Travel Report: 2012 LAPT Punta del Este, Arrival

After a 24-hour plus journey consisting of three flights and another 70-mile trek via shuttle van from Montevideo to Punta del Este, I’ve successfully traversed the necessary 5,000 miles or so to help cover the next stop on the Latin American Poker Tour here in Uruguay.

A little bit bumpy at times along the way, but such is to be expected. Never mind traveling from one hemisphere to another, we came all the way from summer to winter, too. But I’m not complaining, as I enjoyed some especially fortunate “run good” to make each of my flights and make it here pretty much on schedule.

Met up with tourney reporter extraordinaire Mickey Doft in Miami last night, where storms all day and night had backed up everything for everybody by an hour or so. Our late departure there made it appear highly doubtful we’d make our connection in Santiago, Chile, and in fact we landed just a few minutes after our next flight was supposed to leave.

Could tell even before getting off the plan that Chile was, well, chilly. As we disembarked, we had resigned ourselves to an extra wait in Chile, and likely another long one in Montevideo, Uruguay, since we’d be late catching that scheduled van. We were told by an airline official how we’d already been rebooked for a later flight, and so in no hurry Mickey and I decided we’d try to find that Starbucks with wi-fi we’d visited during a previous visit to the Santiago airport.

As we walked and talked, we heard an announcement in Spanish in which we recognized our original flight’s number and “Montevideo” being uttered. We also heard what sounded like a gate number, one that just so happened to be coming up on the left. Intrigued, we picked up the pace a little and were amazed to see our original flight still on the screen up above, punctuated by the words “LAST CALL.”

We walked over and could see the plane below. Sure enough it was our original flight, somehow delayed more than a half and hour. Within minutes we were aboard, and not long after that were airborne once again. Uruguayward.

All of which, as I say, ended well for your humble scribbler. In fact, later on we learned that next flight -- the later one we had thought we’d be taking -- was in fact cancelled, with the next one not leaving until something six hours later. So we were even luckier than we realized to have heard that announcement and gotten on board our original flight.

Not much to share since the last post, then, beyond pictures out plane windows. Up top is on the way to Miami, in the middle approaching Chile, and this one to the left on the way to Uruguay. Temps here are actually milder than the snow-capped mountains suggest, with highs in the 60s all week.

Pre-tourney party happening in a little while, and Day 1 tomorrow. More to come.