Six Country Transatlantic Tour

Madrid, Spain

Thu, 18 Dec 2025 15:00:00 +0100

Ciudad Santiago, Chile

Fri, 12 Dec 2025 15:00:00 -0300

Day 23. We waved goodbye to Argentina yesterday evening after our seven day visit. We have thoroughly enjoyed the hospitality of the country in both Buenos Aires and Mendoza. There is a kindness and honesty in the people of Argentina and it made us both feel very much at ease and very happy. When we were leaving the posada at Mendoza, we were both given a seemingly spontaneous hug by the duty manager. My previous visits to Argentina left me with similar feelings, and I would very much like to visit Argentina again and maybe even have an extended visit over one cold European winter. We will see. When you are that bit older, planning becomes a little trickier. We then arrived in Chile late on Friday evening after a fairly uneventful 55 minute hop over the Andes. As I mentioned previously, I thought it would be late and dark but I hadn’t thought this through properly. Next week is the shortest day in the UK. Next week is the longest day down here. So we got to see the Andes Mountains close up on our short flight because the sun was still up till late in the day. Absolutely Spectacular views. There have been a couple of notable flight incidents in the Andes in recent times, one of which happened in 1972 and was made into a movie in 1993. It was about an Uruguayan rugby team who chartered a flight from the Uruguayan air force to fly the team and its support group to Santiago in Chile. The plane made a scheduled fuel stop at Mendoza and then set off to Santiago. The pilot was inexperienced and made a fatal error and the plane hit the mountain and sheared off both wings. The plane then slid down a glacier and came to an unscheduled halt. There is a sort of “happy ending” as some of the team do survive. The film is called “Alive”. It’s a Sunday afternoon movie. The other story is from 1950s again about a small plane being involved with a crash into a glacier. They were never found. But then with the passage of time the wreckage was exposed 50 years later as the glacier moved down the mountain. (No survivors) While our short flight with LATAM was uneventful, the immigration process and agricultural control checks at Santiago airport took forever, and by the time we got to our hotel about it was 10:30 Friday evening. Our trip has gone well in all details so far, but the wheels fell of on this hotel choice. I should have noticed this sooner, when three weeks ago the booked Santiago hotel tried to charge me for our booking prior to when payment had been agreed. Then, when I tried to change the dates of the booking last week, I had further problems. So, when we arrived this evening and there were still problems with our reservation, it was clear to me we wouldn’t be staying. It’s a pity, as the hotel is a nice old art deco building of 38 rooms and in theory is the correct formula for me, but the poor and very confused reception service and noisy small rooms lets it down. We’re going to switch to a bigger and more suitable place tomorrow. We are ready for Santiago and I hope Santiago is ready for us!!! We have five full days in Chile, all unplanned as yet. Let’s go!! Day 24. It’s Domingo (Sunday) December 14 and we have very little to report. Last night we decided to go to a top rated steak place in a high end suburb of Santiago. About a 20 minute uber ride. We keep forgetting we are in a capital city that covers 250 square miles of land. It’s a big old place, but the traffic moves very well. Santiago is also home to one of the highest buildings in South America and the Santiago tower is the fifth tallest building in the southern hemisphere. I asked Steve the tallest building he had ever been up, and he thinks it was in Las Vegas where was a “version” of the Empire building in New York, at the hotel we were staying at. The Vegas version is 161m tall. The real Empire building is 443m I went up the Empire State Building in 1984 on my first trip to New York, and World Trade Centre in 1984 and 1998. In the UK, my dad took me up the GPO tower in London back in 1971 and I enjoyed lunch in the Eiffel Tower many times in the 1990s. I’ve kept my feet very much on the ground since the world trade centre attacks in 2001 but we might venture up the tower here. It was a very busy day in the city yesterday. Everyone seems to be Christmas shopping. It’s a bit weird to be looking at Christmas stuff when it’s 28c, but it’s Christmas all over the world next week. Whether it’s normal or seasonal, the main pedestrianised shopping streets were also full of craft stalls and artisan products stalls. It was heaving with people, which is a bit much for me. Sunday will be a lot quieter I expect. My first impressions of Santiago are reasonably positive. It has a big city feel about it and it’s very different to Buenos Aires. We will absorb the feel of the place over the next 24 hours and report back. Day 25. My body is running out of energy so I’ve switched to Pisco Sours this evening to give me a boost. After 26 days of travelling I’m feeling tired today. My body says stop and rest! We did our normal three mile wander this morning, but Santiago on a Sunday has a different feel to other places we have visited in the trip. Last Sunday, we were in the market at San Telmo in Buenos Aires full of tango infested energy. Today in Santiago it feels more like we are in a clinical, uninspiring concrete maze. It oozes no charm or warmth. There is