Blog Ten: Mendoza-São Paolo-Paris-Edinburgh
[6th-7th December 2025]
We get a LATAM flight from Mendoza’s small international airport to São Paolo, heading back to Brazilian soil again. We’re both in Premium Economy this time, and are enjoying the most comfortable seats so far.
The urban sprawl of Brazil’s centre of business and administration unfolds beneath us as the plane makes its approach to Guarulhos Airport. With a population of around 11.5 million, São Paolo is the most populous city in Brazil and in South America.
The fact that there have been urban cases of Yellow Fever identified in the city earlier this year, and I’ve developed a stinking cold (unrelated!) so I feel drained and stuffed up, combine to make us reach a decision to stay in the hotel during this stopover, before we head for home.
We are staying here for two nights due to our paranoia about missing the long flight back to Paris. Two of our previous flights booked in Argentina have been cancelled and had to be rebooked, so we decide to take no chances and arrive in São Paolo with an extra day’s cushion.
In the event, all goes smoothly, apart from our hotel safe jamming (again) with our passports etc. inside, on the morning we are leaving for the airport. A nice chap comes and fixes it promptly.
I’ve not been looking forward to the 11-hour flight to Paris, but the aircraft is spacious, and our Premium Economy seats are excellent. As we have the ones right beside a big emergency exit door, the legroom is impressive.
We moan a bit about the six-hour gap between “dinner” at 4:00pm Brazil time and any offer of liquid sustenance. Our pleas for water are met by a rude and passive/aggressive steward, but otherwise the flight is great.
We are just behind the curtain that separates First Class from Premium Economy. At regular intervals, a rather odd-looking chap appears through the curtain and proceeds to do exercises or maybe a little dance. Presumably, he’s trying to minimise the risk of having a DVT, but he hops about like no one can see him once he’s through the curtain.
After dinner is cleared, it’s officially nighttime, so the internal lights go out, and the window blinds come down. I manage to catch a little sleep and, at one point, I sort of half wake up and stretch quite vigorously forward into the space in front of my seat.
Our First Class friend has chosen this time to pop through the curtain and do his little routine, in the dark, right in front of my seat, so he unfortunately receives a blind two-footed tackle down his shins. This provokes no reaction whatsoever – he just moves to the side and continues to dance around. I drop back off to sleep again, content that I can still put in a mean slide tackle.
Nothing else of any note happens, and we arrive bleary-eyed in Paris CDG around 6:00am. Our flight home is delayed slightly, and then the pilot aborts his first attempt at landing at Edinburgh Airport. Happily, we get down safely at the second time of asking – possibly the beginnings of Storm Bram have played a part.
Two ageing zombies emerge from a taxi in Seton Place, after what has undoubtedly been our most ambitious and our most enjoyable trip so far! A million thanks are due to my wonderful wife for all her planning and organisation, and for managing to tolerate me being me for 6 whole weeks.
Trip Number Six is in the books, with lots more to come, we hope!
A few images from our stopover in São Paolo and journey home are included in the gallery below. Click on a thumbnail to see a bigger image. If you’re using a mobile phone, turn your screen sideways to see the bigger image to best effect.
Image Gallery
