Paul & Libby’s World of Travel

So, I’m a little late in posting this update. I wrote it while en route back from BA, but I wasn’t able to post it in Atlanta due to a short layover. And, upon arriving in Tampa, I was busy getting caught up with work and preparing for my flight out today (which I’m now on).

As I’d expected, Emerson was perfect on the flights home. And, we arrived in Tampa early on Monday morning.

Anyway, here’s the recap of our final day.

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Wow! This was a full day for us!

We disembarked Infinity around 8am. By nine, we’d transfer via shuttle to the main terminal building, collected our luggage, went through customs, and met Fred (our driver) for a private tour of BA.

We spent the next 6 hours or so visiting most of the amazing neighborhoods in Buenos Aires. Our friends, Dick and Frank, commented after their visit on the diversity and distinctiveness of BA’s neighborhoods. How true!

I’m writing this on the red-eye flight home without the benefit of a guide book for reference… so please pardon the inevitable misspellings (I’ll try to edit / correct the post later). But here’s a brief description of how we spent our day:

We started in the elegant Recolletta neighborhood, home to one of the world’s finest necropolises (which includes the grave of Evita). Next, we visited many of country’s government buildings (the President’s Mansion–the ‘Pink House’ (Casa Rosada), the swoon worth Congress, and the imposing Supreme Court) and saw many embassies and fine mansions. We toured the city’s most elegant bookstore (located in an old theatre)–loved it! We visited Puerto Madero (where I finally found the choripan!). We then visited the colorful streets of La Boca–what a visual feast–with blocks of buildings painted in primary colors. Here was (briefly) saw a tango performance and bought some Argentine cookies from a store called ‘Havana’ (Argentina’s native / rival to Starbucks). We then traveled to MALBA (the museum in BA dedicated to Latin American–mostly modern and contemporary–art). we had lunch at the museum as well, and I bought a really cool book (though sadly, for me, entirely in Spanish) on geometric abstraction (which has a strong history in Latin America, especially as an extension of the international Concrete Art movement). After MALBA, we visited the Sunday antique market in San Telmo (BA’s oldest neighborhood)–very impressive (as are the surrounding storefronts with higher end antiques–seemingly a great place for Art Deco finds). In this neighborhood, Libby also found–shockingly (not!)–a shop that featured high-quality, handmade Argentinian purses. Needless to say, I had to figure out how to cram one of those into our luggage too!

All in all, our day in BA was perfect! Many thanks again to Fred (our ex-pat American driver)–I’ll post the link to his web site again. If you’re disembarking from a cruise in BA with a late flight home, I highly… highly… highly… recommend using Fred instead of a tour organized by the ship. With three people, it’s almost break even (but for a private–do whatever you want–tour!) when compared to the ship’s excursions. For two people, it would have been roughly $125… but again, this is for a private tour… no buses, no strangers, no wasting time seeing uninteresting / touristy crap. On a trip, time really is money. As such, Fred enabled us to see far more in our abbreviated visit, making his service a great value.

The airport was, well, and airport. The wait wasn’t too miserable (though I don’t suggest arriving too early for your flight, as check-in for your flight doesn’t open until 3ish hours before your scheduled departure time and there’s not really adequate seating in the departures hall). Delta, however, did a fine job once check-in opened, and we zipped through immigration / security due to Argentina’s “got a baby? go to the front of the line” policies. The Sky Club–actually an American Express lounge–was fairly crappy… with limited offerings and broken wifi, but at least it provided a place to comfortably feed Emerson and let her play.

Our flight–I’m writing this from somewhere over northern Argentina–departed roughly on time. Emerson was a little fussy prior to take-off (which seemed to bother Libby–I didn’t give a crap, as I consider it karma / payback given my number of miles with OABs… other angry babies). in any case, she was asleep before we were wheels up.

I’ll post some pictures of BA soon.

All in all, this has been a good–though not great–trip. Week #2 was markedly better with more cities (large and small) to explore. Also, I think this trip underscores a few facts about us, which I’ve always known yet been able to largely ignore. First, we cruise not so much because we love life aboard a cruise ship but because it’s an efficient (time/money/distance) way to visit a lot of new places (our current travel focus). Second, we are really independent travelers at heart… that is to say, we don’t generally/deeply interact with fellow guests aboard ship, and we prefer to forge ahead on our own when ashore, taking organized/group excursions only when more-or-less required (e.g., Egypt). Third, we really are unusual (and perhaps crazy) for attempting to travel with a child of Emerson’s age, as it does add stress, worry, and work to the trip. However, we’re so committed to travel that we’ll forge on with her, through the good (which is the majority) and bad (which is–thankfully–rare). With time, I’m sure it will become easier. And, in the end, I think/hope this will instill a love of travel and make her life more fulfilling/interesting, thereby paying dividends for years to come for her (and us).