Rio

Cuba. The adventure that keeps giving. Turns out that having visited Cuba any time after 2021 invalidates ones' ability to obtain an ESTA. What does that mean? Well it means I need to apply for an American Tourist Visa, the old fashioned way. In-person at the U.S Consulate, or U.S Embassy. I was completely unaware of this until my ESTA was denied. Which, could be problematic in the future. Regardless, the reason for applying for an ESTA was to get to South America. The furthest place in the world from Asia. Flying time takes approximately 22 hours depending where in South America you want to end up. Typical routes from Asia are through the Americas, the Middle East or round through the Pacific. Given that options one and two were effectively off the table I opted for the route via Santiago and Sydney.

I depart Hong Kong on the CX flight at 9:20 pm on Thursday 26th of March, arrive into Kingsford Smith Airport on Friday, a quick KFC two piece feed and I board the (delayed) flight to Santiago around midday on the 27th. 15 or so hours later I arrive into Santiago having missed my interconnecting flight to Rio due to previous delays. However the staff at LATAM are extremely helpful and put me on the next, albeit indirect flight (via Sao Paolo) to Rio. I eventually arrive into Rio at around 9 pm on the Friday, 27th of March. Some 30 odd hours since I left Hong Kong.

So you might ask, what are you doing in South America? How did Jen allow this? All valid questions. In conjunction with the below photos. This was a final trip before little mate. Some of my friends from LA, NY were doing a wine trip down in Mendoza, first stop Rio De Janiero. Nice long run, some sushi, a bit of sight seeing and an old fashion gay warehouse party. Not sure how I'm going to shake this jetlag.