Argentina 14 day tour with 87 year old dad and 80 year old
mom-day 1
It all started about 3 years ago when we decided we wanted
to visit Argentina with my mom and dad and see where he was born. We were the only ones that had not gone there
yet and it was time. Planned 2 week trip
which ultimately was cancelled abruptly 1 month before, due to my then 86 year
old dad breaking his leg. Fast forward 1
year and we are doing it again. Same
trip a year later and it looks like it’s a go.
Planning was fun and I spearheaded the campaign taking care of airlines
right off the bat. Then we had a dinner
to plan the rest and after ½ an hour of making zero decisions on a 14 day tour,
I decided to get my parents drunk and make the plans. Second meeting was a conference call
(facetime) and went pretty smooth mostly because I had done a lot of research. Here was the major issue: Someone gave me a new desk calendar for my
office in Jan and while planning all my excursions and looking at the calendar,
I booked everything 1 day off (2018 calendar). Luckily, I caught this mistake and was able
to easily change everything (NOT really easily).
Day of trip-Wednesday:
Driving down to Long Island to get my parents in Jens BMW 750 Long (not
bragging, this is part of the story) and we get to my parents’ house and they
want us to take their van. I explained
to them that we were renting small cars in South America and if we could not
figure out how to fit our luggage in this car, we were screwed in
Argentina. Anyway, flight at 10, dad
wants to leave at 3 because of weather.
Luckily I was able to find a soccer game for him to watch to hold him
off until 5 or we would‘ve been at JFK for 5 hours. Uneventful ride to JFK except the arguments
between my mom and wayz on the fastest way to the airport. Wayz was right. Although bag checks were free, mom and dad
decided to only check one bag and carry 2 carryon’s with them. They are excellent travelers and packed way
less then Jen and myself but at least we weren’t dragging our luggage thru the
airport.
Security was quick and my mom and dad explained about all
the foreign metal in their bodies to anyone that would listen and a lot of
people listened. Then my mom’s suitcase
got flagged which luckily Jen noticed because they did not. After getting it inspected and the TSA agent
picking up my mom’s fake boob and looking very perplexed and immediately
closing the case and giving it back to my mom.
Jens comment was spot on when she said it was my mom’s “dress boob.”
Next to dinner, but wait, my parents say, “they are going to
feed us on the plane.” I don’t even
listen and get us a table as I do not like to eat a dinner of plane food at
midnight (which turned out to be 1:30 am).
Plus, my goal was to be as tuned up as possible before getting on that
plane and that took 2 martinis a few beers.
Luckily I had my PSD to tide me over.
We were group 7 to board which always scares me but there
were not a lot of people in line and I thought it was going to be an empty
plane but I didn’t say it b/c I didn’t want to jinx the situation. I was able to get us in at group 4 and I just
pretended my dad was really old and did not understand what was going on and
told the group to stay close to me. In
retrospect, I should have gotten him a wheel chair and we could front line
everything. On the plane and seated as
comfortably as possible with isle and window and no one in between and I
thought we were golden until…..
The invasion of the Hasidic Jew, Spanish speaking only,
group of at least 15 complete with 10 kids.
Complete mayhem and the flight attendants lost complete control for at
least 30 minutes. It was crazy
town. When the dust settled we had
Spanish speaking 10 year old’s in between us.
Mom was trying to communicate with her boy using broken Spanish and what
appeared to be a charade presentation, while dad, who once again was born in Argentina
and speaks Spanish(!), watched with bewilderment. Classic Mickey Benchimol.
1 announcement, 2 hours, plane de-ice, waiting and then take
off. My goal was to sleep the entire way
and I did pretty good. Dinner finally
came at 1:30 AM and mom leaned back and said, “I told you we were getting
dinner,” as to my reply of, “you were right mom! “
On plane now and about 1 hour from landing. Love hearing the stories from mom and dad about
the first time they came to Argentina in 1969 with mike and Liz and how all the
village people came to see the 2 year old baby boy that could speak English
(mike). Anyway, journey continues. Pictures do not do justice to the story btw. More to come….
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