We decided to spend our (northern hemisphere) summer in South America and booked an Airbnb in Santiago, Chile, for one month. We are planning on spending our third month in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and we’re leaving the middle month open to see what places look good while we’re in the region. We are also planning on taking weekend trips out of the city while we’re in Chile to see more of the country, but we’re not going to Patagonia on this trip. It’s almost winter here (it starts on June 20), so we won’t be able to hike, and we want to be able to dedicate more time to planning a separate Patagonia trip at a better time of year.
Our flight route was from Austin to Atlanta to Santiago, and we should have arrived the morning of June 6. Unfortunately, Delta experienced some sort of mini-meltdown on June 5, so our flight from Austin to Atlanta was delayed long enough that we missed our connection to Santiago, along with many other passengers. Delta rebooked us on the same overnight flight the next day and gave us hotel vouchers but sent us (and about 15 other people) to a hotel that had no vacancies. After the shuttle took us to a second hotel, we waited in line with more than a dozen other passengers and checked into our first room, which hadn’t been cleaned from the previous guests, and then waited in line again to check into our second room, which was thankfully clean. We had meal vouchers from the airline, but the hotel didn’t have a restaurant, so we bought the best we could find from reception for dinner (at midnight).
When we were being rebooked at the Delta helpdesk in the Atlanta airport, the woman assisting us asked to see our return flight. Andrew and I had bought one-way tickets to Santiago because we didn’t know exactly when we would return and from what city, but we had nomad friends advise us to put two return tickets on hold so we would have proof of a departure if asked. (American Airlines lets you hold tickets for up to 24 hours without providing payment details. They email you a confirmation of the hold with passenger names and the flight numbers, times, etc. If you don’t log back in and purchase the tickets within 24 hours, the hold is automatically canceled.) Our friends said in their experience, airline employees are usually the only folks who want to see return tickets but every once and a while, immigration at the arrival destination will also want to see your return flight. We were happy we had a screenshot of our tickets on hold to show Delta, and even happier that the woman didn’t seem to care that they weren’t confirmed tickets. It did make us a little nervous that Chilean immigration would ask for the same proof and be more discerning, but only time would tell.
We had an uneventful 8.5-hour flight and landed in Santiago around 6:30 on Friday morning. We walked through the clean and quiet airport with the rest of our flight passengers and, at immigration, we separated into the non-Chilean-citizen line. It moved quickly and when we arrived at a window, the immigration officer asked why we were visiting and for the address of our accommodations in Santiago. He didn’t ask how long we were staying or ask to see our departure flights. He stamped our passports and gave us each a slip of paper showing that we were allowed to stay in Chile for 3 months (the maximum allowed for vacationing U.S. citizens). We had heard someone else telling their friend not to lose the paper, so we carefully tucked ours into our passports for safekeeping.
Then we walked past the cutest drug-sniffing dog and his friendly handler; headed to baggage claim; grabbed a free luggage trolley; loaded my huge duffel bag, Andrew’s large backpack, and our 2 carry-on backpacks; and headed through the “nothing to declare” customs door. No one questioned us in the customs area and we headed out to the taxi-booking area. Our Airbnb host had told us there are 2 options for official transportation from the airport: Taxi Official and TransVIP. He said Taxi Official is the better and cheaper option (ours was $27,000 Chilean pesos to the Providencia neighborhood of Santiago), so we went to their counter just past the customs exit (still inside the airport) and booked a ride. They took our payment there (with a credit card), gave us a few slips of paper showing we paid and providing our destination address for the driver, and told us to head out Gate 4 and look for people in blue jackets.
We went through another set of doors, still inside the airport but now in the main arrivals area. There were people waiting for loved ones, drivers holding signs with people’s names on them, and the usual taxi drivers shouting to provide rides, along with rental-car counters, coffee shops, and a small convenience store. If you turn left when you get to the arrivals hall, you’ll find a Santander ATM about halfway down the hall on your right. We took out cash and bought waters at the convenience store to get small bills to tip our driver. The cashier didn’t even give us a hard time for breaking a large bill.
We finally headed outside and saw our men in blue jackets directly outside Gate 4. One of them took our papers and loaded us up in his cab. We hit rush hour heading into Santiago, but it wasn’t more than about 30 minutes to our apartment. Overall, arrival in Chile was an easy process. Everyone we encountered spoke Spanish to us, but they spoke slowly and with simple words. It’s definitely helpful to know at least a little Spanish to navigate the arrival, but we saw another couple who didn’t seem to know any Spanish make it through fine. Still, we’d recommend learning some basics to make things easier for everyone. Other than that, there isn’t anything special to be aware of. Happy and safe travels!
