Dec 23 - around 5PM in Rio: "Tall Tales..."

So if telling horrible travel journeys are anything like telling about that 4-foot fish that you caught but just "got away at the last second", have I got a travel story for you!

Right now we´ve been in Rio´s GIG airport (Galeão - Antonio Carlos Jobim International Airport) for just about 10 hours. We finally managed to get a ticket on a plane that "may or may not actually leave today" according to the TAM airlines staff. And this magical ticket finally manifested itself after hours of waiting, inquiring, cutting in line, waiting again, yelling, crying, screaming, waiting, and yelling again! The TAM Airlines operation is officially fudido!!!!

Basically, TAM airlines overbooked wayyyyy too many flights given that some 11 planes from their fleet are in the shop for service. Why the other planes are not in the shop is a different and somewhat frightening question altogether! ;) Anyhow, the situation is so bad that Lula (Brasil´s President who was just re-elected for a second term) has ordered that the Brazilian equivalent of Air Force One be used to help out stranded travellers just before Christmas. That´s right, the plane that transports the President of Brasil is being used to carry around passengers because TAM is so inept...

Brazilians are sure passionate people. I´ve seen hundreds of arms wildly gesticulating and flailing in the air to describe one´s utter frustration. Several folks yell and scream, pointing at the TAM airlines service staff (those poor souls who didn´t cause the problem and who are really just trying to help...). Others have screamed things at the staff that cause the crowd around them to applaud in solidarity. All this to be captured by several film crews, a big human interest story for the 6 o´clock news.

But anyhow, just to recap my own frustration: we´ve been travelling for almost 30 hours at this point. No sleep except for a few cat naps whilst sitting on the long flight from Paris to Rio de Janeiro. Fighting fog in London (and enduring much stress to find alternative routes of transportation) . Frantically packing everything to hop on an open train to Paris (we didn´t have assigned seats cause it was overbooked too!). Waiting around for 8 hours at the Charles de Gaulle airport. A 10 1/2 hour flight where the pilot hit the ground so hard on landing that the tires must have popped. 10+ hours (and counting...) in Rio´s airport. At last check, flights are only 6 hours delayed, some up to 7 1/2 hours. It´s now just after 5PM and we´re supposed to be on a 4PM flight.

The difference between a tall tale fishing story, however, and our travel story, is that our story is entirely true!