Our planned evening-before check-in fell through, because American Airlines only accepts luggage 3½ hours before departure at the earliest. Oh well, back to the hotel with our luggage, and another attempt the next day. read more

We get through the entry into Chile without much trouble. Luckily, the warnings that Chilean customs confiscates all food turn out not to be true. You can keep any food in its factory packaging. Fruit, vegetables and meat, for example, may read more

Anyone who wants to enter New Zealand is well advised to be able to show an onward flight ticket (valid within 90 days). That avoids a lot of trouble, because without this onward ticket the airline will refuse a passenger "boarding" read more