I’m a bit behind in my blog as the year is quickly winding down. Steve (DOS) and I just got back from a wonderful trip to Montevideo, Uruguay. I’ll try to catch up on my posting this week, and tonight will start with out journey down to Montevideo. I started the blog while in Montevideo, but am completing this blog trip now that we’re home.
We flew to Montevideo on Steve DOS’s actual birthday, which was last Friday. I’m actually writing this in the airport departure lounge in Montevideo (MVD) on Tuesday night, as this has been a quick but fun trip. The trip was five nights, but the outbound and the return flight tonight are both overnight flights, so we really only spent three nights in MVD.
For this trip we actually packed fairly light (by DOS’s standards) with only one checked bag each, plus one carry-on each, although I found out on the return DOS actually had two carry-ons as he put one inside the other on the outbound flight – sneaky! Here we are checking in for our flight to Miami in Orlando Airport (MCO).
And here’s the birthday boy DOS, all smiles as we take the tram from the main terminal to our gate at MCO.
Our flight didn’t leave until 7:30pm Friday night, so we had time for a quick birthday toast in the Admiral’s Club Orlando before heading to the gate.
Our flight from MCO to Miami (MIA) was a quick 45 minutes on a Boeing 737.
As our connecting flight didn’t leave Miami until 11pm, we had plenty of time to relax before our international flight to MVD. We enjoyed most of the two hour layover in the American Flagship Lounge at gate D30 for some food and drink. American has really upgraded their lounges lately, and this newly remodeled Miami lounge is very spacious with a huge buffet spread and good quality wines and drinks.
Our flight from Miami to Montevideo was quite comfortable and literally ‘flew’ by! The nonstop flop to MVD was on an American Airlines Boeing 767, and we were seated in Business Class seats 2A and 4A, in this two class (Business and Coach) configured plane.
The 767 is an older jet in American’s fleet, but was reconfigured recently in a 1X 2 X 1 Business Class seating configuration, with a wide table adjacent to each passenger taking up almost the equivalent of another seat. DOS and I were seated in staggered rows as the even seats are more private due to the alternating table arrangement on each row. Even though we were two rows apart, we were close enough to check with each other on the meal and flight progress, entertainment options etc.
As we took off from Miami, slightly delayed around 11:20pm, we had a nice view of the vibrant city below.
I didn’t take any photos of the meal on this flight; opting to watch a movie and later sleep, The meal was so-so, but fortunately we had eaten in the Admiral’s Flagship Lounge before boarding. I did check in on DOS before sleeping to make sure he got his birthday card, which was delivered by the Lead Flight Attendant. Upon boarding, I went up to the galley and handed the Flight Attendant a birthday card addressed to DOS, explaining it was his birthday, and I had inserted a small gift in it for him (actually it was a thumb drive for his computer.) I had his seat number written on the card, and asked if she would give it to him with his meal. It was a special card I had gotten recently in South Africa, and it was hand-made by a local artist. Here is the front and back of the envelope with my messy handwriting and stickers I put on as well:
I also had some Micky Mouse confetti sprinkles leftover from our party last week at Fishbones, which I asked her to spill on his tray table for dinner. I’m sure it was a first for her, but she sounded excited to go along, especially when I told her he was a retired Pilot, and this was his special 60th birthday.
Here is the actual front of the card. The card was 3D with actual scrap-book like materials, so it stuck out a bit from the card creating a nice work of art.
Inside the card I wrote a note, and attached a few more airplane and smiley stickers, as well as inserted the thumb drive, which was my present to him. I haven’t written about this before on the blog as I wanted it to be a surprise, but for the last month or so, I have worked every free moment on editing a series of videos from our recent and last year’s Africa trips. I didn’t completely finish what I wanted to, but still completed four videos which I set to music such as ‘Africa’ by Toto, and a couple songs from The Lion King.
Unfortunately it didn’t play correctly on DOS’s Windows-Surface Pro laptop, so I didn’t get to show the videos to him until the next day after we arrived in Montevideo, when I showed them on my MacBook Pro. I configured the thumb drive in ExFat format which is supposed to be compatible for both MAC and WINDOWs, but either I did it wrong or he opened it wrong. It works fine on my MAC, but not on his Surface Pro. No problem though; I have the videos stored on my MAC and backed up to the cloud but was hoping he could watch them on the flight down.
I will upload these videos to YouTube when I get a chance, and post a link for them as well.
Anyway, DOS enjoyed the surprise Birthday Card delivered from the Purser, along with the sprinkles placed on his tray!
I slept right after the meal, and got a good four and a half hour’s shut eye in the lie flat, but compact seat. I skipped the morning breakfast about an hour before arrival, but did take a couple photos as we approached Montevideo.
After landing we went thru the automated immigration process, (very efficient!) and after retrieving our luggage, we were quickly thru customs and on our way. DOS had arranged for a driver to pick us up and take us to our hotel in town; the Hyatt Centric. We left on DOS’s birthday, and arrived the next day (Saturday), but would celebrate his birthday the next four days.
Welcome to Montevideo!
