Thoughts of an Aging Man: And Vacation comes to an End

Never thought that two weeks could pass so fast. But as everything that is fun, this trip also came to its end.

We had a few more rainy days at the hotel pool, two BBQ's, one of witch actually was a vegan one ... Yes, I know, but most of the time we spent with the horses.

It was absolutely breathtaking for me to watch my babies riding these amazing animals and getting better at it by the minute. I never thought I could be so proud and happy at the same time. Two times breathtaking! I was taking classes too. The main question though was, why for Christ's sake did I take so long to try this out? I had so many opportunities in life to ride horses, but never did. How stupid can someone be?

The kids had the best time ever, so they said, and when we left the farm, we cried, together. Taking with us, along with tons of wonderful memories, a few hundred pictures, a few minutes of video, two pairs of replaced horseshoes from Dolca and Pipo, new friendships, great experiences and the desire to come back as soon as possible.

But, it wouldn't be a vacation if, yes if ...

Marc, our host, was so kind to take us to the airport for our trip back home. Since it was also his mothers birthday he just dropped us and went on with his day. After all this wasn't the first time we traveled and I really didn'd need a baby sitter. Lucky he!

When we reached the counter, happy to get there fast since the line wasn't that long, the first news we get was that our flight was one hour late! Well, we had to get to Ezeisa International Airport in Buenos Aires by 5 pm to get our connection flight to Rio de Janeiro. With this delay we had only two hours left from Aeroparque, witch is located in downtown Buenos Aires, to Ezeisa, a 45 minute drive. We can make it I thought!

What I didn'd thought, better, what I didn't consider was that I was in Argentina, kind of a little Brazil - may they never read this-!

So we boarded the plane with already 1:30 hours delay and, we had to wait for another hour at the runway to get clearance and finally take of to Buenos Aires ... Holly sh....! I started to become a little concerned.

That pilot did wonders and somehow made up some time so we got there 30 minutes earlier than expected, just to wait again at the runway to be taxied in! AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!! At least we checked our baggage priority so we wouldn't have to wait for it ... ... ... ... Did I mention that we were in Argentina?

Friends for 38 years!

Priority means dead last! So we found out today. Well, Matias was there waiting for us, we had arranged to meet and that he would take us to Ezeisa so we had some time to chat and maybe have a couple beers. By his look, I knew, we would not make the connection, and of course we didn't!

The people at the counter were very helpful and trying anything to get us booked into a new flight. There were not many options and I truly believed I'd have to spent one night at the airport with my girls waiting for the next flight. But no! And now comes the good part. There was an Emirates flight leaving to Dubai later the evening and it would scale in Rio de Janeiro, and somehow we got on it!

Best thing ever. OK, we would arrive only long past one AM in Rio and we would have to pay a lot for a cab to take us home, but, who cares! We were on the best airline in the world and this aircraft was just amazing and the service, well, the best!

First of all, the aircraft was twice the size the one we took to come to Argentina. Than we had individual monitors and phones (remotes) on each seat! They served us real food with real silverware!!!! Everything was free!!!! No one selling you anything! My kids even got their personal blankets with a toy thing hugging it - and they could keep it! Well, I had to promise the kids to always book Emirates whenever we travel again!

We made it safely home. Exhausted but happy. Many stories to tell. Anxious looking forward to our next trip, no matter where it goes!