Our travel to Peru

Ok, we are crazy to plan this trip over such a short amount of time.  Here's the time line for our travel to Peru:

Josh picked me up from school early at 3:30pm.  We drove to Linze and Joshy's house by 4pm.  We loaded our car and headed for San Franscisco.

If anyone knows where Portland is in relation to San Franscisco, it is a nice long car ride.  We arrived to the airport at 2:30 in the morning.  Of course, we did not know if the airport would even be open (which it wasn't).  So we parked our car at a park-n-ride and rode to the airport.  Once there, we realized that the counters weren't open, neither was security.  So, we hunkered down in some very uncomfortable seats and waited/tried to sleep.  It was a long, uncomfortable wait until 5am.  We checked in and headed to the terminal to wait until our flight at 9:25am.

Our flight landed at 10:55am in L.A., we had to go to the international terminal.  The L.A. airport is a real hell-hole and under construction, so instead of going to the international terminal via a tunnel or escalator, we headed outside and through a very long line for inspection.  Then, it was hurry up and wait for our 1:50pm flight to Lima.  

As I said, LAX is a horrible airport and there was only 1 store in the whole international terminal, it was expensive, and the food was terrible.  Anyway, we boarded on time and were off to Lima, Peru.  

The flight was pretty nice because each of our seats had a t.v. screen and you could chose any movie, tv show, or game to play for free.  So, of course, instead of trying to sleep, I mostly chose to watch movies and listen to music.  Joshy, Josh, and Linze were able to get some sleep, but I only got maybe an hour.

Unfortunately, we arrived in Lima early!  Just before midnight, instead of 12:25.  It might not sound like a big deal, but when you have already been awake for over 24 hours, any additional minutes of possible sleep (even if on a plane) is desired over waiting in a closed airport.

Turns out, the Lima airport is awake a kicking 24 hours a day.  We found a food court just outside customs where we had to wait until our flight was posted on the bulletin board outside the gate.  So, we were waiting until 2AM in the food court.  Joshy decided to try and sleep on the uncomfortable chairs all lined up in a row (see the picture).  We enjoyed the food choices:  Papa John's pizza, Dunken Doughnuts, and Mc Donald's.  Instead, we indulged in gelato and Peruvian beer.  (it is our vacation afterall)

We were able to get into the terminal just after 2, so we found some pretty comfortable seats and I finally got a few hours of very interrupted sleep.  Every 10 minutes or so, the intercom would bing and a very loud voice would announce a flight that was taking place in a different terminal in at least 2 languages.  It was very annoying, but at least we were able to fully lie down and sleep in between bings.

Our flight to Cuzco was at 5:50am, but of course it was delayed...So we actually didn't leave until 6:30.  We arrived just after 8am and were picked up by the company we  booked our travel with.  This was the offical start to day 1 in Peru.

Peru - Day 1