Finally arrived in Buenos Aires!

We're sitting up in bed now at Reina Madre hostel in Buenos Aires, knackered after over 24 hours of travel since we left St Albans but very happy at having arrived at last!

The roads were very quiet so we made it from St Albans to Heathrow in only 30 minutes. Our long wait went OK, though I didn't manage to get any sleep at all and Dave only managed a little. Reading the papers and my Kindle helped pass the time.

I also found myself trying to think of the other times I've spent a whole night at an airport on my various travels over the last few years. Madrid, Guayaquil (Ecuador), Sofia, Gatwick... I wonder which other ones will add to the list in the future.

A window seat for me and a breakfast of ham and cheese croissants and a tub of yoghurt helped us on our flight to Madrid. An hour and a bit here before our long journey to Buenos Aires.

The plane sat on the runway for about half an hour before it actually left, but we made up that time during the long flight so we still arrived in Buenos Aires on time.

Within an hour of takeoff we were given a delicious hot lunch of chicken, courgette, vegetable sauce and mashed potato, with bread rolls, a leafy salad and a chunk of chocolate cake. At other times during our 12.5-hour flight we had more food, but this time cold. We were sitting in the middle row of seats, so we didn't manage to get any photos unfortunately. At one point the pilot came onto the intercom and said that we were just passing over Gran Canaria; although I wasn't directly next to a window, I still managed to see two of the other Canary Islands in the distance and then a massive peak of rock as we passed directly over Gran Canaria.

There was a baby in the row directly in front of us, but luckily it turned out to be very quiet for a baby on a long haul flight. I read my Kindle, watched a film called 'Spotlight' about how the Boston Globe newspaper started the uncovery of the Catholic priest abuse scandals around the world, and slept for about two hours.

A man from Reina Madre hostel was waiting for us at Arrivals and took us directly to the hostel. It was after dark by now, and we mainly went through a motorway equivalent, so I couldn't really get a good view of the city, but from what I have seen so far, I can definitely see the European influence but I'm also reminded of Ecuador. We're in the Recoleta area, not far from the famous cemetery. Tomorrow we're going to have a look at that, wander round more of the area and hopefully sample some of the famous steak and ice cream!