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Post by wildstubby on Jun 12, 2022 10:35:27 GMT -5
Well I made it to Bogota with the wife without much fanfare. Our stay here is brief because we will head to Ibague today with a one night visit in Giradot. I wanted to make sure all was in order with our travel arrangements so I called my agent on Friday. She advised me that COVID-19 tests are no longer requires to enter the US! Now if Avianca (et al), would drop the damn mask mandate from international travel it would make for a better trip!
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Post by scumbuster on Jun 12, 2022 14:20:10 GMT -5
Enjoy and be safe.
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Post by wildstubby on Jun 13, 2022 12:16:10 GMT -5
Thanks scum. To add we used Avianca for the domestic flight to Ibague. They were charging ~$40round trip/person. Yesterday when we went to catch our flight they told us it was cancelled due to weather. To add insult to injury they said I would have to pay an extra $160 for my 2 bags! Something tells me that goes with the economy fare.
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Post by gallito on Jun 15, 2022 20:40:55 GMT -5
On the ground safe,calls for a beer Aguila,Poker o Club. 🍺🍻 Avianca doing whatever they can to steal your money.Are you hanging for the election?
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Post by wildstubby on Jun 16, 2022 6:24:35 GMT -5
Hi gallito. Yeah the granddaughter turns 4 and the suegro's son turns 4 also.I don't see how we are going fit 40 people in the apartment. We return to Bogota on Wednesday and fly out to Dulles Thursday morning.
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Post by wildstubby on Jun 24, 2022 7:40:24 GMT -5
Well, we finally returned home at around 7PM last night after getting up at 4:30AM in Bogota. After 11 days, I'm glad to be home. What surprised me was the wife says she doesn't want to return to Colombia again. Maybe just to visit with her primo in Monteria, (who retired as VP of Bancolombia!). I spent about 4 days with Covid courtesy of the grandaughter, who ultimately spread it around to the rest of the family who was visiting for her birthday over the weekend. I spent 3 days on a diet of ibuprofen and gatorade quelling the fever and chills, (never lost my sense of taste!). Strange, it was cooler in Ibague than it was here at home and we are having a cooler than normal summer. Lots of rain! I will say this, avoid Avianca like the plague! They claim to be the "Flagship Airline of Colombia". More like flagshit airline! So back on the 12th they cancelled our flight to Ibague from Bogota. On Wed. when we were supposed to fly to Bogota and they delayed the flight from ~5:30PM to 8:30PM. When we got to the airport at 6:45PM, the flight was taking off! They couldn't offer any explanation. We took an express car, ($100) from Ibague to Bogota that was 5 hours long because of the construction on the Autopista Sur. We got to the airport at 5:15AM, (after sleeping 3 hours) and naturally the line is as long as the traffic on the Autopista. There are 2 stations that were unmanned and in the wake of it all, 2 of the staffers that were manning a station up and left with a mess of people standing in the cue! After 45 minutes we race to the human mass at immigration! It took us about another hour to snake through that line. By that time, I gave up on making our flight because it was 7:30. It was to depart at 7:40. Just as we turned the corner for the gate, we heard them give the final announcement for our flight. We made it aboard with no time to spare! We were at the airport at the pre-requisite 3 hours, (for international flights), and we still damn near missed our flight. Avianca charged me $105 for each piece of checked baggage, (an issue I have to take up with my travel agent). But from now on I will fly Copa or even Jetblue to Colombia if we ever return again. Avianca I knew was having issues but they weren't doing anything to bring back confidence in it!
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Post by gallito on Jul 2, 2022 20:00:52 GMT -5
WS glad you finally made it home,sorry about covid if it's any consolation I just tested positive,and nothing like a normal cold/flu.Yup visiting Colombia is like visiting the dentist for a routine exam,expect the worst.
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Post by wildstubby on Jul 2, 2022 20:13:54 GMT -5
Incidentally gallito, the wife's primo gave me one of those sombreros like you have for your icon. He was even nice enough to get it with my name stitched in both sides!
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Post by gallito on Jul 4, 2022 0:04:38 GMT -5
Ya ws I have a collection of Colombian sombrero,let's say hard to miss me in a crowd. Great conversation starter for most Colombians here in my town🇨🇦🇨🇴
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