The Lima airport is open 24-7, and traffic at 3am in Lima..well it was not deserted. But security was quick. As was passport control.

I was surprised when I got to check-in to learn that, despite having gone through security already, to find out (during the second bag check), that no liquids were allowed on the flight…had to discard my water bottle.

As it turned out this was unfortunate…we landed a bit early in Miami, as it turned out, minutes before the airport closed due to lightning strikes all over southern Florida. We disembarked and waited for about four hours in the baggage claim area on Miami airport…could not leave since it was an international flight, so bags had to be rechecked (why…don’t know of any other countries which require this). I was told that planes were being diverted to West Palm Beach and other airports, but American Airlines did not do a good job of communicating any changes. My connecting flight showed an on time departure till 10 minutes or so from departure.

After finally getting my bags, I was told to rebook my flight (very very long line)…about that time I saw that my flight was now delayed till 6pm (from 3:50), was allowed to drop off my bag and told to run to the boarding gate…which I did after clearing security, again! I made it to the gate just as boarding commenced, got onto the plane…only to wait for over two more hours to have some mechanical issue relating to the baggage area resolved. We finally landed about 3 1/2 hours late in LA..eventually I got home around 1:30am. With my baggage.

Next time…I am taking the direct flight from LA to Lima!

And that’s a wrap on my latest tennis trip…next one is in July.