I decided to write this blog for those who might be seeking a more adventurous holiday, but also that my partner, Donna and I found that when researching the country there are numerous blogs and books out there. However, they seemed geared towards either the experience of ‘backpackers’ (i.e students) or the ‘luxury’ ends of the market.

Why choose Peru?

Donna and I decided after our holiday to Jamaica last year that we would travel more extensively in the UK and overseas. In 2011 we did a combined jaunt to Somerset, Cornwall and Devon and also had a long weekend in Berlin.

For our 2012 holiday we considered Zanzibar, very exotic and different to other holidays I have but for a variety of reasons ruled it out for a January break and decided to look at South America, where the decision was narrowed down between Costa Rica and Peru. As we wanted a holiday where we were able to have an adventure, experience the culture, history, food etc., and as I am learning Spanish, following lots of research, Peru seemed to be able to offer what we were looking for.

Let me start by saying that though we had been considering Peru since last summer for a variety of reasons we did not book our flights until last November. We also planned our entire itinerary ourselves including flights (international & internal), rail travel, accommodation and excursions.

Yes, it involved a lot of research books, internet sites and blogs but we wanted a holiday specific for our needs & interests and where we could manage our budget.

During our holiday we plan to stay in the following locations;-

Lima

Arequipa

Cusco

Puno

Trujillo

and return to Lima for our flight(s) home.

Travelling to Peru

As we going to be staying at a variety of locations during our holiday, experiencing different climates, then packing a reasonable amount of appropriate clothing was important. Our cases we packed and repacked a number of times, as we monitored weather reports and finalised our itinerary, before we boarded our flight to Madrid from Heathrow airport.

Having looked at a number of permutations for flights, including their duration, stop overs – where and for how long and cost, we choose a flight from Heathrow to Madrid, with Iberia Airlines and then from Madrid to Peru. To make life easier for ourselves we checked in online on Thursday 5th January, around 24 hours before our flight at 7:30 pm on the 6th, and also booked our seats.

The first leg of our trip went smoothly, London to Madrid, however the stopover in Madrid was a little more taxing. Despite their being a lot people waiting for connecting flights in the early hours, there were at least 3 other flights in addition to our own for Peru, Madrid Airport seemed to shut down with very few places open to eat or shop.

The tannoy announcements were not particularly helpful either so you constantly had to watch the screens to see information for our flight amongst all the others to Lima with different carriers, all leaving at around the same 01:25 am. Eventually the information became clearer, my Spanish isn’t that good yet but enough to understand what was going on and we made our way to a disorganised gate 31 with lots of people waiting to board. The flight was called with passengers travelling with young children, those with mobility problems and a seat numbers 30-40 to board first. There was a long delay with no-one actually appearing to board, which then followed an announcement saying the flight was being delayed by 30 minutes, so we sat down and within a few minutes announcement calling passengers by seat numbers so pack to the queue.

During our wait we had struck up a conversation with a lone female traveller who had taken 6 month career break, which is all she could financial afford to do, and was travelling around South America eventually ending our stay in Brazil where her friend lived. This lady, I guessed was in her early 30’s and from what she said about her job advised/supported others with their career development. I would have loved to have known why she chose to take time our from her career now, but there wasnt the time to delve and be nosey.

The system of boarding that the tannoy announcement had specified didn’t actually take place as there was a free for all. Once on board I witnessed a heated discussion taking place between a woman with 4 young children and 3 stewardesses, despite my limited Spanish I could it was about seating arrangements. After about 10 minutes the woman moved the children and her belongings to another area of plane. The intended occupants took their seats and the woman returned for a forgotten item, where an exchange took place between the new occupant, a very tall blonde lady and the former. The problem being the woman & children wanted seats together and hadn’t pre-booked her seats and those who had pre-booked seemed to have chosen seats which provided them with plenty of leg room.

The eleven and a half hour flight from Madrid to Peru was tiring, in cramped conditions with some extremely inconsiderate fellow passengers and grumpy crew. Fortunately, Donna and I were so tired we were able to sleep for a significant part of the flight, or amuse ourselves watching Peter Kay’s show on Donna’s ipod, listening to and reading from kindles. The inflight entertainment seemed okay, but the food provided was not the best I have had.

Passing over the Andes mountains was the most amazing sight I have ever seen; they were spectacular and wetted my appetite for things to come, as we managed to take some pictures using our iphones. I have attached a few of the photos taken and one of our descent into Lima airport.

As the captain announced in both Spanish & English our descent into Lima airport and the usual information about fastening seat belts, taking headphones, switching off electrical items etc., a man sitting in front of us got up and went into the toilet. Bemused I then saw a member of the crew appear checking belts were fastened and noticed his absence which I assume was explained by another passenger as she went banging and shouting at toilet door. She banged and shouted for a number of minutes and as the plane started descending this man emerged from the toilet and showing no sense of urgency took his seat. She glared at him and I didn’t need to speak Spanish to know what she was thinking, it was written all over her face.

Once we’d landed passing through immigration was easy passing without incident and the immigration officer was polite and approachable, even chatting briefly by commenting on my Spanish name. Waiting for our luggage to appear on the carousel seemed to take an age, but they arrived and we queued to get through customs. Donna was slightly ahead of me and got waved through whilst I was stopped and directed to pass my luggage through the xray machine. I wasn’t surprised as this usually happens, but Donna takes it more personally on my behalf, so she came back and joined me passing her case through the machine too.

The sun was shining brilliantly as we came through the arrivals lounge and made our way to exit and our pre-booked taxi which was to take us to our hotel, Hotel Estelar Miraflores. The journey so far is all part of the adventure and experience I was seeking, and that includes the people we come into contact with.

In my next post I will describe my impressions of Lima, the Hotel Estelar Miraflores and our journey to Arequipa where we will be staying for 5/6 days.