It wasn't sanitised at all
Am in New Zealand at present about to board to Sydney
Be back in God's country soon enough
It wasn't sanitised at all
Am in New Zealand at present about to board to Sydney
Be back in God's country soon enough
Safe last leg MFKS - welcome back
For Militia
Proudly sponsored by Tooheys New FOR THE LOVE OF KALE
Got up Tuesday 14th July 2014 at 9:00am. No visit straight to the Café Con Piernas today as I have other stuff to deal with first.
First up today was a visit to the suburb of San Diego about 3-4km away from my apartment. Being it was a bit out of the way from the metro I headed off on foot.
Found my way to the shop I wanted to go to. The place was a Chilean Gaucho (Cowboy) shop. My father had seen a show on Chile and had taped it for me.
In the show the Chilean gauchos were wearing these hats. Basically the things are like an Akubra but have a massive brim on them. My old man was pretty impressed with them and had asked me to pick him one up.
I thought they would be pretty common but they weren’t easy to find. Had been looking everywhere but had seen none for sale. I basically had to go to a special store to get the things after searching the net for where to go.
Anyway headed in to the Santiago equivalent of Airds except it isn’t a big white building or in the middle of butt **** nowhere. Picked one of the things up for CLP $30000
Headed back to the apartment to get rid of the thing as it was quite big and bulky. Basically the box it came in was just wide enough to squeeze into the suitcase.
Once that was done headed off to the barber. Got the ears lowered. Hadn’t had a haircut since being here and though I had better take advantage of the cheapness whilst here. CLP $3000 just over $5Aud for the job done.
After this headed off for a coffee. Visited the Café Con Piernas for a half drunk expresso before departing. We will leave it at that
After this went and visited an art gallery for an hour then headed to the Central Mercado again for some late lunch/ early dinner. The food was that good had to go back again
Got the garlic calamari as an entrée. The plate was full 5 inches high. I had eaten plenty and still had my main to arrive of Chilean Sea Bass with side serve of fries and rice. I didn’t even get close to finishing it. Bill came in at CLP$16500
Headed back to the apartment to get the washing done. Had that much clothes to wash I barely had anything clean to wear. Add in that I would rather not spend a day washing when I get home nor do I want a pile of souvenirs soiled with the odour of dirty clothes jammed against them in the suitcase for the trip home.
Wasn’t able to wash earlier as I had NFI where the things were. As the apartment was private complex none of the locals spoke Ingles and I had to contact the bloke I rented the apartment off to find out where they were when my search of the complex had failed.
The machines used CLP$100and CLP $500 coins only and I had a hard time rustling up enough of them for the CLP$1200 to operate the machine. Needed to do 2 lots of washing and 2sessions in the dryer so needed CLP$4800 in shrapnel.
Had to go down to reception and harass passers-by for their change. Ended up getting enough shrapnel organised eventually.
Washing done pre packed the suitcase
Spent the night in watching the idiot box and on the internet. Finally the TV antenna issues had been resolved and the antenna issue had been resolved. Ended up hitting the hay about midnight.
Found it a bit hard to get to sleep as someone else in the apartment was having a loud late night and **** did that noise travel
For Militia
Proudly sponsored by Tooheys New FOR THE LOVE OF KALE
Got up Wednesday 16th July 2014 at 08:00am. Being that tonight I was flying home got up and straightened a few things up. Done the dishes swept the floor and just tidied up any mess I had made to the apartment.
Had the luggage neatly lined up ready to go and had a change of clothes laid out with the toiletry bag.
The bloke who had rented me the place had agreed to let us stay until 8pm for nothing so the plan was to head out to 6:30pm and wear myself out before coming back to have a shower before the arduous trip home.
Well after straightening things up headed out just after 9am into an overcast Chilean day to see a huge spanner thrown in my plans. Basically Santiago was a ghost town. Bit confused as to what was going on and thought maybe they have a half day Wednesday or something.
No Coffee today either. Trust me I checked
Went for a stroll for a couple of hours down to El Golf. Turns out it was actually an obscure public holiday for religious reasons. Basically **** all opened.
Ended up at a shopping centre and strolled around it for a couple of hours. Santiago I must say offers pretty good value for clothes. Could have bought heaps at pretty low prices but picked up 2 jumpers for CLP$10000 for the pair when in Australia you would most likely pay $50-$100each.
Then headed down to Hard Rock Café Santiago for lunch. Ordered hamburger. Had to send it back. The thing was a little rare on the inside to say the least. I don’t mind steak a little pink but hamburger patties are another matter.
Ended up jumping the train back to apartment and headed off in the direction I hadn’t been before. Still little open but did have a good look see.
Ended back near the apartment about 4pm and went for a stroll through the Centro shopping area. Few stores open and a lot of impromptu street stalls about. Wandered around for a bit before heading back to apartment at 6pm.
Jumped in shower and through the idiot box on and caught the backend of a Peruvian League fixture live.
