Oh the Places You'll Go: Caracas
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There was a wedding to attend in Caracas on a Saturday night, and we had the points to cover the tickets. I know, you've heard bad things about Caracas in general, and Hugo Chávez in particular, but the bride and groom were taking care of the details, and it meant a lot to them that we were making the trip. After a morning spent at Bliss and a casual afternoon of packing, we hopped on a Continental flight to Houston.
As you may be aware if you've ever looked at a map of the Americas, Houston is not exactly en route to Caracas from NYC. In fact, given that Caracas is east of NYC, it is well out of the way. But like I said, there were points involved. So we flew to Houston. It turns out that, while Continental serves "food" on its flights (which we guiltily consumed), you can't get dinner, or much of anything to eat, at the Houston airport after 10:00 pm. This is not helpful when one's plane lands at 9:45 pm. Fortunately, the executive lounge serves free alcohol until 11:15, and stocks ample supplies of fruit, cheese and crackers. So we nibbled, and flew again.
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Except that he wasn't.
Ways I wanted to start my first experience in South America, with very limited Spanish, definitely included being met by my driver at the airport on arrival. Especially after a night on an airplane, landing at 5:15 am.
We stood about, fending off offers of rides, currency exchange, and who knows what else, waiting for the guy with the secret letters on the sign (not our names, I think for safety reasons). While I can't recommend it, the slightly tense waiting time definitely banished any remaining sleepiness. The driver eventually showed up, citing bad traffic, and we were off.
The traffic was bad, and we were stuck in a tunnel for a good 10 minutes, which didn't help our nerves. While the airport is on
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We arrived at the hotel safe and sound after about 45 minutes, and immediately crashed. The afternoon was spent by the pool, resting up for the wedding that night.
Labels: travel
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