Fast forward 8 hours. I awoke pretty refreshed or as much as you could be sleeping on a plane. To give you an idea of how tired I was. There was a screaming baby in the row behind me, and I slept thru that.

Breakfast on the plane was nice and before we too long it was time to land. I don't know what I was expecting with the airport, but it was smaller than I had thought it would be. More like Tucson's airport rather than a large international hub. I made it thru passport check and customs with easy. It took a while to get my luggage and then I had a hard time finding my reserved transportion to the hotel. Some nefarious taxi companies tried to make me believe I had been abandoned, but a call to the hotel and I found the guy waiting for me. I went out the wrong exit as customs.

I'm staying at the Grand Hyatt Santiago. It's the official cruise hotel, so on Friday I'll board a bus for the 1.5 hour trip to Valpariso to meet the boat. The room is nice and has a wonderful view. After my bags arrived to my room, I took a much needed shower as my long journey was over.