RobinsonAdventures2023

  Monday, February 13, 2023   We packed our bags and left our cute little apartment in El Calafate just before 10 am. As we travelled down the main street someone honked at us. Soon after, someone else honked at us. So I pulled over to check if there was something wrong with the car. The driver of the second car that honked also pulled over, got out of her car and ran back along the street to see us. What was going on? Well, it turned into an incredibly embarrassing situation. Jim had assumed that we would pay for our accommodation with a credit card. In a previous conversation, Jim had understood that the landlord wanted us to vacate before 10 am which we did. In fact, what she had intended was for us to meet her there at 10 am to pay our bill in cash. Fortunately, she saw us drive away … without paying … and followed us down the street. We were duly embarrassed and happy to make our payment in cash. She does not handle credit cards at all. I cannot recall any other similar i...

Monday, February 6, 2023   Well, the long awaited trip has begun. Irene O’Toole, our travelling companion, arrived at our home just after 8 am and the taxi to the airport arrived at 8:30. Bags packed, luggage loaded, we were off to the airport. We arrived in Toronto in plenty of time for our flight and got checked in with little fuss. The wheelchair agents were quite litigious in their approach and it took some time and some additional paperwork to arrange for two wheelchairs for Irene and I. With the support of our ‘pushers’ we made our way to the Air Canada lounge and enjoyed lunch before we boarded our plane.   The first leg of our journey was quite pleasant, a short flight to Miami. We had a 4 hour layover in Miami. Sadly, the lounge was closed so we found a restaurant area near our gate and enjoyed margaritas and some Mexican food while we waited. Our wheelchairs were readily available and the service provided was wonderful. The second flight was a longer one,...

Three Years of Waiting Hello to all our friends and armchair travellers. It has been a l-o-n-g three years but we are now only 48 hours from lift-off. This will be the first time we have travelled internationally since we were unceremoniously sent home from Morocco in March 2020. That was a memorable experience and we are hoping this trip will be longer and more successful. We have not even crossed the border into the USA in three years. New passports in hand ... off we go!! We fly out of Toronto on Monday, February 6 at noon. First stop is Miami for a short layover. Then a longer flight on to Santiago, Chile where we have another short layover. Final destination and actual starting point is Punta Arenas in the far south of Chile. We are planning to spend time exploring Patagonia by land and sea, travelling through the mountains of Argentina, going to the Falkland Islands, then to Montevideo in Uruguay and finishing the trip at Iguazu Falls, Brazil, before flying home from Buenos Aires...