Blog No. 349 - Gettinng to the Falkland Islands - 30 March 2026

 Blog 349 – Getting to the Falkland Islands – 30 March 2026

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Sam and me at Sydney Airport just before we caught the plane to Santiago, Chile on Wednesday 28th of January 2026

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The skyline of Santiago, Chile as seen from the roof of the W Hotel on Thursday 29th of January 2026.

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Another photo of the Santiago skyline as seen from the roof of the W Hotel on Thursday 29 January 2026.  The building you see with a triangular roof is the Mandarin Oriental hotel. Note the persistent smog that engulfs the photo.  Santiago is located high in the Andes mountains and the Andes are nearly always coated in smog.

surrounded by a thick curtain of dirty smog.

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This is part of the Santiago Centro Costanera Building in Santiago.  It is the tallest building in South America.  Centro Costanera was too tall for me to be able to fit all of the building into one photo.  Photo taken Friday 30 January 2026.

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Sam and I on top of the Gran Torre building on Friday 30 January 2026.  Santiago is a giant, sprawling city and the smog envelops it for much of the time.  It gets blown away if there is a heavy rain storm.

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Although the Falkland Islands are accessible by booking plane tickets through a travel agent, they are astonishingly hard to get to.  Once you get there, you MUST have accommodation and tourist activities already booked.  If you don’t, you may find you have nowhere to stay.  The population of the Falkland Islands is just over 3,000 people, so demand for tourist accommodation is high.  Given that all building materials have to be imported from elsewhere, new hotels for accommodate visitors cannot be built in a hurry. 

For an Australian, the Falkland Islands were also very expensive; the Falkland Islands are a self governing Territory of Britain.  The local currency is the Falkland Islands pound (£), which is equivalent to the Great British pound.  As of 30 March 2026, one Australian dollar ($1.00Australia) was equal to 52 British pence or GBP£0.52.  

Apart from a Royal air force flight that leaves from England once every week, there is only one plane per week that goes into the Falkland Islands.  The LATAM flight leaves from Santiago, Chile – and it leaves only on Saturday morning.  Apart from the RAF flight back to England, the LATAM plane is the only flight out of the Falkland Islands.  Once it has discharged its inbound passengers, the LATAM flight takes back to Chile, those who want to leave the Falklands.

The only international airport in the Falkland Islands is located inside a military base called Mount Pleasant.  Because it is located inside a military base, the airport has none of the usual facilities that exist at most other international airports.  Mount Pleasant is about 45 minutes’ drive away from Stanley – and Stanley is the only town in the Falklands.  If you have not arranged for transport to take you from Mount Pleasant airport to Stanley, you are in big trouble.  If you are not part of the British military, you cannot stay in Mount Pleasant.  If you are not part of the military establishment, you MUST leave Mount Pleasant – and there is no public transport available to take you anywhere else.

In this blog, I give some information about how difficult it was for me as an Australian to even get to Santiago, Chile.

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10.37 am Thursday 29 January 2026 Santiago, Chile We arrived in Santiago yesterday, after leaving Sydney just after 12.00 noon on Wednesday 28 January 2026.  We flew for 12 continuous hours and arrived on exactly the same day we had left.  In fact, we arrived about 1 ½ hours before we left Sydney.  Somewhere over the Pacific, we crossed the International Date Line and went backwards in time.  We did not need Doctor Who’s Tardis – just a plane flying through the air crossing a line that exists only on maps. So back in time we went, seamlessly and without noise or fuss of any kind. When we got to the ground, I was delighted to find my phone was working.  By switching carriers, I had kept my phone working.  The hotel driver was there as promised to pick us up and take us to the W Hotel in central Santiago.  It is a luxury hotel, so much better than the cheaper hotels I have used most of my life. The third member of our party Lauren sent me some texts.  She was still coming from the US but weather had delayed her arrival by a whole day.  Now she would arrive on Friday 30th January instead of today at 8.15 am I replied confirming we would definitely meet her at the airport. We lazed away in the afternoon.  Sam sleeps for about three hours.  I dare not sleep.  The best way to beat jet lag is to force the body to accept the rhythms of the new place.  Not sleeping speeds up the adjustment. We have late dinner with Sam’s cousin at a local burger place.  It is crowded and noisy.  We got back to the hotel after 11.00 pm. A text from Lauren this morning confirmed there were no additional weather issues and her flight was on time. I started writing this diary entry in the hotel room.  Now I am on the hotel roof.  A band is setting up and the Andes look so majestic despite the haze of smog.  There is a sea breeze and the temperature is in the low 20s Celsius. Time Travelling It was daylight when we left Sydney. At some point, the plane darkened the windows, creating a new night. I listened to music through the headphones. The plane noise was muted, The lyrics were clearly audible I was safe, God was mighty, In my past, present and future, would not forsake me. Feeling at peace at last, I began to relax All was well Everything had always been well. I was steadily flying to Santiago. I was flying for 12 hours straight. I was my very own doctor Who. I was a time traveller. Unlike doctor Who, I did not need a Tardis. I did not need a Time Machine for my time travel.