[Astronomy] Chile 2012 part 1 - the journey

My (2nd) grand adventure in Chile has commenced! I'm writing this from the ESO guesthouse in Santiago, after a rather eventful journey that didn't exactly set the kind of tone that I was hoping for for this trip. Still, after 36 hours of travelling I have at least arrived in one piece and with all of my luggage, which is a bonus. Expected, given that I only brought hand luggage, but still a bonus.

The ESO guesthouse in Santiago is a place of peace and tranquility.

Just what you need after travelling around the world to get there! (Credit: David Brown)

It's a long journey to get to Chile from St Andrews; it takes about 24 hours all told, with multiple flights, transfer times, and getting to and from the airports at either end. However this time I started out by making it harder for myself than it needed to be. My flight left Edinburgh at 06:00 on Monday morning, which meant getting a taxi at about 03:00 to be there the requisite 2 hours before the flight. Unfortunately I was on duty at the JGT the night before, and with the undergraduate Observational Astronomy class looking for galaxy images, I couldn't really skip out. In hindsight I should have got cover. Oh well, c'est la vie. So I spent nearly six hours at the university observatory, then went home to shower and change before setting off.

The first flight, from Edinburgh to Amsterdam, went smoothly enough. It turns out though that Amsterdam airport is rather spread out, and I had to walk what seemed like the entire length of it to get to my next flight, to Sao Paulo. Which is where it started to go wrong.

Oh oh. Something's gone a bit awry.

We were about an hour late taking off, which wasn't a huge deal as the predicted flight time was shorter than my schedule suggested, and I had 2.5 hours at Sao Paulo to transfer. But about an hour into the flight the pilot announced that there was a short circuit somewhere in the rear of the plane, as well an acrid smell in the rear galley, and that he was going to land at Charles de Gaulle to get it checked out. Then he announced that there would be emergency services standing by, which was standard procedure. Then he announced that the fuel was being dumped (doubtless to assuage the fears of those passengers looking out the window). All of it was done in a very calm manner, but there was definitely a bit of tension in the air.

After landing we waited around for at least an hour while they investigated, then were let off the plane to stretch our legs and get some food. We were promised sandwiches, but they never materialised. I spent most of the break trying to get in touch with ESO to let them know that I would be missing my connection, and trying to find out when the next flight that I could get to Santiago would be.

I'm pretty sure this is what I looked like at this point!

Eventually we were able to get back on the plane. It turned out that the problem had been a short circuit in one of the chillers, and a blocked vent on the same unit that was causing it to overheat and produce the burning smell. It had been isolated and made safe, and we finally got back on our way. I couldn't exactly work out how long we'd been delayed, but by the time we eventually landed in Sao Paulo it turned out to have been 6 hours!

KLM pulled out all of the stops though, and organised replacement tickets for all of the passengers who'd missed connections, as well as a hotel to sleep at. A gorgeous aparthotel it was too; it's a shame that I was only there long enough to get a couple of hours sleep and a shower. 

The lovely hotel room that I 'stayed' in in Sao Paulo. (Credit: David Brown)

My mood wasn't improved by my (free courtesy of KLM) taxi ride back to the airport, with what seemed to be Sao Paulo's slowest driver. Then the queue at check-in was huge, and the staff weren't exactly in a hurry. Fortunately they eventually realised that there were a lot of people in danger of missing the flight I was on, and rushed us through. The flight itself was uneventful enough, and I managed to grab some more sleep on the way.

By the time I arrived at the ESO guesthouse I'd been travelling for half as long again as originally planned, had had only a single night's worth of sleep over two days, and was rather hungry. Fortunately the ESO guesthouse is a place of peace and beauty, designed to soothe weary travellers, and boy did it work.

Tomorrow I make my way up to La Silla. It's another early start, but one step closer to actually beginning my observations. I'm rather excited, and nervous at the same time.