The thing about travel is that there are so many components and variables that make up a trip, inevitably, you’re going to have some mishaps. It’s easy to let these things frustrate you, but it’s far better to just roll with it, adjust your expectations and move on. Of course, there are times when those mishaps are major and you must respond accordingly, but it’s best to pick your battles and enjoy the ride whenever possible.
Minor Mishap # 1: I arrived at the hotel in Santiago and opened my luggage to find the laundry detergent I so skillfully packed had fully saturated my toiletry bag and seeped out onto my clothes. This was a problem for a few reasons. First, I can no longer do laundry in the hotel sink as planned, and I don’t have enough clean clothes to last the duration of the trip. Second, I only brought one pair of jeans which are now full of enough detergent for three loads of laundry. Sigh. Adjust. Soak the jeans in the tub, wear something else for now, and find a laundromat. Problem solved.
Minor mishap #2: Today was a somewhat challenging transport day. We were up at 4:30 a.m. to catch a morning flight south, but due to a tunnel closure, we were quite late to the airport. Miraculously, with a little persistence from our guide, we managed to board our plane just in time, with less then ten minutes until take off. Whew!
Our relief of making our flight was short lived, however, as an overhead announcement explained that, due to the unpredictable weather in Patagonia, we were unable to land in the region. The plane had to turn around and land at a small airport to wait out the weather.
Now, this announcement was only made in Spanish, so it is very fortunate that we had a translator to explain the delay to us. Otherwise, the lot of us English speakers would have obliviously exited the airport when we landed, completely unaware that we had not arrived at our intended destination!
Sigh. Adjust. Be thankful you have a guide to keep you updated. Chat with your tourmates over a cup of almost palatable coffee until the weather clears, re-board the plane, and continue on to one of the most beautiful regions of the world.
Somewhere over Chile