Li Ling – Dec 11th:
Flying from SFO to Chile, getting one step closer to the cruise! Today was absolutely the longest day in my life… At SFO time (GMT-8) around 14.00, we boarded the chartered flight which departed at 14.45 towards DFW airport at Texas. Three hours later we were at Texas for transit, though not in the normal sense. Since the entire plan only contain USAP participants that are going to Punta Arenas, the flight stopped at DFW for fuel refill, food restocking and crew change, but the passengers stayed onboard. Surely an interesting and unique experience! The transit time in Texas was three hours, then we flew straight from Texas to Punta Arenas in Chile, which took ~13h. We arrived at Punta Arenas airport ~15.00 on Dec 12. But the journey didn’t end here. Our quarantine hotel is located in Puerto Natales, which is a 3h bus ride away 🚍️. I’m sure most people fell asleep during the bus ride 😴. Actual checking in happened Dec 12 ~20.00 Chilean time (GMT-3). All in all, the journey took ~24h. But I do have to admit that Chile is soooo BEAUTIFUL!!! And the view from the hotel is amazing!
Some cool landscape that we flew past from SFO to Texas:
My hotel room in Natales at 20.00 on the check-in day