(Hic!)… Traveling (Hic)… Traveling Hiccups

Yogi Berra was smarter than the average baseball player. I don’t know if he had a penchant for stealing picnic basketballs or bases but he was certainly full of sage wisdom. One of his most quoted “Yogi-isms” might be “It’s like déjà vu all over again.” I’m certainly feeling that way today as I once again prepare to fly out and head off on my Antarctica Marathon adventure.

Something I wish I’d known previously: If you fly through Brasilia Airport, even for a connecting flight, and your layover is over 6 hours, you apparently need a Brazilian visa. Last night as I attempted to check-in at the LAN desk of Orlando International Airport, this little fun fact came to light.  I’ve never heard of anything like this.  I was gobsmacked, thunderstruck, paralyzed in a land of confusion.

As the woman behind the desk was telling me this, my stomach fell, my mind reeled, and I could feel my blood pressure skyrocketing. I wasn’t the picture of an ugly American but I was super freaked out. There’s a part of me that wonders if it wasn’t a partial flashback to my Australian Outback plane debacle. In truth, I think at least four things were happening at once as they tried to explain to me the situation:

1) They told me that the Brasilia airport doesn’t have a facility for transit passengers per se so one has to clear immigration and if you are in Brazil for more than six hours, even for a layover, you need a Brazilian visa. I thought of my trip to the Rio Marathon in 2013 but any visa paperwork would be in my old passport that I recently had to get renewed. Whether that would have gotten me through the situation is a major unknown – I couldn’t recall how long the visa was good for and/or if because it was in the old passport if it would even apply.

2) Brasilia is the capital of Brazil.  Wait–is it?  I’m pretty sure it is.  Why wouldn’t the capital have facilities for transiting passengers?  That’s so odd.  Wait — why would ANY place have a requirement for a visa to transit through their airport to catch a flight to another country?  Am I in some lame Steven Spielberg movie(EDITOR’S NOTE: Brasilia IS the capital of Brazil).

3) When I asked about what I’d need to do for the visa, the woman and her newly arrived supervisor explained I might need to go to the Brazilian consulate in Miami to get one. I immediately started calculating driving times and bureaucratic procedures, the visa cost which I vaguely recalled being about $200 for Americans, and the logistics of getting back to the airport. I also started thinking about contingency plans for getting to Buenos Aires in time for the departure to the converted Russian research vessel that was to take me to Antarctica. The stress levels were off the charts.

4) The woman and her supervisor were calmly trying to explain things to me and options and I was listening to them while simulateously processing the above and reliving travel nightmares in my head. Again, I wasn’t the ugly American raising my voice or demanding things; I was just trying to establish what I could do to make it in time to go to Antarctica (and I was pretty much willing to do almost anything).

POST SCRIPT EDITOR’S NOTE: It dawned on me as I was out for my bonus run today (thanks to the bump in travel, I took advantage of the free morning to get a few last miles in on US soil), that there actually was a fifth thought bouncing around.  I should actually designate it thought zero as it was there throughout everything that transpired in this story.  Thought Zero was: “Oh, my god!  Oh, my god!  Ohmygodohmygodohmygod!  What is happening?  I have to get to Antarctica!  Is that a heart attack?  It feels like a heart attack.  Oh my god!  How is this a thing?  What’s–?  Who–?  When–?  What am I going to do?  What?!  Am?!  I?!  Going?!  To?! Do?!”

Long story short — the airline has graciously rerouted me and helped me over an ignorance gap. LAN Airlines is my new favorite carrier!

