flights

I looked at flights before I picked my trip dates. As soon as I found Air Canada offers the only direct flight to Lima (one cannot fly direct to Cusco), I stopped researching other airlines through Travelocity.ca and other such flight comparision flights and focussed on dates. Flying is torturous for me. Once I knew what dates were available, then I booked my trip with GAP Adventures.

GAP also booked my Lima to Cusco return airline ticket, though looking back, I could have taken care of that myself as LAN Peru has a good website. I think I did it that way so they would be sure to meet me at Cusco airport as I am flying in 2 days before the rest of the group.

One experiment I am trying is seat selection. When you purchase your ticket on the Air Canada website, you can choose your seat ahead of time by way of a handy diagram indicating whaich seats are already taken. The plane was about 1/3 full. On the way down, I chose a window seat, hoping that no one would claim the aisle seat. On the way back (which is a night flight, leaving Lima at 1:30am), I chose an aisle in a row of three, hoping people would be mainly travelling in pairs. Interestingly enough, today I logged on and someone had chosen the aisle seat in my pair, but my three was still intact. So I changed my seat to another three. It's night anyway - I really just wanted a window to lean my head against. It will be interesting to see what happens.

Air Canada also has the ability to fill in your traveller's information (compulsory afater 9/11) and to obtain your boarding pass in advance so it is well-worth exploring. The site is secure and they send you an e-ticket shortly after you pay with your credit card.

A mistake I almost made: The return flight was listed as being on Saturday at 1:30am. For some reason, I misread that and thought I would have all day Saturday in Lima. Luckily I reread it before booking with GAP or I would have to change a lot of plans!