Standard was iffy to say the least the blokes have skill and touch but there is no midfield defensive pressure at all. Basically one team coughs it up around the penalty box and the other team waltzes through the middle over half way to 30yards out without anyone trying to make a tackler anything.
Anyway the time came to get going so grabbed the gear left the apartment keys on the table with a gift of a bottle of scotch for the free day’s accommodation as it saved me a few issues and headed out to the main street to hail a taxi.
Now was fortunate to find a few empty and waiting. The unfortunate thing was the bloke driving it.
Barely understood a word I said and for a fair portion of the trip wasn’t certain he was even taking me to the airport.
Did notice on the way though I had actually been staying 2blocks from a strip club which I had failed to notice and also the number of Café Con Piernas increased the further away from Centro you got.
Anyway onto the cabbie. Bloke insisted on talking in Spanish and asking me questions. Why I have NFI but you think he would have got the hint on the 4-5 occasions I answered and obviously had NFI.
Add in the bloke must have been 70years old. His driving technique was a disgrace. Foot on accelerator then foot on brake repeat adnauseum.
Then had the audacity to honk the bus in front for going too slow despite their being 3 other available lanes to overtake it.
To top matters off I nearly never made it to the airport.
The cabbie after driving at 60km in a 120km freeway zone showed signs he was unsure where he was going or had eyesight issues.
The sign to take the exit for the airport had been pretty regularly sign posted for a few kilometres now.
When it got time to take it the cabbie decided to take it really late in that we were nearly past it before he decided to take it.
Being we were only doing 60km wasn’t that dangerous to take it so late except for the cabbie then having a spell of indecisiveness and coming to a complete stop half way the freeway and half way on the off ramp.
Basically I just closed my eyes and hoped for the best. A few cars magically avoided the stationary taxi in a 120km zone.
**** me.
Gave the bloke CLP$20000 and even told the old bloke to retire and get his eyes tested and called him a stupid old fart. He had NFI what I had said and grinned and thanked me for the tip.
Headed in and was approached by the airline to fly tomorrow. Offer was a night in first class accommodation and US$700 in cash. Tempted but have to go to work Monday and getting home Friday is cutting it fine with the time zone changes as it is.
Why didn’t I get an offer like this on one of the other umpteen flights I had that would have been easy to take up?
Checked in and headed into rid myself of the remaining Chilean Pesos. Bought a couple of t shirts a jumper for my mother.
Had just a little left. Wandered round but was unable to go to Subway or a restaurant as I was a few hundred pesos short of their cheapest items. Ended up buying ä couple of chocolate bars and some water.
On the way to the plane we were stopped by Chilean Customs doing bag searches. The bastards were confiscating peoples drinks that were bought beyond security and binning them. Why **** knows but the security at airports across the globe is a ****ing joke with no uniform consistency and double standards everywhere.
As I had the 1 litre bottle of water decided to put it in my pocket. Got through. So **** them dumb ****s
Boarded the plane and was delighted to find ourselves still on the tarmac nearly 1 hour after scheduled departure.
Reason for this is someone had to get off the plane for some reason. Basically 200people inconvenienced for an hour as they had to search for his bags under the plane.
What made it even more irritating was the inane jingle being played repeatedly as we awaited departure.
The last thing you need with a 13-14hour flight is an more time on the plane and even worse it was totally avoidable.
I was ready to sleep when I got on the plane but due to the inane music and the delayed departure my blood was boiling.
For Militia
Proudly sponsored by Tooheys New FOR THE LOVE OF KALE
Well the plane took off just after 00:20am Thursday 17th July 2014 Chilean time 1 hour after scheduled departure. In the lead up to the World Cup heard nothing but horror stories about airlines in South America and punctuality.
By and large most have been pretty good. LAN though have ****ed up nearly everything I have had with them. One hour late departure in Sydney. Mad dash through the airport in Santiago to get to Montevideo. Cancelled my flight from Buenos Aires to Puerto Iguazu and left me to wait in the airport for nearly another 2 hours. Now this.
Today besides being a 13.5 hour flight to Auckland NZ a 3.5 hour flight to Sydney and a train ride home would be a little bizarre.
Firstly Thursday the 17th July will be a pretty short day for me as at no stage during the day will the clock advance past the first few hours as we are flying basically across a time zone each hour.
By the time we arrive in NZ it will actually be Friday 18th July
Secondly that basically until we get close to Sydney the entire travel period will be in the dark as we are just continually flying into the night somewhere
Anyway after the frustration of the delay subsided and I calmed down enough to relax it got to about 1am Chilean time and I was just about to nod off when I was whacked by the drinks cart bringing around meals.
Why in ****s name we needed to eat at this time is beyond me but basically being at the mercy of LAN for the next 14 hours grabbed the Ravioli and tucked in.
The other choice Salmon did appeal but picking the bones out of fish in a poorly lit air plane cabin at 1am and your tired didn’t seem like a fun thing to do.