no warm zesty aroma of the city. There are beautiful and classical buildings everywhere, but there is also litter, discarded furniture and graffiti wherever we look. Admittedly, we wandered into some non touristy neighbourhoods today trying to get a feel for the city and the people. We wandered out fairly quickly. Remembering back to the 1970s, General Pinochet was in charge and he was a dictator of sorts (and admired by Margaret Thatcher or maybe the other way round) and there were regular uprisings by the “youth” of the country. The graffiti all over the city reflects this last century challenge by its people and it seems that the current population continues to remain restless even though democracy was established in 1990. The geography of the country means there is a very mixed population, because of the influence of Peru in the north and Patagonia in the south and everything else in between. The country is 2,670 miles from North to South and has influences from all its neighbouring countries to the east and the indigenous population. Sundays are pretty much a closed day in Chile. Even finding a coffee shop is a challenge. Restaurants that are open, are in the main closed by 6-7pm, so we have elected to eat at our hotel. Now in my very opinion, hotels are good at providing bed and breakfast but very rarely excel in the food department. There are exceptions of course, but as a rule I don’t eat in hotels in the evening. This evening however, we have had a toasted sandwich and a cheeseburger from the Bristol Bar menu. Adequate but uninspiring and a brutal appraisal of the service levels to follow. Chile has yet to charm me! But we have time. I always want to be charmed! That is the story of my life; please charm me! Day 26. We had a very spontaneous and unplanned day on Monday. As I mentioned previously, I was feeling out of sorts yesterday and very tired. This morning, I woke late and I felt absolutely terrible, and I knew immediately it was my “annual” chest infection that had struck me down. First thought was maybe we could buy antibiotics over the counter, so Steve set off to the local farmacia. No luck; you have to get a prescription and because I’m a foreigner, it’s off to the emergency room for me. And in there are all the smiling, caring and helpful Chileans that I couldn’t find yesterday, determined to “smile” me back to health. None of the (UK) “take two paracetamol and come back in couple of weeks if you still feel bad”. No mucking about; in with a drip, a painkilling injection and three bouts of nebulising drugs and three chest X-rays. And $300 and three hours later I was good to go with prescriptions for three more drugs ($40) to get me back to normal. It wouldn’t be a holiday without a medical adventure. We had planned to go out of town today to visit a winery. I’m trying to rearrange it. After our morning adventure I have freshened up and we decided to go and see Santiago from the tallest building on the continent. It was a clear early evening, and while we couldn’t see forever, the views were spectacular. While this tower is the highest in South America it doesn’t even check in on the worlds top 100 tallest buildings but its between 100 & 120 depending on how the measurements are done. We have seen lots of different neighbourhoods in the city over the last 3 days, and and it is really difficult to pin down a comparable city to Santiago. Some of the traffic and road tunnels remind me of Paris. Some parts remind me of Spain, but not Barcelona or Madrid. Some of the downtown areas remind me of parts of London. There is a lot of heavy concrete architecture stemming back to the 70s and 80s which have a look of Birmingham about them, and a lot of new glass buildings all over the place which could be from anywhere. Lots of Chilean flags flying everywhere so lots of pride, I think. The neighbourhoods away from downtown are cleaner. Less street people, shadows and gated doorways. I’m beginning to think Santiago is unique in its makeup and maybe just an acquired taste. The cuisine here is very mixed with lots of Peruvian influences and of course Spanish and Italian. Sushi is very popular too along with ceviche. No roast beef for Steve though. We had a nice straightforward Italian meal this evening. A very fresh salad of strawberries, oranges, toasted almonds and blue cheese served on mixed leaves with a honey mustard dressing, followed by pasta, in a neighbourhood north east of the centre of the city. Horrific traffic getting there. 55 minute to cover 3 miles. But the meal was great and traffic back was easy. I’m full of medication, I feel so much better and I’ve enjoyed a tasty dinner, so life is good. Roll on tomorrow!! Day 27. On Tuesday, we got our winery tour rearranged and we have travelled out of town a 45 minute drive to a small town called Talagante. It’s another hot day with forecast to reach 35c. We arrived late morning had a walk round the town which had lots of small town charm and quirky shops. We bought some eau de toilette from a perfumeria as I spotted Quorum. I know it to be a Spanish brand which I first bought in Sitges in Spain in 1983. I also remembered that it had the identical packaging from 40 years ago. There were also two newer variants and Steve went for one of these. I asked for the original, which the assistant qualified as “the classic”. A nice way of saying the “older” version to the mature man. I feel quite classical. We had a great visit to the winery. It’s not massive but quite big and employs 