Saturday, March 21 – transit from Buenos Aires to São Paulo

The heading above will give you a hint as to what occurred today…

The day started off with a couple pieces of good news. I awoke to an email from Copa Airlines stating that the flight from Panama to Chicago on Sunday night had been reinstated. It was kind unsettling though that the email I received immediately prior to that indicated the flight had been cancelled! I did confirm via their app and web site though that the flight was indeed a go.

I had also emailed a question yesterday to the U.S. Embassy in Buenos Aires regarding my Brazil quarantine/country departure issue. They responded this morning indicating that they have not heard of any problems with travelers leaving the country while under quarantine. I’m feeling better now!

Additionally, I received notice late last night from Air Canada that my return flights on April 4 have been canceled. This was predictable. What’s interesting is that they notified me at least 14 days prior to departure. This is significant because, as of December 15 of last year, Canada has enacted some new rules supporting travelers’ rights. One of those rules imposes significant requirements upon the airlines if they cancel a flight within 14 days of its departure. So, a smart move by Air Canada regarding the timing. (I learned this during my research of all things associated with this historic situation we are currently facing)

I’m having second thoughts about taking the flight to Panama early tomorrow morning however. I’ve been looking into the situation in that country, and have discovered the following:

• As of 11:59pm on Sunday, Panama will be halting all international flights in and out of their country. My flight to Chicago is scheduled to depart at 6:30pm on Sunday.
• All international travelers entering Panama are subject to a 14 day quarantine.

I also have concerns about the reliability of Copa Airlines at the moment. This stems from the fact that:

• My planned departure on Friday morning was postponed until Sunday morning.
• They canceled, and then reinstated, my flight to Chicago on Sunday night.
• Looking on their website, I’ve discovered that they had a flight scheduled from Panama to Chicago for this morning, and it was canceled. Likewise regarding a flight scheduled for tomorrow morning; it too has been canceled.

So, because of these issues, I started investigating alternate itineraries. My best choice looks like a LATAM Airlines flight this evening to Miami, connecting through São Paulo. I have flown LATAM several times, both last year and this year, and have found them to be very reliable. I also like the fact that we are transiting through Brazil, because they have few COVID-19 restrictions at the moment. Okay, I’m convinced. Let’s do this! Cost of one way flight to Miami: $430. Very reasonable, I think. And coincidentally, about the same amount of the credit that I’ll be receiving from Air Canada for the canceled return flights.

My flight departs at 7:30pm, and I’m leaving the hotel via taxi around 3:30pm. With the city under lockdown, there should zero traffic, so the drive will take 45 minutes, tops. Normally this would be plenty of lead time. However, we have an X-Factor: What type of checks will be taking place at the airport, and how long will they take? Hopefully I’ll make it!

We’re cruising along unimpeded on the way to the airport, when all of sudden we notice cars traveling in the wrong direction towards us on our side of the divided highway. What the…? Coming around the bend we see there is a HUGE traffic jam leading up to the entrance to the highway’s toll booths. Nooooooo! The taxi driver attempted to make a u-turn like some of the drivers we encountered, but by this time the police had blocked that maneuver. We have no choice to wait our turn in this very disorganized queue. And we’re barely moving!

Well, 45 minutes (and much stress) later, we finally make to the head of the line. It turns out they are not collecting tolls, but questioning drivers as to why they are out during the lockdown. In my case, they just asked to see my flight itinerary and we were sent on our way. I still have two hours until my departure, so hopefully crisis averted!

As I’m about to enter the departures area of the terminal, I’m stopped by a police officer asking to see my boarding pass. Only ticketed passengers are allowed into the airport. After being cleared there, I have to pass one more checkpoint before I’m allowed to enter: I’m directed to a gentleman in full hazmat gear who takes my temperature by pointing a device at my forehead. I pass this test as well! Whew! (As my friend Xavier told me, it’s a good thing they didn’t have a blood pressure requirement, because by this time mine was definitely spiking!)

I enter a pretty much empty terminal. Dropping off my bag takes no time at all. So, here we go, off to my final hurdle: Passport Control. Once again, there is no queue at all to see an agent. I present my passport. He spots my entry stamp from March 12, looks at me, and…places the exit stamp in my passport. Thank you! Would kissing you at this moment be inappropriate?!?

Sidenote: The taking of thumbprints upon Argentina entry and exit used to be a requirement. No more.

The departures area is very quiet. All the shops and restaurants are closed, except for one: Outback Steakhouse. They are providing take away sandwiches, salads, drinks and desserts. And they are doing a brisk business. Smart move Outback! I’m starving. So I grab something to eat. And, considering I have a 12 hour layover coming up, I decide to buy some extras for tomorrow as well. (This decision was made easy by the fact that I had a bunch of Argentine Pesos I needed to get rid of. The currency exchange office at the airport was closed.)

Sidenote: While waiting for my departure, I tried to cancel my Copa Airlines flights using the United Airlines app. (I booked the itinerary using my United miles). I went through all the steps to have my miles and fee refunded, and after hitting the submit button, I received a message stating an error had occurred and I must call United customer support. Right, good luck getting through! I try one more time, but to no avail. I guess I can kiss the miles and cash goodbye…

The two hour flight to São Paulo goes off without a hitch. The 737 is about half-filled and I have a row to myself.

I departed a Buenos Aires airport at 7:30pm that was pretty much on life support. I arrived at a São Paulo airport at 10:00pm that was in full party mode! All of the shops and restaurants were open and occupied. What a difference!

