Day 21 January 21, 2025

We are back in Santiago- Just call us the Un-Luckies on Holiday

At 9 a.m., our new adventure began. With a vehicle too small for both the bike and us, the driver had to get creative. After some careful juggling, the bike was loaded onto the back of the car, and we were finally on our way.

We decided to stay at the Holiday Inn, conveniently located in the heart of the airport. This gave us easy access to the terminal, making our travel plans that much smoother. We arrived at the hotel around noon and were lucky enough to be granted an early check-in. Freshly showered, we headed to the bar for a cocktail and a bite to eat. We spent the afternoon soaking up the warm weather by the pool, planning to do the same tomorrow.

As evening fell on our side of the world, morning had already arrived in Australia, and Jodie was busy working on our return plans. With a slow journey ahead, we’ll leave Santiago on Thursday afternoon and arrive in Sydney on Friday afternoon. We’ve planned to stay two days in Sydney to allow Marc to continue recovering before flying back to Townsville on Sunday. After another couple of days of rest there, we’ll pick up our fur babies on Tuesday and finally head home.

Despite the lingering disappointment of not being able to finish this trip as we had hoped, we’ve found some light moments. Once again, we’ve brought a bike on a holiday, only for it to never hit the road for the intended event. In 2022, Marc and I travelled to Brisbane for the Brisbane to Gold Coast cycling event, which was unfortunately cancelled due to bad weather. While we did spend a week there and managed to get a ride from South Brisbane to Beenleigh, it wasn’t quite the adventure we envisioned.

We’ve come to the conclusion that cycling and running will be our recreational pursuits from now on. We won’t be signing up for any more events. Marc missed the Noosa Marathon, I missed the Port Douglas Grand Fondo, and now we’ve both missed out on this one.

Fortunately, we’ll be reimbursed by our insurance company for the event we couldn’t complete, as well as for any changes to our flights and hotels, along with any refunds we’re unable to secure. It’s not the trip we imagined, but it’s still been an adventure in its own right, and we’re grateful for the experiences we’ve shared along the way.