Hey everyone!
September was an exciting month! I moved into a new apartment in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I had been commuting from Salt Lake City, so it’s nice to now live in the same city I work. 😉 If moving halfway across the U.S. wasn’t exciting enough, I did another “out of base” trip with an Atlanta-based crew. That trip was one of the 21 flights I worked, one of the 9 cities I flew through, 20 of the 100+ hours I spent in the air, and one of my 4 different layovers. The majority of the month I worked “turns” (fly there, deplane, reboard, fly back home), so I didn’t have as many layovers considering how many hours I flew. But that didn’t stop me from experiencing a layover worthy of recognition! The “out of base” trip easily scooped up this month’s Layover of the Month award. Congratulations, Buenos Aires!
I was fortunate to have a great crew who knew Buenos Aires well. They showed me around and I made the most of my 2 days in the “Paris” of South America.
We kicked off our layover with a stop at the San Telmo Market! While my crew tasted a few things at different shops, I proceeded to eat my weight in empanadas. As we walked from there to La Plaza de Mayo, we took pictures of street art and my crew gave me a crash course in Argentinian Spanish (I STILL don’t understand “vos”). Fortunately, there are a lot of words that are the same in Spanish and French (such as the miel, pictured below).
We finished day 1 with an amazing steak dinner, several appetizers and a bottle of wine, or two, or three, shared among new friends.
Day 2 was a little fast-paced as our flight home left in the evening. I had two main goals: acquire a leather jacket and visit La Libreria El Ateneo. The leather jacket took up the better part of the day. I found a couple shops but had to compare fit, quality, price, etc. In the end, I scored a major deal and I was thrilled with the product.
La Libreria El Ateneo is an old theater that has been repurposed into a beautiful book store that occupies all floors of the historical building. It’s l i t e r a l l y breathtaking in person. The photo below simply won’t do it justice. It’s places like La Libreria El Ateneo that make me want to travel again and again and again.
All in all, Buenos Aires was everything I hoped for and more. I’m crossing my fingers I can layover there again! It’s my dream to see Iguazu Falls. What else should I do next time I’m in Argentina?
Sending you all my best wishes from 30,000 feet,
– Paul