300 people. It covers 46 hectares and has been in production since 1885. It was established with Spanish vines by a Spanish family. That control has passed in recent years to a Chilean family and a Colombian family. We got to taste 6 wines all of which were excellent and we were quite relaxed when we slipped into our Uber for the ride back to the city. Tuesday evening Steve suggested going back to the excellent steak house we went to on Saturday. They have two locations in Santiago so we chose the one we didn’t go to last weekend. Another lovely meal with a shared 600g sirloin and two juicy morcilla sausages. I love the juicy black pudding that comes from Spanish cuisine. Much moister than our British black pudding. We also had rustique potatoes with caramelised onions. All very nice and finished off with a cool fresh cheesecake! It’s now exactly 4 weeks ago we left home on our big adventure and it’s now time to start the process of getting home. So today Wednesday, we start those preparations. We have a flight scheduled for 5 minute before midnight this evening to take us to Madrid. A short 12 hour 30 minute glide over South America and the Atlantic Ocean to Spain. We arrive at 16:30 local time. But before that today is Steve’s day. He wants shopping. I’ll let you know how we get on. I am never a happy shopper! Day 28. It’s the end of the trip and we have just boarded the flight to Madrid. We are now taxiing for take off at 12:15am Thursday morning. We are settled in for the flight. Wednesday was Steve’s shopping day, so I followed him down to the Plaza des Armas (Parade Square). This is the main square of the city. While he shops, I people watch in the warmth of the morning. It’s calm and pleasant. The square is big and on the far side are rows of varnished wooden benches and I think it’s set up for sleeping quarters for street people. There are a lot around here, some still asleep. Others with that searching look on their faces. I do not feel unsafe but neither do I feel comfortable. It’s strange. When I was doing my planning I didn’t spend enough time researching where to stay when we were in Chile. I figured Santiago was the big city but would have an “old city colonial presence” which it really lacks. It has some nice old buildings but it’s all punctuated with brutal concrete architecture whether apartments or offices. Not very subtle. As a consequence of not doing my research properly, I chose to get a hotel downtown, rather than in the more affluent neighbourhoods where there are more upmarket shops, bars and restaurants. Downtown, where we were originally was a bit like King’s Cross in London. Not really my cup of tea. After the first hotel blunder, the second hotel was located in a similar area about 1km away (a bit like Euston) and while it was a grand old bigger hotel, it was a hotel from last century. Overstaffed but inefficient. Lots of dark wood and brass. Lots of people in uniforms. Lots of managers in suits. Very comfortable, but very faded grandeur. Service was slow but polite. You know there’s a problem when they employ two people all day just to open and close the front door for you. The place was very clean and breakfast was good. On Sunday evening we ate there, because on Sundays in Santiago most of the city closes and those restaurants that are open in the day, are closed by 6pm. So it was hospital food; correction, hotel food on Sunday. Same thing just different prices. We had a toasted sandwich and a cheeseburger which crept up the scale to nearly edible. I hate hotel food. The other thing about downtown is all the pollution, again something I didn’t consider and which has been the main contributing factor to my chest and respiratory problems this week. Today for example, the AQI (air quality index) is 70 in the pedestrian area I was in this morning. It was 90 at our hotel on the main boulevard. In Buenos Aires today it’s 24. In Oakham and Madrid it’s 30. Way too much pollution in Santiago for me I’m afraid. Steve’s gone shopping and I think he’s needing time away from me. It’s 12 days since we left the cruise ship and he’s only had me for company and I think he’s now “over maxed”. He says I sometimes prattle on too much. Which I do. I enjoy random chitchat. I’ve enjoyed speaking Spanish again and I’m pleased I can. Steve’s a bit reluctant with the Spanish on this trip which is surprising. He might be more comfortable in Lanzarote next month. He tells me I might get sectioned if I don’t be quiet in taxis etc, but hey ho, it’s holiday time. On the cruise ship we made friends, so he had loads of other people to talk to at any time of the day. More fun for him then and a bit less Max. There are loads of street vendors and gadget shops in the city and pretty much everything sold in these comes from China. The only Chilean stuff I can find is food based, wine, fruit, cakes and other alcohols. Aside from food, everything else seems to be imported. We didn’t buy much here. I try to make every part of our holiday special for both Steve and I, so to get us back to Europe on our 12.5 hour flight to Madrid, I’ve splashed out and we have business class flat bed suites to make the journey as pleasant as possible. We arrive in Madrid, local time 16:30 on Thursday afternoon. We are staying overnight in Madrid then on to London arriving lunchtime Friday. From Heathrow we head to Ely by train to join the AC Timber team for a Christmas party evening. And then home to Oakham by train on Saturday morning. Never a dull moment.

