Home! The disappointing flight home wth Air Canada!

Mary and I arrived home yesterday after a long journey home.  Mine was a bit longer, of course, because I had to head to Victoria from Toronto (2 extra flights!)  It is nice to be home.  It's a bit colder here and I have to wear many more layers of clothing (and socks!) but it's good to se my cats and sleep in my bed.

We were upgraded to Executive Class with Air Canada again for our flight from Buenos Aires to Santiago and then from Santiago to Toronto.  We were really excited because our flights out were so great!  The service was fantastic, the food was good, we were able to sleep and it was the first time Mary had experienced it.

It was all very different on the way home...

The first flight from BA to Santiago was only 2 hours, but the crew was very snippy and rude to everyone.  We figured that they must be very tired and hoped that there would be a crew change in Chile.  There was a crew change!  We really hoped that this would be a good thing.  It wasn't...

Immediately, we could see that things were only going to be worse.  We were barely welcomed onto the plane when they were snippy with us because none of us had received our headset ear covers or our Air Canada packages with eye masks, earplugs etc.  For some reason, this made them angry at us?  Interesting...

Then one of the male flight attendants came to take our dinner orders.  I mentioned to Mary that I wanted the fish this time.  I heard him tell the man in front of me that they were already out of fish.  So I said - "I heard that you are already out of fish, is that right?  Too bad."  He got so defensive immediately and went on about how he is not responsible for the number of fish dishes and allotment they get etc etc.  Totally surprising and unprofessional - to say the least.  Mary decided to try to lighten the mood and said. "Who ate all the fish?" with a huge friendly smile on her face.  He launched into his defensive monlogue again.  So Mary said, "They only give you 8 servings?" - trying to give him a scapegoat - somewhere he could focus his anger, because it certainly shouldn't have been at us!  Who the hell gets angry about this anyway?  It's a simple routine question that you are going to get from people as an airline flight attendant in Executive Class when you hand them a menu and ask them to choose. 
Anyway, he turned away and started taking someone else's order.

So Mary said to me, "I guess I have lost my charm."  We were both just trying to lighten the mood and to make him feel better and to let him know that we were on his side.  So I said to her, "No, you haven't at all - he just has no sense of humour."  He turns to me and says, "Is there a problem here?"  and I said "No." Then he said, "I have the sense that you're talking about me."  Then I said, "No, you just seem upset."  So he said, "I just don't appreciate you talking about me.  Do we have a problem here because if we do, we are still at the gate..?"

We could not believe it!  He was actually threatening to kick us off the plane.  Because I said to Mary that he did not have a sense of humour,  Because he was a rude and unprofessional asshole to us from the moment we stepped on the plane.  As if he has the power to mkae that decision!  I actually also saw him telling the rest of the front end crew about it.  Other passengers around us started commenting on how awful Air Canada and their service has become again after a few years of good service.  It sure seems that way! 

Nice start to a 10+ hour long flight!

I talked to the Head flight crew attendant about it and she was nice, but not very helpful or professional about it.  She was overly nice to Mary and I - in that syrupy, uncomfortable way - but not one other crew member ever talked to us.  For 10 hours!  She said that I should just chalk it up to a full moon.  Nice.  Very professional.

It wasn't the best experience, for sure, but at least we were comfortable, could sleep and had food.  It was still much better than being in Economy for that long.

I am Elite with Air Canada and even with all of that travelling I do, I have rarely had a bad experience so I was very surprised. Maybe all of the Air Canada haters and critics are right?  Maybe I have just been lucky in the past?

All that really matters, I guess, is that we are home safe and sound. 

Gaucho Tour and Adios Buenos Aires!

Today was our last full day in Buenos Aires.  We booked a tour to a ranch about an hour outside of the city.  The 'Gaucho' tour.  We were picked up in Recoleta and took the bus with about 10 others to the ranch.  It was so beautiful and really nice to be away from the city for a while.  Other tour groups kept pouring in so there were a lot of us there for the day.

We had a few options of things to do when we arrived.  We could ride the horses, go on a wagon ride, tour the old house or just wander the grounds.  There was a huge line-up for the horseback-riding, so we opted for the wagon ride.  It was pretty low-key but fun.

This gaucho was nicknamed "The Kissing Gaucho".  And for very good reason!  He would find any reason or excuse to kiss the women.  It was pretty funny!

Then we toured the old ranch house.  It was quite nice.

The lunch was amazing - as is all of the food here.  It was an Argentinean parrilla, or BBQ.  We had beef and sausage and chicken and salad and bread and beer and wine and anything that we wanted!  Fantastic!  Then there was a show.  Music and tango and other dancing.

Look at these chairs made out of bone!  Very cool!

After the show we went outside again for a gaucho rodeo!  It was pretty amazing!  The horses were beautiful!

And then we headed back to the city.  It was a great way to spend our last day in Argentina!  We would highly recommend it.

We just finished packing and are spending our last night in our Palermo Viejo apartment.  We have a crazy journey ahead of us.  We don't get home until Friday!  We had a wonderful time but look forward to getting home too.  Thanks for following us!

La Cabrera - Act II

Tonight was our last meal out in Buenos Aires.  We had to go back to La Cabrera.  It was just so good.  We have to get up early tomorrow for a gaucho tour that we have booked, so we went to Happy Hour again.  We showed up at the location that we went to last time and they told us that they were not doing Happy Hour tonight so we would have to go to their other location - less than half a block away! 

It was a different experience for a number of reasons - mostly our waiter was not the best - but the food was still great.  We couldn't resist the 600 gram rib eye.  Fantastic!

I know that people have commented on the fact that I am only posting about eating and drinking :), but it's really just that good!  Everything is great here and cheap!

I put my hand in the photo for comparison.  Wow!

Anyway, we have to head off to bed.  Early morning for us - and our last day!

42 degrees celsius today..!

Seriously.  I am not sure if I have ever felt heat like this!  It is like walking around in a sauna all day.  Thankfully we have air-conditioning!

Feria San Telmo and La Cabrera in Palermo

What a great day!  We took the subte down to the Sunday market in San Telmo again.  This time we made it all the way to Plaza Dorrego - where it all began.  There are so many antiques in that part of the market.

Unfortunately, there is a Starbucks right in the middle of all of this history and art.

We fell in love with these beautiful antique seltzer bottles.

There is so much to see here.

What we were really looking forward to today was our dinner.  We had done some research about the best steaks in Buenos Aires.  Although there are many opinions online, La Cabrera in Palermo us right around the corner from us and had many great reviews (Cabrera 5127 at Thames).  We also discovered that from 7-8 pm (this is VERY early in BA for dinner) it is Happy Hour at La Cabrera.  This means 1/2 price on all of their food and drinks - on their entire menu!  Great deal.  We also hadn't eaten much so we headed out not long after 7 pm.

We were not disappointed! 

We took note from the reviews, and from the menu, that we should share a steak as their portions are huge.  We ordered a 600 gram rib eye steak, a huge salad and a great bottle of malbec.

Seriously!  Look at the size of that steak!  And the waiter split it in half with a spoon!  He didn't even need to use a knife!

It was fantastic!  The salad was great and the wine...well, the wine here is always wonderful.  We would highly recommend La Cabrera to anyone looking for a great steak in Buenos Aires.  We actually plan to get back there before our trip is over!  The atmosphere was great, the waiters were very professional and nice and you can't beat the price for such great food.

We took a walk around Plaza Serrano and the market and then headed home.  A great night!

Palermo Viejo, Palermo Soho and Palermo Hollywood