Easter Island on the map.

I had originally crafted my round-the-world flight itinerary so cleverly that I knew something would have to give eventually. I learned a couple months before that my direct Lima – Easter Island flight had been changed to connect through Santiago (where I was going after Easter Island). This meant that I would no longer avoid the $160 charge for entering Chile via international flight since Easter Island is part of Chile. I had time to accept the fact that my plan was thwarted to no fault of my own, but when I arrived in Santiago to get my next boarding pass, the agent told me that there was no record of the SCL – IPC leg. I started freaking out a bit inside. I had wanted to get to Easter Island for quite some time – the 2nd most remote inhabited place in the world – and I was about to get snubbed an hour before my flight. Luckily, the gate agent was extremely capable dealing with my complex ticket and I was confirmed a short time before takeoff. Phew.

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