Sunday, March 22 – transit from São Paulo to Miami

I would normally be dreading a 12 hour layover, but in this case, I think the relief of being on the way back to the U.S. eased the pain! (By the way, I could have booked an itinerary with a shorter layover, but it would have been more expensive. Cheapness prevails!) Fortunately, I was able to find a fairly secluded area of a terminal to stretch out on a row a seats without armrests and actually get a few hours of sleep. The rest of the time I did some reading and walked laps around the terminals. Not terrible. (It turns out there is a hotel connected to one of the terminals. I could have spent my layover there, but you know, the cheap thing…)

The eight hour flight to Miami is on a wide-body triple-7. Again, pretty empty. I have a row to myself. This is a great situation for the passengers, but I feel a little bad for the airline (until I start thinking about added fees, shrinking seats and legroom, terrible customer service, etc.). I’m just thankful LATAM is still operating the route!

I have Global Entry, but in this case it was of no benefit. There were zero lines at immigration in Miami. I was expecting some type of medical check upon arrival, but there were none. Maybe that’s because we were coming from Brazil, a country not considered to be of high risk? (except in the eyes of Argentina!)

Upon arrival, I still had an uneaten grilled ham and cheese sandwich from Outback in Buenos Aires. So I declared it. Mistake! Bringing in meat products is a no-no, so I will now need to go through an agricultural inspection and likely hand over the sandwich. Prior to that though, I still have to pick up my luggage. While waiting at baggage claim I ask the security guard if I can just eat the sandwich before I leave. No problem buddy! So when I exit through the ag inspection area, I just give them the wrapper from my sandwich!

Now I need to book an airport hotel. There are plenty available, but none are operating their airport shuttles. Not a biggie. I ended up using a free night I earned from Hotels.com for the hotel and spend $7 on an uber to get there.

While still in Buenos Aires, I had looked at one-way flights from Miami to Chicago, so I knew they were outrageously cheap. I book a non-stop on American for tomorrow morning at a cost $21 (and there were multiple flights available on this day at this cost). Amazing! And again, a big thank you to American for still operating this route!

Footnote: It turns out the Copa flights to Panama and Chicago went off without a hitch. Oh well! I don’t regret the changes I made.

Monday, March 23 – transit from Miami to Madison

All the common areas in the hotel are closed, so the normally free breakfast is not available. Oh well. Another $7 uber gets me back to the airport.

The Miami airport is quiet – not as dead as Buenos Aires, but not nearly as active as São Paulo. There are a few shops and restaurants open.

The flight to Chicago is on a 737, and I continue to have a row to myself. The interesting thing is that I booked the cheapest fare, so I wasn’t allowed to choose my seat; it was automatically assigned by the airline. And they placed me in a middle seat. In a row with no other passengers! Weird!

The final leg of my journey was via a bus to the UW Madison campus, followed by a lyft to my house.

Sidenote: The area at O’Hare where I wait for the Madison bus also services the hotel shuttle buses. And I notice here, unlike in Miami, the buses are fully operational. It’s interesting to see how different policies are in place in different locations.

Costs on this final day of my journey:

• Non-stop flight from Miami to Chicago: $21
• Multi-stop bus from Chicago to Madison: $31 (which was more crowded than I expected)
• Non-stop Lyft from UW Campus to my house: $14

Trip Notes:

• These last few days of the trip had some stressful moments, no doubt. But what an interesting journey! I’m glad I was able to experience it. (Of course, I’m not sure I would be saying that if I was still stuck in a foreign country for an indefinite period! Again, a thought Xavier pointed out to me!)
• The trip was planned for a six week duration. It ended up lasting four. And I would say three out of those four weeks were very enjoyable. It was when venues starting closing and restrictions were being imposed that it became uncomfortable.
• Lessons Learned: Things were moving very fast over the last few days of the trip. Looking back, I’m not sure there is anything I would have (or could have) done differently. Well. there is one thing I should have done, and that is utilize the information provided via the web site of the U.S. Embassy in Argentina. One critical piece of information that I may have missed is the fact that all means of internal transportation within Argentina were being halted on March 20. I only heard about this because I spoke to the tour director at my hotel in Salta. However, this information was also available from the Embassy web site. Being unaware of this situation would have been devastating.
• This turned out to be a pretty inexpensive trip, with costs well under my default $200/day all-in budget.
• Steps: My average daily step count dropped precipitously over the last few days of the trip, but I still ended up averaging 14,500 per day. And when you combine my Europe and South America trips from this winter, over the 61 days I totaled 982,000 steps. (15,600 per day) Not bad! That compares to last year’s total of 1,095,000 steps over 75 days. (14,600 per day)
• Country Count: Adding the countries I toured in Europe, combined with Brazil, I have now visited 70 countries. Will I have the opportunity to see any more? The current situation seems dire, and may leave that somewhat in doubt, but I have confidence a resolution to this crisis and a return to normalcy will occur. The question is: How long will that take?
• My health situation: As I write this, I’m feeling fine. Obviously, with my traveling over the past several days, I’m probably at a higher risk than most of contracting the virus. I’m not too concerned though, as I have no underlying health issues that would precipitate a severe reaction.

Many thanks to everyone for following along on my journey. I really appreciate it. And I especially enjoyed your comments and feedback along the way. It can get a little lonely on the road, so hearing from all of you really brightened my days!

Until next time!