Today is our travel day, hooray. We have trouble, however, boo.

7:00 am Following the precise directions, we had our PCR test taken within 48-36 hours of our flight— not realizing that test results do not come within 24 hours. In fact, we have heard nothing from CVS since taking the test.  Trying to solve the problem, we tried to schedule a one-hour rapid test appointment at LAX but could not. We decided to hop a cab 6 hours early and “walk-in” to a test site at the airport. That worked!  But, all they had were tests with 3-5 hour results. At this point, 3 or 4 hours would be fine, but 5 hours would be too late. We might have to reschedule our flight to Buenos Aires for tomorrow. The good news is that we built an extra day into the trip so even if we have to fly tomorrow, we might still make the charter to Ushuaia.  Still, the anguish is fairly extreme. We’re both trying to stay calm.

Hoping for good times soon. 

12:45. We’ve spent the last few hours in extended anguish, trying to think of alternative plans….going home, spending the night, coming back tomorrow with negative results if there were any…and then, after more discussion, John’s phone buzzed. The results? Yes! First John. Negative. (I worried because he had a haircut the other day). Then me.  More button pushing and passwords. Finally, negative! Hip hip hooray! Penguins here we come!

…After passing one more test in Buenos Aires, that is. Stay tuned.