We made it! Landed on my SIXTH CONTINENT. And honestly, I don’t have much interest in Antarctica, so as far as I’m concerned, this is my last continent!! YIPPEE!!!
I’ve been trying to make this trip happen for a year and a half, ever since Sean randomly said, “I wanna go to Peru,” and I decided, “We will go to Peru!” People keep asking me why I wanna go so bad, and I honestly don’t have a great answer. I just don’t have the travel bug like I used to, so when it bites, I listen!
I did one quick Google search way back when to see the best time of year to visit, and the internet told me “May through October is the dry season.” With that in mind, I targeted October 2025, which turned into June 2026, and here we are, October 2026, alive and well in Lima. Some sites say the dry reason is May to September, but we don’t trust those sites.
Tangent: have I really not blogged since 2024?! What is wrong with me???? To be clear, I did a solo visit to Montreal in 2025 and attended a wedding with Sean in San Jose del Cabo in January. I’m just… Behind. Surprise, surprise.
But back to the present. Sean and I worked a crazy lose-lose compromise to get to and from Peru: 6am flight on the way there, 1am red-eye on the way back. Can you guess who prefers which flight time? (Hint: I’m not a morning person, and I ain’t as young as I used to be.)
That’s all to say, we packed two days in advance to set ourselves up for success, still somehow managed to go to bed after 11, and then woke up at three for our Uber. I discovered a crazy Uber hack, where we have the Uber drop off across the street from the airport and save thirty bucks. Not bad considering the light rail doesn’t even run at that time, and I love my friends and family too much to ask for a ride at 3:30am.
I had a pep talk with my mom a few days before the flight to get advice on how not to be cranky with Sean in the morning, and she said some mumbo jumbo about “choosing what mood to be in.” But it WORKED, Y’ALL. Thirty minutes into our airport extravaganza, Sean expressed surprise that I was in a better mood than he was. At this time, I revealed that I prepped my mood just for him! (He was not nearly as impressed as I think I deserve. Rude.)
We split up so Sean could get Starbucks and I could get an ube latte, and then I spilled a non-insignificant amount of said latte on myself, my suitcase, and the floor. Times were simpler when I travelled fast and cheap. I used to have a backpack-only, water-only policy until I arrived at my destination. No ube suitcases back then! Sigh…
The first leg to Atlanta was uneventful, and we tested out a new airplane sleeping contraption recommended by my dear friend Jasmine. “Prepare for your life to be changed.” Lolol. Not bad! I also watched The Invite (crazy, do recommend), ten minutes of The Devil Wears Prada II, and 60 minutes of The Devil Wears Prada I, lololol.
In Atlanta, I got a too-salty Auntie Anne’s pretzel, a cup of hot water for some instant oats, and a five minute airport nap. There was also an underground “rain forest” art installation that we walked through on our way between the domestic and international terminals. Then it was all-aboard to Lima!
Again, uneventful. I finished Devil Wears Prada, started The Princess Diaries (Anne Hathaway just gets me, ya know?), and read a good chunk of a silly modern romance by Ali Hazelwood. Sean got some good shut-eye in, and I spent 20 minutes with my face plastered to the window watching a lightning storm over Panama! We also panic-ordered gin and tonics thirty minutes before landing when I realized they were free. Tehehe.
We had to go through customs in Lima (which is where I wrote the first half of this post), and then we took an Uber to our hotel. It was 11pm when we arrived, so we’d been literally flying all day. We were spent!
It was a pretty short layover in Lima, and I woke up antsy to explore. I let Sean sleep in a bit longer, and then we were up and at’em. We checked our bags into luggage storage, and then I made the COLOSSAL mistake of not asking if the continental breakfast was free. I was so mad when a little guy came out to charge us TWENTY DOLLARS for a few pieces of fruit. Ugh.
I finally got over myself by the time we stepped outside and began a long walk through parks and side streets toward the coastline. We saw plenty of kitties along the way, some very fragrant flowers, twisted trees, and hordes of very chatty blackbirds.
We soon reached Lovers Park, named for this saucy statue in its center.
It was fun watching the paragliders up above and the surfers down below!
We only had a couple of hours, so we wandered north along the malecón until the heat (and a wave of nausea on my end) got the best of us before hitching a ride back to the hotel. I blame the lukewarm tonic water I’d saved from the night before!
We hailed another Uber back to the airport and sat through the slog of Lima traffic. I’m always amazed at how people drive in other countries, so close to each other and making such crazy moves when it comes to turns and merging. But we actually ended up right behind a little crash. A big black SUV rammed into a nice red SUV at a 45 degree angle. The red driver was NOT pleased, nor were the many people stuck behind us. Somehow our driver managed to maneuver around the crash by hopping a curb and sneaking back onto the road.
Those of you who’ve read my blog (or travelled with me before) know I have a high tolerance for procrastination and late arrivals to transit hubs. So I was highly skeptical of our airline’s suggestion that we arrive THREE HOURS before takeoff for our 1.5 hour domestic flight. Like, what? But then a Reddit post and ensuing comments made me nervous, so I did the unthinkable and planned a full hour for the Uber and a full two hours for airport shenanigans.
I will say, it was nice not worrying about the crazy traffic on the way, and when we arrived we had time to wander and eat.
Poor Sean – he wanted to go to this chicken sandwich shop, and I said I wasn’t interested, but he could go if he wanted. Then he changed his mind and got a bunch of McPollos (lol) next door. Then I changed MY mind and got the crazy Peruvian chicken sandwich and … It was amazing and Sean got fomo and went to get another. So we ended up with four chicken sandwiches, two of which were from McDonald’s. Bahahaha.
The chicken place also had this amazing fresh juice, and I had to talk Sean down from getting a second.
We splurged for “premium” on this flight for ten extra dollars and got to sit in the second row of the plane. Fancyyy. We also got a muffin, a bag of nuts, and a glass of too-sweet “orange juice.” Do not recommend.
I do, however, recommend the window seat! We had such gorgeous views of the mountains and of Cusco as we landed!
More to come soon! Until then,
Saludos/ cheers!
-Lizzy-wa