Day 1: BARCELONA - LIMA
It is 1.05 in the morning and the alarm sounds after 2 hours in which in the end we have decided to lie down for a while and at least rest although we are not able to close our eyes and sleep through the butterflies that we have in the stomach knowing that we are only a few hours from boarding the flight from Barcelona to Lima which will finally take us to one of the countries we most wanted to know: Peru.
After a coffee to clear ourselves, we just closed the backpacks, we take the car and we set off towards the Prat.
The highway is empty at this time and we reach T1 when there are still a few minutes to 4 in the morning. As in previous trips we have entrusted our car to Aparca i Vola, with the premium service, where not only will the car keep us until our return, if not that with this service you call when you are approaching the airport and come to the same door of the Teminal to pick it up, so you avoid the transfer to their parking, which is just outside the airport. At the time of collection you have to do the same procedure, call when you are collecting your bags and when you leave, you already have your car waiting for you. To us, this service adapts perfectly when the flights are at unusual hours and the time we can lose in the transfers is compensated with the increase of about 10-12 euros which is the Premium service.
As soon as you enter the airport and see the KLM check-in counters, we begin to intuit that the check in will have to be taken with ease.
The line is huge and when I ask the person who gives way, he tells me that we have to get the boarding passes at the machines, before going to counters.
I show him the ones I have printed at home and on my mobile and he keeps telling me that I have to do the paperwork on the machines. So, without wanting to argue, that we haven't slept today, I'm going straight to take out the cards again. With these I have 3 different types of boarding passes. Not bad for a flight from Barcelona to Lima.
With them already in hand, we go to the counter, they ask us for several data, they bill us a backpack for each one, when they usually put both of them to the same name and kindly ask us if we speak English.
When listening to an affirmative answer, they tell us that they are looking for people who spoke English to change them to the emergency ranks of the first Barcelona-Amsterdam flight, so without eating or drinking it, they change the seats we had assigned when we checked in online.
And we ask ourselves: if you pay the 40 euros that this seat costs, do you need to speak English? There we left it 😉
Meanwhile, in the billing queue we see a couple of families crying disconsolately because they are not allowed to climb the dogs they bring.
One of them does not stop saying that he has paid 1000 euros between consulate, transport ... so that he cannot take them now. Another woman is not allowed for not carrying the dog chip ...
After this morning "entertainment" we go straight to the boarding gate of our first flight from Barcelona to Lima, where we spent the last half-sleepy minutes before 5.40 in the morning, time to embark.
While we wait we read that there has been an earthquake with tsunami warning in Chile and Peru and after finishing informing us about the issue, it seems that it will not happen from the earthquake.
Prat airport
The flight we believe that we can confirm that we have not even noticed, since just sitting in our emergency seats we have fallen asleep as lilies, only waking up by slight turbulence and breakfast that because not to say it, it has sat us wonderfully .
We landed in Amsterdam at 8.30 in the morning and as soon as we left we remembered that the last time we were at this airport was on our trip to Indonesia, where for a delay in Barcelona we took the miracle flight, although my suitcase arrived 3 days later .
Just landed in Amsterdam
Before even looking at the boarding gate, we left at 12.30 in the second flight from Barcelona to Lima, the boarding is at 11.10, we are looking for somewhere to load energies with a good coffee, which we need more now than anything else in the world.
We found a Starbucks in the middle of the terminal, where we ordered a coffee and a cappuccino for 6.60 euros that makes us feel great.
It's nice to be in a "no man's land" like this. Rest chairs, individual tables, plugs for charging devices ... and free Wi-Fi for 1 hour from each device you connect with.
Drinking coffee at Amsterdam airport
So we spend a good time in the morning until we go to the panels and see that our flight is more than an hour late. We have to wait until 1:45 p.m.
We will have to take it easy and enjoy our first day of the trip to Peru.
And so we get 12.15 in the morning when we make our way to our new boarding gate, which we communicate not only on the screens, but also by email and SMS.
We pass the passport controls and we are surprised that we do not pass a backpack control again, until we reach our door and see the queue there. At first we are surprised, but we quickly see that it is the control of hand luggage, which is done at the same boarding gate.
We wait stoically for our turn to arrive and after 1 noon we enter the plane bound for Lima.
Once on the plane and at the time that the departure was scheduled, 13.45 and even with half a passage to board, we settled in a plane much smaller than expected, with almost invisible individual screens, which make us anticipate that this it will be a long flight ...
And so we started the second flight of the day, dreaming of Peru.
More practical information to prepare your trip to Peru
- 10 essential places to visit in Lima
- 10 essential places to visit in Peru
- 10 essential tips for traveling to Peru
- The best travel insurance for Peru
The summary of flight from Barcelona to Peru It could be something like this:
"Flight quite disastrous. Entertainment screens do not work all the way. They change a lot of seats people because of some problem of people who want to go with the children in the front. The whole plane is quite dirty. At 4 in the They haven't given their food late… Definitely, this is one of the longest flights we've ever done. "
Finally we arrive in Lima at 8 pm and just when we have to pass the passport control, the systems break down and we have to wait for the restart.
It is clear that the first day of our trip to Peru will be marked by delays, but now we take it differently, we are already in Peru, so we have the smile installed on our face no matter what.
After this delay, we collect the backpacks and before leaving we want to stop at a box office where they sell mobile cards, but we ask in tourism and apart from taking a couple of plans of Lima, they tell us that on the outside is the Claro agency that It is the one we have read has the best rates and the only one that has sim cards for iphone5 in Peru.
Picking up the backpacks in Lima
We take advantage and also stop at the exchange agency and ask how it is: 3.30, so we move on to another to compare. In the latter they give us a change of 3.50 with 3% commission. We make the accounts fast and in the latter, although they charge us some commission, being higher, we win. We change the minimum for today and tomorrow morning and we will look in the Lima center some agency with better change.
Currently and after many trips to the back we recommend, if you do not want to pay commissions when taking money from ATMs abroad and always have the current change, use the N26 card to pay and the Bnext and Revolut cards to get money in the ATMs They are the ones we use, They are free and will save you a lot.
You can find more information in this article about the best cards to travel without commissions.
Claro ticket offices at Lima airport
Upon leaving the terminal we find our name on a sign. This time seeing that we were late, we prefer to book the transfer to what will be our hotel in Lima with themselves for 70 soles.
A comfortable and safe option to make the transfer from the airport to the hotel is> booking this service in advance.
After the presentations and before leaving in search of the car, we look at Claro's phone sim cards, but they do not have for iPhone 5 and they tell us that in the Plaza San Miguel we will surely find, so we already have another thing to do tomorrow .
Another option is to choose to buy one Holafly SIM card being in Spain, with which you will have internet from the moment you land, saving you all the time of the negotiations and making the whole process to have internet much more comfortable, fast and easy.
In this case, with the Holafly SIM you will have several Gb to surf the Internet (depending on the option you choose), they will send it to you for free at home, you will keep your WhatsApp number and you will have assistance service in Spanish. You can buy your Holafly prepaid SIM card here with a 5% discount for being our reader
More information on the Holafly post, the best prepaid SIM card for travel
From the airport to Miraflores
We arrived at our hotel in Miraflores, Casa Andina Miraflores Centro, which is the area we have chosen to stay in Lima when it is almost 10 at night.
We are rendered after the flight hours and the discomfort of the plane.
We don't have a hint of hunger, so we decided that we're going to have dinner tonight and stay straight at the hotel to rest.
By the way to Lima we have not yet found any color to associate.
Day 2LIME
