I am headed towards one of the most exciting trips of my life to Antarctica, a place that I’ve always wanted to visit for my whole life. The only way for most people to visit Antarctica is via a cruise and most of these cruises leave from Ushuaia in Argentina usually via Buenos Aires in Argentina. So come along and see what a business class flight is like from Sydney to Santiago, Chile on QF27.
QF27 flies from Sydney to Santiago, Chile and after that I’m boarding a LATAM flight to Buenos Aires. Since the 17th of December 2019, Chile has introduced stricter visa regulations. You used to be able to buy a visa at the airport and you used to be able to pick up your bags and transit to another flight. But that is no longer the case and the consular tourist visa takes around 10 working days to come through. A problem if you’re holding a flight transfer from outside the same airline network as I am. My Aerolinas Argentinas flight has to be replaced by one with LATAM, purchased at Sydney airport’s Flight Centre at considerable cost. It's my fault as I haven’t visited Chile for 10 years and didn’t realise that the regulations had changed. Mea culpa.
I spend all 30 minutes in the lounge frantically changing details for transfers, insurance and applying for the visa. I barely have enough time to eat something and the range of buffet salads are actually very tasty as is the mimosa that I quickly sip before the flight is called.
My seat on the Dreamliner 787-9 is 2E and the business class cabin has a 1-2-1 configuration. What I really like about this plane set up is the privacy each seat has from each other. The business class cabin is quite full although seat 2F next to me remains empty.
On the table is an amenity kit and a breakfast and lunch menu with a pen to fill out the breakfast choices. On the seat itself is a thick duvet style blanket made from 12 recycled bottles and a seat cover as well as a pillow.
The current amenity bag is by Koskela for Qantas and features amenities by Li'Tya with lip balm, face cream and hand cream, ear plugs and eye mask. There’s also a bottle of water, universal adaptor, noise cancelling headphones, USB port and headphone jack.
I’m offered champagne (the choice on this route is either Duval-Leroy or Jacquart Brut Mosaique) or sparkling water and I got for the latter as I’m parched from the lead up to the flight. I also fill out the breakfast card so they will have breakfast ready for me when I wake up.
I change into the pyjamas provided and turn on the entertainment and that’s another highlight - there are lots of new movies to choose from but I flip straight to the fat, juicy tv box sets and binge And Just Like That which I haven’t seen on land and rapidly realise that every character on the show is completely unrelatable and that I would be eaten alive in Manhattan.
Dinner is served over the next few hours. They come through first with a drinks cart and mix me a perfect Virgin Mary with no ice which I sip on alongside some smoked almonds. I'm definitely one of those people that only wants this cocktail while in the air but never on the ground. The umami rich Bloody or Virgin Mary is perfect for when your taste buds are depressed from being in the air.
Then the first course of green salad with Neil Perry’s palm sugar dressing is served alongside a choice of focaccia or sourdough. This comes with a disc of Pepe Saya butter.
Then the soup comes out and another round of bread is offered. The pumpkin and ginger soup is not too thick or thin and enriched with a swirl of chive crème fraiche.
I’m happy to see a Korean choice on the main menu since I love spicy food especially on a flight. This is a Bannockburn Jjimdak or braised chicken with a generous amount of crisp asparagus spears with steamed rice. The flavour of the chicken is strong in ginger and sesame and really delicious and it’s handy in that it is cut up so easy to eat while watching television.
For dessert there is a choice of a fruit salad, chocolate pudding, cheese and an ice cream sandwich. I go for the fruit salad with sweet blueberries, passion fruit, pineapple, honeydew and watermelon. I also really enjoy the Valrhona chocolate cream with a tangy yogurt ganache, toasted almonds and raspberry layer on top. It’s actually delicious but such a big serve that even the four enormous mouthfuls I take barely make a dent in it.
Shortly after the lights go down as the cabin windows automatically dim and I get as much sleep as possible. With just over an hour til we land, the lights gradually come up in the morning and I hear the tinkle of china and cutlery as breakfast is being prepared. I'm very much a savoury eater so earlier I had ordered the herbed ricotta and egg white omelette with a sunflower seed romesco sauce with wilted spinach and cherry tomatoes. Along with this I also have some sourdough crumpets with butter and jam and some fruit salad with a glass of cold pressed green juice with cucumber, apple, pineapple, pear, celery, kale and lemon. It gives me enough fortitude to carry on the rest of my journey to Antarctica!
So tell me Dear Reader, have you ever been caught out without a visa? Have you ever been to Antarctica?
NQN was a guest of Qantas but all opinions remain her own.
Qantas
There are 4 flights per week flying from Sydney to Santiago de Chile (as of March 2024)
https://www.qantas.com/au/
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