After my 3 months euro trip solo backpacking, I decided that my next adventure will be to South America, a continent that I had not explored. Without a date in mind, I have been planning this trip, but I know somewhere down the lane I will take it. As I started planning, I got engaged and married. After marriage, we did shorter trips exploring nearby countries and I shared my South American dream with my wife. She did not know where South America was on the map, but as usual she was totally up for the adventure.

To travel to Colombia, you need a visa. Check here on how I got my Colombian visa.

We packed our bags and got ready for the trip. Our itinerary was first to fly into London and then to Bogota. Flight journey was ~12 hours each flight with a 9 hours layover in London.

We entered the airport, checked in our bags. And the guy at the checkin told me this is the first time he is handling a passenger flying into Colombia so he had to check the entry requirements. He called his supervisor, they both checked my visa, return tickets, etc. From Bogota, I was flying into Chile, and I showed the flight tickets which were sufficient to them.

We had our first free meal in the TFS Lounge ( A freebie from my diners club international credit card). A basic and light food. I had some Idly, Omelette and cereals. Then we boarded the flight, after a while we were served breakfast, a second meal for me. it was Podi idli, mini dosa. Slept for a while, watched SRK's Jawaan movie, and then it was time for lunch (my meal 3). It was radish korma, beetroot side dish (poriyal) and boiled Chana. All I did was eat, sleep and watch movie.

Podi Idly & Masala Dosa

Pretzels

Radish Korma & beetroot

Time to land in London. London welcomed us with a drizzle. My wife was feeling the cold, it was also the first long haul flight for her. Her back started to ache. We had to change terminals, I figured out it was difficult for her to walk as we had to walk for 30 mins. We both decided to hit the Plaza Premium lounge first, rest for a couple of hours and had our meal 4. I had Chinese chicken with rice and traditional cheese crackers.

After that, we went to a multi-faith room,prayed for our Namaz. It was cold everywhere except inside the room, and my wife did not carry an extra jacket. So we decided to stay there. She was all tired, and rested for a couple of hours. I could hear her snore from the women’s section and I knew she had a rest

We were just half way there. Now it is time for our second leg of our flight. As we reached our boarding gates, we had one more round of checking the visas and return tickets and we got the green light to board. Our flight was Avianca this time, a Colombian airline.

Entering into the flight, we felt a completely different vibe. We were greeted in Spanish. While I was learning Spanish on Duolingo for a year, I thought I could flex my Spanish language in front of my wife, but all I could muster was Buenos Dias, Gracias as it was very difficult to comprehend their accent.

As the time to take off came, we were happy that there was none sitting next to us. I asked my wife to extend her legs and sleep. After some time, we were served our dinner (our meal 5) on the flight. It was pasta with some salad and dessert. We could not eat the salad, because it had ham on it as we both ate only halal meat outside. Time to go back to sleep

Towards the end of the flight around 2am Colombian time, we were served with Breakfast (meal 6). A basic omelette with some bread and butter. We heartily had our last meal and then got ready for landing

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We landed at 4am. Went straight to Immigration and for the first time in my life, it was a cake walk at immigration. I was not asked a single question except to show my visa. I was wished a pleasant stay in Colombia by the immigration officer. I thought good times were going to come our way.

We got out and decided to wait until 8am, since we were told Colombia isn’t safe to venture in dark and also our hotel’s check in time is at 9am. In the interim, I withdrew cash from the Servibanca ATM, as this is the only one which allows 2,000,000 Colombian Pesos (COP) with an ATM fee of 25,000 Pesos. Every other ATM has a limit of 300,000 COP. completed our morning routines. Connected to Airport WiFi, it gives a 30 minutes free WiFi, you can connect as many times as you want after 30 mins. Booked an uber, for a minute we scrambled where to catch Uber. But anyone you ask might tell you, Uber is on the second floor departure terminal better door 4 and door 5.

As we reached our hotel, we could both feel our stomachs bloated, making some sounds and burping throughout. And that’s how we landed in Bogota