent had a very thick accent, and I couldn't understand him at all, especially since I was calling from a loud LaGuardia terminal. At last, I was able to purchase the ticket, and I showed up to the ticket counter, panicking that I would miss my flight. I had the Expedia service agent on the phone ready to tell the Spirit airlines agent that I had indeed purchased my flight, but then she informed me that she needed to see "visual proof" that I had purchased the ticket. I asked the Expedia agent to email it to me, and he did so three times, but I couldn't find it at all in my email. After some more agonizing, I found that his emails had been going into my spam box. When I showed this to the Spirit airlines agent, she informed me that my flight had already left. I was ready to cry-- the flight I had been waiting for for 27 years had left.
She was able to book me on the next flight to Fort Lauderdale, which was at 9 PM, so I was in LaGuardia waiting from 10 AM to 9 PM that day. This flight arrived in Ft Lauderdale at midnight, and I had to find a place to stay overnight, since the next flight to Lima, for which I was a standby, was 5 PM the following day. I found an inexpensive hotel, close to the airport, and spent about 17 hours in Ft Lauderdale twiddling my thumbs.
The place wasn't too shabby. It's true, Florida is very similar to the the Indian state I'm from, Kerala. It's super humid, and the geckos are everywhere. The gardens outside the hotel where I ate my breakfast sullenly were certainly nice to look at. Sigh, I just want to get out of Florida.
I did catch the 5 PM flight to Lima, and now I'm finally a traveler!!!... more to come soon....
Whoo hoo! So happy you got there! Sorry about your unfortunate travels!
ReplyDeleteI'm happy you are having a great time; I guess you can't call it an adventure if you don't go through some setbacks.
ReplyDeleteI am so glad I found your blog! I'm also "desi" (from Pakistan) and flying to Peru this month via Spirit. :)
ReplyDelete