Sunday 1 April (aka April Fools Day) - New York to Lima, Peru (via Miami)

Actually, we did wake up on time to get a personal driver to take us to JFK. Today was a full day of travel, either sitting in an airport or on a plane.

Again, we had fun with the American air travel industry. Our flight was scheduled to depart at 12 noon. We checked in at 9am. At 11:50am, we still didn´t know whether we were on the flight, during to the quite unethical policy of airlines over here to oversell flights. Looking back at this blog, I´ve pointed out a few things that I think the Septics do wrong. This is no 1. They deserve the biggest, Glenn Ormsby / Pete McCormick-esque spray I´ve heard. For the world´s most powerful country, how airlines can implement this stupid policy is ridiculous, demeaning and stressful to all. I think I will apply the words of Darryl Kerrigan - "Tell 'em, to get stuffed!".

Yes, I haven´t flown with too many airlines. But I can confirm the Aussie ones urinate all over the Septics.

It could have been the fact that we had an international connection (and an important one) that meant we got on board, in front of 40 or so others who were on 'standby'. Even then, myself, Libe and Simone (who had no such dramas, even though she only checked in approx 10 mins before us) all sat apart. Just to rub it in, it wouldn't have been hard for the airline to put us together, given many families around our area were scattered throughout the cabin too.

The flight was a little rough too, given the plane was a big one. The captain even bounced the plane on the Miami tarmac. (I'd call him Captain Ponting, but everyone knows Ricky could never be anything but perfect, and would't have bounced the plane).

Anyway, enough of the one-eyed whingeing. If I did any more, I'd member of the Collingwood vegie patch aka cheer squad.

A 2 hr 15 min stopover was in Miami, before we jetted off to Peru. This flight went without a drama (finally!). Arriving at 9:50pm Lima time (Lima is one hour behind the US east coast), we met up with our Intrepid driver and went straight to our hostel in Miraflores, which might be the Port Melbourne of Melbourne - it's upper class (for Peru anyway, which is bordering on a third world country) and on the beach, although it's further out of the CBD than Port Melb, and isn't passionately called "The Borough" by the legendary Phil Cleary. Our initial thoughts were of how different it was to anything we'd seen before (maybe excluding Newcomb). Most of the road to Miraflores was surrounded by rundown, decrepid two-story buildings. Every house had bars on any windows to which someone could access, and many doors were preceded by a fence cage too. Many people were still on the streets, despite it being a late Sunday night. The climate felt like a sping Brisbane night - very comfortable, a little humid.