Tuesday, April 24, 2018 – we arrived at LIM (Jorge Chávez International Airport) in Lima. The flight went smoothly and our plane touched down at 10:52pm.
We went directly to immigration and lined up on a Disneyland-like queue. It was a bit crowded, but the line went by quickly. We were assisted within 10 minutes.
From there, we made our way towards baggage claim, but we had no baggage to claim hahahahahahah, well it was the way out of the airport.
We had a pre-arranged ride to take us from the airport to the hotel. Our driver, unfortunately, was not in sight upon our arrival. There were dozens of other folks with signs held high with names of the people they were picking up, but none of them carried our names. One kind local, a taxi operator, approached me. I must’ve had that helpless look. My free wi-fi access had expired almost immediately. We didn’t have cell phone service. This kind stranger offered to call our driver who then advised him that he was on his way (about 20 minutes out). Our pick-up time with him was 11:55pm, but we got out so quickly, why?
- a. we flew business class, therefore, we got out first
- b. we had no baggage to claim
Our driver must’ve anticipated that we’d be delayed. Anywho, Roger, our driver, came around 12:02pm. I was relieved. We had a long day and just wanted to get to our hotel.
From Lima Airport to Miraflores
It was quite busy that evening. It took us 10-15 minutes just to get out of the airport. We had to go through many side streets before we made it to a highway type of road. I’d say 45 minutes was the amount of drive time to get to Miraflores. Despite the fact that we waited for Roger, he was pleasant and spoke English quite well. He also provided tips, places to see and eat while in Lima.
Tierra Viva Hotel Larco Miraflores
For this trip to Lima, we didn’t require a fancy schmancy hotel. I knew we’d be arriving late and that we’d be leaving early in a couple of days. So all I wanted was a decent place to stay, a place where I could use my points, and a place in the heart of Miraflores. I used my points earned with our Chase Sapphire Reserve and our Chase Sapphire Preferred.
For this week, I booked us a room at Tierra Viva Hotels. It’s got great reviews with Tripadvisor users, priced quite competitively using points.
We paid nothing out of pocket other than using our points – 14,113 Ultimate Rewards for two nights.
What did I look for?
- Great reviews
- King sized bed
- Private bathroom
- Free wi-fi
- Breakfast
I got them all! Upon check-in, Eric, at the Front Desk, assisted us with a smile. The process went by quickly and we were in our little room in no time. We were so tired from all the travels and vowed not to set the alarm. We were on vacation. We’ll get up when it’s time to get up.
Ok, that was our first few hours in Peru.