Off to Brazil! Left ORD on time at 9:30 PM and arrived in São Paulo at 10:40 local time the next morning. United keeps getting chintzier. The meals were lousy and only soft drinks were free. Apparently, one must be flying trans-Pacific to get a complimentary glass of wine. Seems to me the luggage bins on the new 777s are smaller and it feels like they chopped an inch or so off the legroom in Economy Plus.

Despite that, I got some sleep and didn't wake up until they were coming down the aisle with "breakfast". What a pitiful excuse for a meal that was. One soggy mini-croissant and four squares of melon. Good thing I took some cheddar cheese packets and crackers from the United Club in Chicago.

Transit through São Paulo was a breeze, contrary to the blogs and reviews on line. I think ours was the only flight coming in this morning. John Lewis remembered waiting two hours to clear customs on his last trip.

Because of the short lines, we were able to secure a seat on the earlier flight to Curitiba, and arrived more than 3 hours earlier than we'd expected.

The photo at the top is of the Curitiba airport upon our arrival. It was sunny any about 80 degrees.