Essentially what they did was to rebook me for the following night (i.e. tonight) on a flight that would take me to a different Brazilian airport that didn’t require a visa regardless of transit time as well as having me connect to a flight with a shorter layover (3.5 hours). I’ll get in later than I was scheduled but I would avoid the interminable 12 hour layover I had originally been ticketed for in Brasilia. It worked for me and I was only too willing to pay a change fee or whatever I needed to do to make sure I could hook up with Marathon Tours in South America just a little late. The service desk folks waved that aside and said it was no problem, that there would be no fee and they actually thanked me for being so understanding. I was genuinely appreciative of their efforts and their kindness and I tried to thank them.  I think because I wasn’t a jerk they were especially nice to me, or maybe they’re just inherently decent folks.  Either way, when they asked me if I preferred a window or an aisle for the rebooked flight I told them I’d prefer the aisle but they were really helping me out so I’d take anything.  The woman smiled and chuckled I think because I wasn’t being a problem passenger and as annoying as all the work was to rebook me I was hopefully making it as easy as possible for them.  She got me an aisle.

When all was said and done, a reissued ticket for March 5th and my passport in hand, I walked outside into the Orlando air.  My mom had to brave Friday night traffic once again to come back and pick me up but the ultimate outcome was that I got to come home and sleep in my own bed one more night and tonight I’ll be heading out again. (Side note: Thanks, Mom! I don’t know if it was a full moon but the lunatic drivers were out in full force last night).

I left all my bags packed and didn’t touch them. But I did pour a massive goblet of wine to help steady the ol’ nerves. Cougar Town’s Jules would be proud of my makeshift Big Carl.

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This therefore is the story of (hic)… Traveling (hic)… Traveing hiccups. Fingers crossed it’s the only one for this trip… I suspect given Marathon Tours warnings that it might not be but I’ll just roll with it.

In the meantime, last night I did send a comment email on the lan.com website. Here’s what I said:

I had a problem with a layover through Brasilia that might have derailed my trip of a lifetime to Antarctica. But thanks to the agents working at the check-in counter at Orlando International Airport, everything worked out. I’m embarrassed to say I failed to write down their names as I was so frazzled at first by the situation. But it was a woman working the business class checkin for flight 8049 at approximately 7 PM and a gentleman who came in to rebook my ticket to solve the long layover that might have required me to get a visa even as a in transit passenger headed to Argentina. They were so caring, supportive, and helpful and I cannot say enough good things about your team there at MCO. If you have some sort of outstanding customer service award, these good people deserve recognition. While I will have to go back to the airport tomorrow for my flight, that’s such an easy solution to what could have been a huge problem for me. Again, they exceeded all my expectations for customer service and helped calm me down — when the issue came up I was a very worried that everything was going to be ruined. But your staff at MCO made things better and I cannot thank them enough. I really wish I had written down their names but hopefully this is enough information for you to figure out who they were; they’re outstanding.

***

Afterwards, I also pulled out my old passport with the Brazil Visa I got for the Rio Marathon. Turns out it’s good for 10 years. I googled and did a bit of research on visas in old passports. This is the rule for travel to the US – hopefully Brazil would do it reciprocity like. However, since last night I didn’t have my old passport with me I doubt it would’ve mattered.

I’m bundling the old passport with my current one just in case.

Q: My old passport has already expired. My visa to travel to the United States is still valid but in my expired passport. Do I need to apply for a new visa with my new passport?

A: No. If your visa is still valid you can travel to the United States with your two passports, as long as the visa is valid, not damaged, and is the appropriate type of visa required for your principal purpose of travel. (Example: tourist visa, when your principal purpose of travel is tourism). Both passports (the valid and the expired one with the visa) should be from the same country and type (Example: both Uruguayan regular passports, both official passports, etc.). When you arrive at the U.S. port-of-entry (POE, generally an airport or land border) the Customs and Border Protection Immigration Officer will check your visa in the old passport and if s/he decides to admit you into the United States they will stamp your new passport with an admission stamp along with the annotation “VIOPP” (visa in other passport). Do not try to remove the visa from your old passport and stick it into the new valid passport. If you do so, your visa will no longer be valid.

SOURCE: https://travel.state.gov/content/visas/en/general/frequently-asked-questions/about-visas-the-basics.html

And so, in keeping with my movie posters as countdowns, here’s what will be Attempt # 2 to get to Antarctica:

Deja Vu