Food eaten headed to the bath room to empty the tanks and not long after about 2am Chilean time the lights dimmed for sleep time. Grabbed about 5 hours over 2 naps and woke up with about 6hours of flight left
Watched a movie called the Monument Men where some blokes joined the military in WW2 to basically try and salvage as much art from being stolen and destroyed by Alemania and Adolf
Actually was a true story.
Followed it up with another true story called Rob the Mob about a young New York couple madly in love going bonnie and clyde and robbing Mafiosi social clubs in New York in the early 90s
At the time the notorious John Gotti was on trial so the mafia were a bit more reluctant to take care of them.
About 90 mins before landing in New Zealand breakfast was served and got the omelette
Not long later we were touching down in New Zealand and had about an hour to kill before re boarding. Grabbed a drink and had a chat to some Aussie football hoolies on their way home also and swapped stories.
Did log on to the net and the thing that did catch my eye was the story of a Malaysian Airlines plane crashing whilst we were in the air. Thought I would keep the news to myself so as not to cause panic but a bit of a sobering thought when you have just been on a plane and about to get on another.
Reboarded the plane and at 06:30 we were whizzing down the runway bound for Australia. Settled in by watching What Happens in Vegas until the thing packed it in about 20 mins before the end.
After this filled the time in watching World Cup highlights that I noticed the bloke in front was watching. Despite going to the World Cup I did actually miss seeing a number of games highlights etc.
Due to media access laws Aussie websites video was not able to be played and unless I actually watched the game on TV finding highlights were hard particularly if you were in a bar or drinking
Not too much later and the great land of Australia came into view. Pilot took us on the scenic route out to Campbelltown Canberra Wollongong before landing. Wasn't impressed
Another 20minute wait in the middle of the airport as we waited for somewhere to park. Maybe if LAN actually kept to their schedule this wouldn’t occur??? Just what you need after a long period of travel needless delays.
Anyway finally got off and put my feet back on Australia at 8:30am Friday 18th July.
Was greeted by some wanker telling me to take my jumper off as this was sharks territory. The look on my face could kill when I pointed out to the dumb **** that I wasn’t wearing a knight’s jumper but in fact a jets jumper.
Bloke then proceeded to welcome me home and told me I will need to get use to the Aussie sense of humour.
All I knew is the first Aussie I seen was a dumb **** who thinks any **** wearing a Jets jumper supports a game that is so small time the players molest dogs and passing in their own mouths to make the news.
Straight into the Duty Free and loaded up on Johnny Walker Double Black and a bottle of Wild Turkey I have to pony up for a favour someone done for me whilst away.
Have some new you beaut thing at the airport now where you self-scan your passport answer a couple of questions. I obviously answered well as it gave me a ticket that made me bypass the line quickly.
Head up put your ticket in the machine it takes a photo of you and then you walk out to the baggage claim section.
Here I was hit up by the Customs Official for my Re Entry into Australia form. Had a bit of a chat to her and answered her questions. Totally forgot about the timber products I had in my bag when answering that question!!!
Anyway she stamped my form I kept walking handed the re entry form and the ticket in to the next customs official. Then walked past lassie and co. No barking from the pooches and I walked out.
Where the **** was the media scrum or ticker tape parade FFS???
Seriously there was no **** there to interview me no groupie sluts or any **** holding a sign up with my name on it
Hit the ATM and got some red backs and jumped the train to Central. Getting to the airport from Central was fun with 2 bags but now doing it with 3 was a ****ing nightmare. Finally got there on the train and off at Central.
Grabbed a couple of drinks. **** me 7weeks without a Mother and my oh my was the taste good. Must be filled with crack or something.
Jumped the 10:15am train to Newsy and scored well as we were doing the minimum stops so get home quicker. Took up 4seats with all my gear but I am not moving the shit for no RBB or gypo scum.
Made it back to Newy at 12:45pm and jumped a taxi to the Kotara South abode. Plans for today include a shower a visit to a pie shop and staying up long enough to not fall asleep until it gets dark
All I can say is it was farking awesome. I will be starting to look into Russia 2018 in the next few weeks and may I suggest you blokes start saving and get your arse to the World Cup. I cannot express how great it actually is
Superb thread MFKS. May as well give you the award now for best of the year.
Not sure how I feel about pumping tourist cash into a backwards Russia, but I'd be lying if I said your reports haven't got me thinking about it
Glad your home safe MFKS. Catch up at the tenzo before the FFA cup game?
Originally Posted by benfathers45
Mangoes? You should try eating it first before you hate it. I'm sure after you have tasted it, you will love it.
Bravo MK.
Feel like i was there as well.
Some of your fam asked how you are going, i sent them a link, hope thats cool. hk
Great read a contribution to to forum member. Sounds like enjoyed yourself. Well done!
They can't wait to hear from about the Café Con Piernas from the member in person.
Wow. The incline on the stadium looks so steep.
Whose that?
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