The last couple of weeks have been a complete blur of moving between friend's houses (thanks so much guys!), an extra unexpected week of work (including saturday and sunday over easter weekend!), goodbye drinks and of course the most pleasurable activity ever - packing.  Getting to the airport on Sunday morning felt like a bit of a dream and it finally hit me that I was now unemployed with no work lined up whatsoever, and that I was heading to the other side of the world on my own.  Interesting...

The flight to Auckland was uneventful - which is a good thing really.

The flight from Auckland to Santiago... well... let me tell you.  You know how pretty much everyone laughs about being stuck next to some REALLY big person on a plane?  Well it's really not so funny when it happens to you.  The plane was an A340-300 which means a 2 - 4 - 2 seat configuration.  I had a window seat and nobody had sat next to me until the plane had almost finished boarding.  A really huge guy walked right past my seat and I quietly thought to myself... "phew, so glad he's not sitting next to me...".  Until he turned around and sat next to me!  Doh!  In principle I have no problem with the way people look but when half of their body is in my seat for 11 hours, I'm not hugely impressed with the situation.  Anyway, long story short, I gave up my comfy window seat so he could have two for himself and spent 11 hours wedged between 3 people in the middle section of the plane.  Good times.

After 4 movies, 2 tv shows and a few songs, I landed in Santiago and was met by both my parents just before hitting immigration.  There are some perks to being a diplomat and being able to go right into the airport, almost to the door of the plane, is one of them.  It was great seeing mum and dad after almost a year... pity my brother couldn't be here to join us this time.  Maybe next time, eh Tom?

First impressions of Santiago?

• Hot - it's a lot hotter than I thought it would be at this time of year.  I was hot in my t-shirt and jeans... 29 degrees is pretty warm with no wind.
• Dry - apparently it hasn't rained here since October last year, and it's quite obvious.  There is some greenery around but that's only because there are people paid to water the grass and trees.
• Smog - it is smoggy here.  I'd forgotten what it was like.  The Andes are right there, towering over the city, but some days you can hardly see them.  Hasn't hurt my eyes or throat... yet.
• Drivers - like to honk their horns for no real reason.
• Motorcyclists - carry lawnmowers and other ridiculously large objects on the back of their bikes.
• Men - cannot help staring at you as you walk past, or making some dodgy remark about your booty.
• Food - cheap and tasty, AUD$5 will get you a bread bun, salad, steak and veges/chips/mashed potatoes and possibly a drink or dessert too.

Since I'm over here on my own, I'll probably be spending a fair bit of time online / on MSN until I find some places to travel to.  So please say hi if you have a moment!!! :)

Hasta la proxima...