Bogotá Part Two: Getting There

Leaving DC

Saturday—departure day—arrived.  We finished packing, had breakfast, and headed off to the airport for our adventure.  Taxiing to the airport in a Virginia cab is so much easier than using a DC cab.  The drivers are always nice, competent, and don’t try to cheat their riders.  And, it’s cheaper because the Arlington cabs don’t add-on extra fees for fuel, bags, and so on.  But, I digress.

We arrived at National at about eleven, finding it almost empty.  We hung out in the SkyClub for about twenty minutes before going to board.  Boarding was uneventful.  We were on a Boeing 757 and they boarded through the second door, which meant that we turned left for First class.  It’s nice because the rest of the plane isn’t filing past during boarding.  Boarding complete, doors closed, we pushed back and were soon airborne for an uneventful flight.

The view from the SkyClub

Changing Planes In Atlanta

In Atlanta, we had a quick lunch at Café Intermetzo, which was okay but not spectacular.  Then, we got the Plane Train down to ATL’s new terminal and concourse, F.  There’s also a new SkyClub there that we checked out.

Boarding time came and we arrived at the gate just as boarding was about to commence.  The gate agent had a Columbian accent and sounded just like the gal on Modern Family.  Every time she spoke we got a laugh out of how close the accent and voice tone was.

The Flight To Bogotá

The flight to Bogotá was also on a 757.  We also managed an upgrade on that leg, which was nice.  Usually in F on Delta choice of drink is offered; on this flight the pre-departure offering was water, juice, or sparkling wine. 

For dinner on the plane we ordered the South Asian meal, which was noodles, rice, and vegetables.  It wasn’t bad.  The service was generally good and it was a pretty pleasant flight.

The most interesting part of the flight was seeing the Florida Keys and Cuba from the window, and dramatic thunderstorms.  Just before landing, we could see some pretty spectacular thunderstorms not too distant.  Luckily we were unaffected by them.  They gave quite a show.

The Florida Keys

Caribbean Clouds

Islands

Arrival Into Bogotá & The Harrowing Ride Into The City

Getting through immigration was really no problem at all and my agent even greeted me with a very friendly “Welcome to my country.”  We hadn’t checked any bags, so there was no need to wait for them to come up.  We breezed through customs without issue.

Next up was getting cash.  There were plenty of machines and the second one we used worked fine.

Getting a taxi from the airport into the city has been set up specifically to keep the traveler from being cheated.  One waits in a line, tells an airport rep sitting in a booth their destination, and receives two printed receipts, one for the driver and one for the passenger.  The receipt shows the destination and the cost.  Load into a taxi and off you go.

And, when I say “off you go,” I mean it.  Riding in a taxi in Bogotá is a harrowing experience, done at great speed and with little care for safety.  Huge, axel-destroying holes appear in the road regularly and as a surprise to driver and passenger.  Seat belts in these taxis are universally disabled, just to add to the suspense of whether or not you’ll make it alive to your destination.

On the plane, just before landing, one of the flight attendants came past and asked if I wanted more wine.  I thanked him and said I didn’t.  He answered back “Are you sure?  I’m just going to throw it out.”  I took it.  I’m glad I did, because I needed it for the taxi ride!

Checking In

Somehow, against all odds, we did make it to the hotel alive and able to tell the tale.  Check in at the Hilton was uneventful, though it did seem to take a little longer than usual, with lots of documenting this and that.  We received our keys and headed to our room on the 13^th floor.

The room itself was spacious enough, clean, and new.  It was dark out, so we couldn’t see the view but, when we saw it the next morning, it was impressive enough.  Our room faced north, so we didn’t get the skyline but we did get to see the expansive sweep of the valley and the surrounding mountains.

A few photos of the room

A Quick Bedtime Snack

By this point it’d been about five hours since we’d eaten, so we opted for a quick bite in the hotel restaurant.  It was about 10:30 by now, so we had just a few minutes before the kitchen closed.  The food was pretty good for a hotel restaurant.  After dinner it was off to bed to get some rest.