It is often said that quantity is not quality, but if
you can mesh the two terms together, the result
can be memorable. Our first day in Lima was one
of those “fill in every minute with experiences”type days, and allowed us to totally immerse
ourselves in the destination, which is exactly
what
we
wanted
to
do.
in
Technically, aside from landing at Jorge Chavez
International Airport at 6:30 am, we spent the
day in the Lima suburbs of San Isidro, Miraflores
and Barranco. After an all night flight from New
York with little sleep, we landed on schedule,
passed through passport control quickly, and
despite our priority tagged luggage being the
very last to be taken off the plane, we still left the
terminal before 7:30 am. My colleague and I
were
attending the ASTA International
Destination Expo and had arrived a few days
early to get acclimatized. For me it was a
welcome return to a city I had explored in 2003,
but for my colleague it was a new adventure in
South America. ASTA had arranged for a driver
to pick us up and take us to the Westin Hotel, so
even with the Sunday morning traffic, we were at
the hotel and checked in by 8:30 am
I will say that not all Westin hotels are created
alike and that this is one of the best hotels I have
every stayed at. The customer service is
amazing, the concierge service is outstanding,
the rooms –and even the decorations in the
hallways–are warm, comfortable and inviting.
Really the only negative of the day was when I
went to open my suitcase—the lock was still
on—but the slider—on the zipper had been
chopped off. Inside my suitcase was a note from
U.S. Homeland Security explaining that they had
randomly selected my suitcase for inspection
and had every right to chop off the lock. Well, in