Years of wanting to visit this country followed by months of planning only for protests and disruptions to affect the country days before we were to leave! Thus, started our longest and most ambitious trip as a family!

My main pull to South America as a continent was Machu Picchu. Having seen numerous pictures and videos, I started reading up on how to get there years before we even had the money or the inclination to visit. Located high up in the Andes mountains, which happen to be the longest mountain range in the world, it was quite an effort to get to MaPi (Machu Picchu). It required taking an international flight to Lima, the capital. Another flight or a 10+ hour bus to Cusco, the ancient capital of the Incas at 3400m above sea level in the Andes. Then a taxi to Ollantaytambo, a town in Sacred Valley. Followed by a scenic train to Aguas Calientes or Machu Picchu pueblo. Wait.. we still haven’t got there. Once we are in the town of AC we have to ride a bus up to the mountain to actually be able to see the ancient Inca citadel of Machu Picchu! If anyone were to read this for the first time, their immediate thought would be if MaPi was really worth that big a hike. Perhaps that was why it actually took us so long to make the trip!

Now, MaPi is not the only attraction in the country. We are looking at a country that boasts of various geo formations and landscapes. From the high Andes to coasts, from dense rainforests that are part of the Amazon ecosystem to deserts, from canyons to the highest navigable lake in the world, there’s so much to visit and experience here. With only 10 days at our disposal we of course had to pick what would appeal to us the most.

Flights from the UK were prohibitively expensive. That was the major expense in our budget. After months of researching we decided to fly out of Birmingham through KLM. For one, it did not involve the hassle of traveling to London. Two, it was an extremely long flight and we did not want to tire ourselves traveling within the UK to find a cheaper flight as we had 10 intense days ahead.

The flight out of BHX was at 6 am and we made it to the airport a little before 4 am to join the line for checking in. Various families traveling to different parts of the world, many to Disneyland Paris! As we got to the check-in desk we were given the worst shock of our lives. They said they cannot let us board because the Indian passports did not have a visa to Peru and the airline mandated a visa. We showed them the letter from the embassy that said we did not need a visa since we had a resident card from the UK but the simply declined saying their system would not let them board. We were completely at a loss not knowing what to do as we had the next 10 days planned to the minutest detail and most of the trip already paid for.

SC called the airline and I called the Peru consulate in London though it was only 4 am trying to figure out what to do when another staff called us and asked about our resident permits while talking to someone on the phone. We showed her the cards with hearts racing while she asked us more questions. Finally she said we can board. That moment was a major relief! Hoping the worst was behind us we rushed to the security and the gates to get there on time.

Due to all the excitement we hardly got any sleep on the flight to AMS. We soon landed to a bright and sunny Schiphol before making our way to the diverse and busy transit area of the Schiphol. AMS is one of the best areas to have a transit. There’s a mini science museum and a mini Rijks museum at the airport transit area. Both are free to enter and explore. The science museum has several hand on exhibits to keep the younger children busy while the paintings at Rijks Schiphol are rotated to keep them interesting. There were also several shops and restaurants to keep us busy for the 3.5 hours before our next flight.

Being a Boeing 777-300ER it was a huge aircraft for our transatlantic flight and boarding commenced early. Perhaps due to the protests and unrest in Peru the flight was not full. We soon found our seats and settled down for our 12.5 hour flight.

Since it was a day flight we kept ourselves busy watching the provided entertainment and also our downloaded content. I was trying to catch some shut eye but was unable to. The sheer excitement of the morning’s events and what was before us kept me awake. After an uneventful flight we landed in busy Lima at about 7 in the evening. There was a long line at immigration perhaps due to several international flights arriving at the same time. This time we were for a mild shock. The border officer decided that he can’t use our UK permits as they were not Permanent Residence but decided to use our US tourist visa for entry into Peru. At that moment we decided that we will never depend on any kind of “exceptions” for Indian passport and apply and get a visa for travel for peace of mind!

We had booked to stay at the Holiday Inn Lima airport and contacted the Directo counter for our shuttle. After waiting for a few minutes we were taken outside to an extremely crowded arrivals hall. We lost our escort and I went the wrong way before SC called out from behind saying the shuttle was waiting just there. We boarded the shuttle and were driven out of a chaotic airport to the hotel that was visible even from the airport terminal.

The check-in was smooth and we made our way to our spacious room looking forward to a good night’s rest before our adventures were to begin the next day.