Two weeks at home is ridiculous number, I probably should have flown straight from Hong Kong to Buenos Aires.  It didn’t help that I chose to fly Air Canada through SFO.  I don’t know when, if ever, the last time I flew THROUGH San Francisco.  I usually fly TO San Francisco and spend a week or three with my California friends.  The poorly shod shoemaker had no idea that a two hour layover was not a viable option, when you factored in fetching luggage, going through customs, checking the luggage back in, and changing terminal.  It’s a doable project if you order wheelchairs, because then you jump the customs line and the airline waits for you.

Do I always book wheelchairs for you, gentle clients, whether you really need them or not?  Yes, I do.  Did I book them for myself?  Don’t ask.  Close to heart attack territory, I arrived at the gate to watch the Air Canada plane to Montreal taxi away from it.  Merde, alors.

AC wanted to put me on a plane, through Toronto, that would get in after midnight, but, since I bought the ticket through United, I thought I would see what they could do.  It wasn’t a lot better, but it did get me in around ten, flying through Newark.

By the time I got home, without my luggage, I was sick as a dog, with yet another respiratory infection.  I didn’t bomb this one out with antibiotics, because you only get so many tries at that, and I am afraid I have been using mine up.  So I suffered through it with cold meds only, and my immune system does work.  It just took its time, and I slept a lot.

I never check luggage on the way out, and almost never on the way back, but I had bought a few things in HK, you see.  My “carry-on” arrived the next day, with a broken wheel.  I didn’t have time for United to replace it, because I was flying out again so soon, so I bought a new one, and, after a good few web site interactions, phone calls, etc. UAL paid me enough to cover the new one and a little more.  I’d still like to have the old one fixed but the Cordonnier downstairs, who also sells luggage, wouldn’t touch it, and the company that sold it to me isn’t answering my calls or emails.  Sigh, more landfill. And I love that little red bag.

After I recovered, I did manage a couple of dinners with my good Montreal friends, but not nearly enough.  On Tuesday, March 11, I was back in the air, on the way to Buenos Aires.

I have had a friend in Buenos Aires, for well over 10 years.  I hired her as a tour guide, lo those many years, and, as we are kindred spirits, we have kept in touch ever since.  Eilat has moved on from the tour guiding business, and now has a lovely seven-year-old daughter, named Olivia.  They were part of my plan for BA, as were my client friends on the Pole-to-Pole. 

I boarded the plane in YUL on time, pre-boarded, no less.  I had booked wheelchairs.  I do learn.  After fifteen minutes or so, we all got off again, as there was a software problem being documented.  We were assured it was fixed.  They were right and we did take off, only a little more than an hour late.  This, of course, meant a very tight connection in Sao Paolo, Brazil, where we also had to go through customs, but this time, we made it.  Wheelchairs, Helen.  I likely would have made this one without them, but they offered comfort and peace of mind.

I had booked myself into a wonderful old Grande Dame of a Hotel, the Palacio Alvear, so I could treat my ship friends and my BA friends, to the super Tea I remembered there, from 2018. It’s the Hyde Park Hotel for a third of the price.  The hotel had upgraded me and I had a fabulous suite with a Jacuzzi. Ooooo, yes. 

I just had time for a short nap, before dinner with Eilat, our private catch-up time.  She picked me up at the hotel, and took me to a pharmacy, where I stocked up on toiletries.  That’s a necessity, if you want to get through 42 days aboard, and you fly with carry on.  It didn’t take long and soon we were are at La Cabrera. 

Eilat had taken my group to La Cabrera, back in about 2012, when it was relatively new.  It has since become a popular institution. You pay for your meat and pretty much everything else comes with it.  There must have been 15 side dishes.  Since Eilat knows what she is doing, we ordered one rib steak to share and had them cut it in half, so I could have blue and she could have well done.  All of this was possible.  We ate on the terrasse, and we did catch up, until I started to digest, and it was quickly downhill from there.  I had likely been up close to 24 hours, with just a one hour nap. 

So, I got to bed early, had a wonderful night’s sleep and was ready for my tub in the late morning.  The hotel let me check out at one, and I just moved into its bar to catch up on my emails and travel work.  I liked my office:

I was in touch with everyone I needed to be, including my Volendam passengers.  Lynann had got the bright idea to use the Hop-On-Hop-Off Bus to get her here, after a nice city tour.  She arrived around four.  Tanner and Suellen Girard, had stayed overnight in the nearby Hyatt and walked over, Eilat and Olivia came in her car, and Dee and Wells came in a taxi, including his very neat, 35-lb, suitcase sized scooter. 

Tea did not disappoint.  It was great to see everyone, and Olivia had the time of her life.  She was very well behaved, and she took in all feasts, visual and culinary.  She didn’t like every single thing, but she tried it all.  Good on her. 

The Girards walked back to the Hyatt, Eilat and Olivia went home for a short night’s sleep before their Chilean adventure, and the hotel found a big taxi for the rest of us back to the Volendam.  There was no bother checking in in the evening, and no line either.  My key was in my room and I was ready for bed. 

We were docked in Buenos Aires until 5pm the next day, but I wasn’t interested in going out again, with Eilat out of town.  I was still recovering from the long flights, but not, Hallelujah, from any sort of respiratory thing, yea AvaMys.  The highlight of my day was dinner with my old table mates, the Wescotts and Lynann Barnes, and my new ones, Tanner and Suellen Girard.  They have our stewards, Dian and Amin, trained to bring crudites, and dips to start, cater to their culinary wants and needs, and make ginger tea at the end.  Just like home.  I ordered my wine package and enjoyed my first glass with roast prime rib.  With the production show team on stage after dinner, life doesn’t get much better.

I fiddled around with trying to upgrade my cabin, but it was almost as much to upgrade it as I had paid or it in the first place, so I let that go.  I like the location on the promenade deck, and I can see out just fine. 

On the Ides of March, we were in Punta del Este, Uruguay.  Wells Wescott, the Girards and I went on an Olive Oil tour and tasting.  It was just like a Wine tour and tasting, only the snacks were better.  Everybody has something for us to taste nowadays.  We came back to lasagna for dinner, at least I did, and Joseph Anthony, an Italian-American comedian, on the world stage.  The lasagna was more to my taste.

On March 16, we were at sea and I settled into my routine, which consists mostly of working in my cabin during the day and playing at night.  The Internet is good at sea now, and T-Mobile gives me free WiFi calls, so it’s pretty much as good a working environment as home.  

At 4 o’clock there was a block party to usher in the segment.  These things are fun.  You just bring a wine glass out into your hallway and your stewards pour wine into it and pass hors d’oeuvres.  It’s a great way to meet the neighbors.  Towards the end, I decked back into my cabin and grabbed the stuffed beaver I had bought for the Wescotts in YUL.  They, like me, decorate their cabin with stuffed animals, only more of them.  I thought they need a typically Canadian one.  So I sauntered through the rest of Deck 3, starboard, with the beaver in the bag from the duty free at YUL.  It happens that the lanai cabins midships are full of Canadians, even some Montrealers.  I couldn’t resist showing them what I had in the bag.  Next thing you know, I had an armload of miscellaneous wildlife in my arms and a bout five cameras pointing my way.  It dawned on me that they all wanted a picture with my beaver.  And so I said so.  And then I realized what I had just said.  Sometimes life is like that, so here’s the picture, with my beaver:

Dee made him feel very welcome and he is now living in the Pinnacle Suite, among good friends and even has his picture on the door. 

The pianist on the world stage after dinner was Pablo Bendersky and he was very good.