Provincia de Mendoza, Argentina

Tue, 09 Dec 2025 17:50:00 +0000

Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina

Sat, 06 Dec 2025 07:50:00 +0000

Montevideo, Uruguay

Fri, 05 Dec 2025 07:10:00 -0300

Day 15. We have arrived in Montevideo this morning about 7:30am and are now enjoying a warm day looking around the old city which is close to the port. I find the old colonial architecture of much of South America gives the cities a smell of their history and a real sense of the European roots. It has that feeling here, but some parts are rather dilapidated. It feels friendly though. Also surprisingly, there were very few outside cafes to sit and relax at and take in the atmosphere. The two we found were closed until later in the day. It has taken us six days to follow the coastline of Brazil from north of the equator to reach Uruguay and the transition from the largest country in South America to the smallest. Brazil has a population of 213m and a land area of 3.3million square miles. Uruguay in contrast has 3.5million inhabitants and covers 68,000 square miles. It’s tiny compared to Brazil. Uruguay is a new country for me. My first time to visit Uruguay and I am glad to add to my tally of countries visited during my lifetime, even though this is just a brief visit. I am also happy to be back to Spanish speaking countries for today and the remainder of the trip. Spanish and French are just so much easier for me. Even though both Steve and I have tried, I’ve just not been able to master the intricacies of the Portuguese language. (And it’s not for the want of trying after my two week blind date excursion to Sao José do Rio Preto in Brazil back in 2008. Good old “Milton no visa” RIP, and a story for an another day). We depart later today for Argentina and the end of this part of our trip. Bring on the tango dancing and the vineyards!!

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Tue, 02 Dec 2025 09:00:00 -0300

Salvador, Brazil

Sun, 30 Nov 2025 07:30:00 -0300

Ilha de Santo Antão, Cape Verde

Wed, 26 Nov 2025 06:50:00 -0100

Isla de Tenerife, Spain

Mon, 24 Nov 2025 06:40:00 +0000

Lisbon, Portugal

Fri, 21 Nov 2025 13:00:00 +0000

Day 1. And we have boarded our ship the Celebrity Equinox. Destination South America. It has been absolutely glorious to enjoy the three days in Lisbon but now we are ready to cross the Atlantic and the Equator. Our aft facing cabin will afford us spectacular views of the wake as we cross the Atlantic. And I hope some special sunsets as we cross!! In keeping with holiday traditions we have tried to visit all the bars on board on our first day. And failed. And of course being in port in Portugal it was essential that I rounded off the first day on board with some excellent Port after dinner. Very nice too. Day 2 and we should be at sea but due to a national port strike our departure is delayed until this evening. Lots of people have taken advantage of of the extra day in Lisbon to take an extra tour in and around the city. We have chosen to enjoy the warm sunshine at the Sunset Bar on deck 15 (aft) with some lunch and liquid refreshments. What a glorious day!! As the day progressed and the departure time arrives there is a sense of excitement building and all the lounges and bars are busy with upbeat people. A note about the food on board. We are very happy with all the options available to us and I have enjoyed a super grilled fish on evening 1 and very tasty pork chop on evening 2. Steve reckons the steak he has on Saturday evening was one of the best ever. Day food choices are great too. We also had the time to see a tribute act to Cher on Saturday evening. A really excellent show from Rachael Hawnt. She is touring in the UK in 2026. Definitely worth checking out. https://www.rachael-hawnt.co.uk/so-cher Day 3. And we have departed. We sailed just before midnight on Saturday 22 November and we are now heading southwest towards the Canary Islands. We are cruising at 21.6kn and the weather is fine. As it’s Sunday we’re going to try to take it very easy today. It’s been a very boisterous three days. We have met a number of interesting people here on the ship and aside from some very loudmouth types who want to regale you with tales of their two hundred cruises to everywhere, it is generally a nice mixed bunch. Quite a few Scots on board, certainly more than I expected. Earlier today we were chatting to a young Mexican guy who is an illusionist/mentallist who is performing in the theatre on board this week. Direct from Las Vegas. He seemed interesting so there will be an update after the show on Thursday. I hope he doesn’t pick either Steve or I on Thursday as it could be one challenge too many. This evening it was very busy in the restaurant so we chose to eat a bit later. Still very good and a calmer environment for us. I enjoyed 2 thick juicy lamb t-bone chops and Steve had a tasty chicken curry. The staff are very good and attentive.

Lisbon

Wed, 19 Nov 2025 17:40:00 +0000

It’s Day -2. Two days before the voyage so it begins. We have arrived in Lisbon and are superbly prepared for the next five weeks!! We have a super super comfortable hotel in the Barrio Alto ideally located for city exploration. Day -1. We have had a great time exploring the neighbourhoods of Lisbon and enjoying the superb food and drink that Lisbon has to offer. Definitely a place to revisit next year. Maybe springtime.